Workshops Overview

Workshops confirmed for Luminate 2013

Permaculture, Bio Dynamics, Yoga, Aikido, Jikyo Jutsu, Qi Gong, Holistic health, Reflexology, Shiatsu, Native plant medicine, Harakeke, Maori Legends, African dance, to Bellydancing and lots more. At night a selection of enlightening movies & documentaries are screened.

Music workshops include Celtic guitar, Irish low whistle, Irish bouzouki, African drumming, Didgeridoo, songs of medieval Spain, Indian Vocalisation, Kirtan, Stagecraft, Improvisation, and Electronic music production using Abelton Live and Logic.

The dedicated Juggle-poi-toy circus zone hosts sessions on juggling, poi, staff, slackline, unicycling, stilts, whip cracking, silks/aerial, acrobalance, hulahoop, and lots more; most are suitable for kids and adults. At night the zone transforms into specatuclar choreographed fire performances, and look out for the many roving performers too.

Applications for KISS are closed! More workshops will be announced soon, full details are to be found in the themed pages of this Workshops section or at the right hand column of the website- enjoy exploring.

Luminate's vision is about sharing knowledge, inviting inspiration, expressing creativity, invoking healing, discovering contemporary and traditional arts and culture, in a space of celebration and connection; all of which strengthens community networks and empowers people with new skills to improve their quality of life. This is where K.I.S.S. (Knowledge and Information Sharing Sessions) comes in – the full schedule of workshops and activities spanning several zones and covering a plethora of topics.

The range of KISS can include: permaculture and growing food, alternative energy, yoga, creative arts, music production, sacred geometry, Mayan calendar and more. At night you will also find a range of enlightening movies and documentaries.

The KISS are mostly all located at the big workshop tents Te Ra and Marama, with the Tribal Zone hosting sessions like didgjeridoo, indigenous dance, percussion and more. In the forest behind Tribal, local weavers will teach us the ancient art of Harakeke and it's traditions.

The Juggle-Poi-Toy zone holds sessions on a range of circus skills, suitable for all ages, and also hosts fire, UV and other roving performances.

Many of the workshops are suitable for children and teenagers, and there is a wide range of activities especially for the young ones, including arts & crafts, games, storytelling, and physical activities like juggling, poi, stilt walking, unicycle and yoga.

Hauora, the Healing Hub, offers a wide range of alternative therapies including massage and reiki, as well as a daily schedule of holistic health related workshops.

These KISS are chosen specifically because what the presenters have studied, and what they have to offer, are in allignment with the philosophy promoted by Luminate. They are facilitating a space in which we can come together to learn new principles, be entertained, enlightened or healed in some new way, so that we might venture back into the world with skills to change how we are thinking and how we are living; to set forth in a direction of self-sustainability and self-reliance.

Luminate itself is a living workshop. You'll see examples of low-tech building with natural materials and re-using resources. What happens when sewerage systems fail? How do we cook or have showers with no power? You could learn how to look after the basics of your own survival.

Maybe you want to hone your communication skills, or learn to free up your body in dance or yoga. Maybe you require a big shot of consciousness-raising by discovering what the Mayan calendar or unified field theory are all about. Maybe you just want to listen to the legends of this fine land, Aotearoa, or be entertained by puppets. Maybe you really need to find out how to grow your vegies organically, or drift off to the aural journeying of didgeridoo. Whatever workshop you choose, you will hopefully leave with something more than you came in with, something you can pass on to others or incorporate into your life.

So make the most of it – check out the timetables, read up on the descriptions, find out about the presenters – and go with what resonates, what interests most.
It might be the best thing you ever learned!