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The European Yoga Festival is starting this weekend and many students, staff and alumni from MPA will be participating. Here’s what we have planned:

Sunday, june 29th to saturday, august 4th: come see us at our booth

Monday, july 30th: evening yoga on sadhana stage

Tuesday, june 31st – wednesday, august 1st: mpa day with overnight at chateau anand

We’re following up last year’s MPA Day with an overnight camp at Chateau Anand. We have lots of fun activities planned – swimming, canoeing, hiking along with MPA favourites like Bang! and a nighttime game of Tapa. We’ll be leaving from the festival at 9am on Tuesday. This is the scheduled activity for teen camp. All teens will be participating.

Wednesday, august 1st: celebration of this year’s graduates

Upon arriving back to the festival from Chateau Anand we’ll be celebrating this year’s graduates and showcasing their bhangra, gatka and tabla performances. Check in at our booth for more details.

Saturday, august 4th – alumni picnic and raffle draw!

Each year at Solstice we honour our graduates in the presence of their families and the community at Solstice for the dedication, heart and sacrifice they’ve put into their education at MPA. This year’s graduates spent between three and nine years of their lives at Miri Piri Academy, devoted to the program and the learning available to them there. They’ve done countless PTs, stood still through hundreds of formations, practiced dozens of meditations, experienced and carried the Cherdi Kala spirit in Nagar Kirtans throughout the Punjab, and been kind and compassionate to each other as they experienced all of these things thousands of miles from home. By the grace and blessing of the Guru, their parents and the community, they’ve been given this opportunity and in turn have given themselves over to the experience to be strengthened and uplifted. The graduation ceremonies at Solstice and the European Yoga Festival are our opportunity to formally congratulate the students in the presence of their families and the Sangat.

This year’s ceremony was live streamed by 3HO Foundation. The first video includes an opening Ardas, a welcome by Principal Jugat Guru Singh, a wonderful keynote address by Tommy Rosen, and speeches by all of the graduates. The second video includes a table performance, bhangra performance and gatka presentation.

Our second annual MPA Benefit Basketball Tournament was a success with lots of students, alumni and friends of MPA coming to play and support the players. The games were exciting throughout, with the intensity kicked up an extra notch when the grand prize was announced. This year’s grand prize was a round-trip ticket to India for each of the five players on the winning team, an amazing prize graciously donated by our alumni.

Continuing the tradition from last year, the games were expertly commentated on by Shabd Singh and Satshabad Singh, with Himmat Singh facilitating the tournament. Guru Jodha Singh also made a guest appearance commentating.

Many thanks go out to all those who helped make this event a success. Thank you to all of the players, to those who contributed to our grand prize, to Jiwan Kaur for organizing the bake sale, to all those who contributed baked goods, to the commentators and score keepers, and for all those who attended this event and gave their support.

We’ll be hosting this event again next year at the same time, the Sunday at the end of Solstice. Put it in your calendars now and make this part of your Solstice experience!

The final special dinner this year was hosted by Blue House. The theme, “Wedding of the Century!”

The evening started out in the quad with the wedding ceremony. As the guests lined the aisle, Vladimir walked his daughter, Siri Atma, down the aisle where Prabhujot waited and James officiated the wedding. It was a short ceremony with rings brought by Ruben, the ring bearer, and sealed with a high five!

After the ceremony, guests were ushered along a candle lit path to the dining tent. The tables were nicely decorated with candles and flowers. There was a fake wedding cake and sparkling juice on ice near the entrance. After the guests settled in and service began, Prabhujot and Siri Atma ceremoniously entered the dining hall.  For the meal they served beet soup with a side of tofu for appetizer, pesto pasta and salad for the main dish and a spiced cake for dessert.

Throughout the evening, the usual wedding activities ensued. There was a speech by the bride’s father, the bride’s sister and the bride and groom themselves; Siri Atma and her friends, Sarib Jot, Surya Bahadur and Sebastian, danced for the guests, and Hargobind played a touching slide show in honour of the bride and groom. Near the end of the evening, Siri Atma gathered all the girls to throw her bouquet, which was caught by Joti and then the new bride and groom opened up the dance floor with their first dance.

It was a really fun, enjoyable evening, and great test of skill for the house and their squad leader to host this most complicated of social events.