Shambhala is a mystical land in the Himalayas. It is a land of high spiritual beings, a land of peace, harmony and a place of magic. To reach Shambhala you must ascend incredible heights and you must overcome mountainous challenges before you finally arrive in the sacred land between worlds.

The same can be said about the Shambhala Music Festival in Salmo BC.

http://www.shambhalamusicfestival.com/

With 6 themed stages and 195 artists Shambhala is an awesome spectacle of costumes, people, dancing, music and art. Five days and four nights of camping on 500 acres saw 13000 people chat, laugh, share, dance and swim in the river… In short we celebrated ourselves and we celebrated each other.

Seeing all of the acts at Shambhala is impossible, but some of the people I was fortunate enough to groove along with were; Luscious Beats, Maestro Fresh Wes, DJ Czech, Bassnectar, Vinyl Ritchie, DJ Domino and Juakali, to name just a few.

Check out all the artists here http://www.shambhalamusicfestival.com/artists.php

I volunteered in The Sanctuary for my third year at Shambhala. The Sanctuary is a “safe space” a harm reduction measure for people who may be feeling ill at ease from taking to many drugs or who just need to clear their heads for a while. Much respect to the organizers of the festival for realizing that while you can’t stop people from taking drugs, you can certainly help them from doing harm to themselves.

My job consisted of chatting with people, reassuring them that their “negative” feelings will pass and I served tea. The job also consisted of ”roaming” the six stages and keeping an eye out for people who seem to be in a distressed state, or who may be in general need of assistance.

For me the journey to the 2009 festival was a lesson in patience, peace and for the letting go of material worries. My car broke down in Osoyoos and two of our companions decided to turn back from the journey but for my friend Ivette and myself it was Shambhala or bust.

We camped and caught a bus the rest of the way to Salmo and we sat in the back of a pick up truck for the final 6km of our dusty adventure to Shambhala.

After the weekend was over and we were faced with the inevitable hitchhike of approx 250 miles back to Osoyoos before catching another bus, we decided to go back to the beach for one final dip in the river and then begin our descent from the heavenly lands.

In the higher realms everything seems to happen for a reason and coincidences seem constant. On the rocky shore we ran into two beautiful souls named Brooke and Kelly. These two angels gave us a lift back to my busted ass car and took the rest of our stuff to Vancouver for us.

Long story short, I no longer have a car and I am assured now more than ever that money and material things come and go but the state of mind in which you perceive and feel heaven will always be within me, within you and within Shambhala.