Free one-day celebration of yoga comes to Brighton Dome

Brighton Yoga Festival brings its annual one-day free yoga event to Brighton Dome Corn Exchange on Sat 23 Jul.

Now in its third year, the festival brings together yoga teachers and practitioners from across the city, and beyond, to offer a day of free classes and workshops. The event is free to enter – the only wholly free yoga festival in the country – and it’s open and accessible to everyone, regardless of age, fitness or any prior experience of yoga. Complete beginners are warmly encouraged to try yoga for the first time in a friendly setting.

Brighton Yoga Festival has recently been awarded charity status, underlining its long-term aim to bring the mental and physical health benefits of yoga to as many people as possible, whatever their age and level of fitness, and whether they are entirely new to yoga or have decades of experience.

July's event will be packed with a wide range of free yoga and yoga-related activities, from classes, talks, workshops and demonstrations to meditation sessions, therapies and nutrition advice. There are yoga classes especially suited to beginners and to children, pregnancy yoga, yoga for runners, yoga and mindfulness plus other specialisms, as well as classes in many styles for all-comers including highly experienced yogis. Some sessions will be led by international yoga 'names', to be announced soon.

In addition, a local bazaar of stalls and activities such as face-painting, and a dedicated nutrition area, are complemented by catering from, among others, the Real Junk Food Project.

It is possible to run the day as an entirely free event because of the generosity of its many volunteers and teachers, and of a number of sponsors, headlined by Crystal & Rox.

Festival founder and chair of trustees Davy Jones says, ‘The aim of Brighton Yoga Festival is to bring yoga's mental and physical health benefits to everyone, free of charge, and to introduce yoga to people who've maybe never considered it. Whatever people's age, level of fitness or experience, and whether they've ever tried yoga before or not, there will be free yoga for everyone. And that includes people who've been practicing yoga for a long time and fancy trying a different discipline or approach. The day is absolutely packed with new things to try, discover and explore, in and around yoga, together with stalls, children's activities and good, wholesome food and drink.’

The festival day runs from 10am – 6pm. Entry and sessions are free of charge, though donations to the charity are welcome. There is no requirement to book in advance (people can just turn up) but there are benefits to pre-registering at www.brightonyogafestival.org/register .