by Trish Morrison
My First Zinal Congress , August 2024
My Zinal experience began many years ago, although I did not know it at the time; I listened to Joan Mc Greevy’s stories each year as she returned to Ireland from Zinal, the seed was sown that someday I might go. 2024 was the year!
This year my Zinal adventure began, accompanied by the delightful Miriam Brady, in Dublin Airport, Ireland and encompassed many forms of transport, a car, a plane, a train and 2 buses to be exact. A mere 12 hours by comparison with Siddhartha Krishna’s long journey from India! This gave us time to study Zinal’s packed schedule of classes, talks, walks, music, round table discussions, and musical events.
As a Zinal Newbie it was wonderful to experience the exhilarating prana from the beautiful mountains, lakes, rivers and forests of Zinal and Switzerland and to be immersed in the energy of so many people from around Europe and beyond.
Isabelle Daulte and her colleague, welcomed us to our chalet where we all shared a meal. I then had a day to acclimatize, settling into Zinal, walking and enjoying a coffee and some chocolate!!
The spirit of the EUY Congress was transmitted from the moment I went to register; I was warmly welcomed by Joske and the office team. The adventure truly began at 6 a.m. the following morning, up and out to the wonderful pranic experience of Atul Mulji’s class.
Throughout the week hearty meals and chocolate sustained us! Our beings were uplifted by the wonderful classes and lectures. The choice I made was to follow the same class and talks to stay with the theme of prana. There were many more classes I could have done, in total 64 were advertised.
I relished being enveloped in yoga philosophy, the knowledge, warmth, and sense of humour of Siddhartha Krishna and the clarity and ability to explain things simply, which I greatly appreciated, by Swami Maitreyi.
Now to my Zinal social life, I loved meeting so many interesting people. The Meet and Greet, the music, mantra and dancing opportunities provided by Marta and Sergi of The Ganesha Project, the full blue moon walk and experience, the reception, followed by the walk on Wednesday afternoon, the list could go on…..
All good things come to an end, a heart-warming closing ceremony, with a farewell to Dagmar Blight, the outgoing president of the EUY and a hello to Dymtro Danylov who takes over this role, so with more singing, dancing, lots of hugs, and of course the pub, which was much enjoyed by the Irish and others, Zinal 2024 closed.
