I'm in a fantastic mood this morning. It might have something to do with the fact that at this time tomorrow instead of 25 degrees and ice I'll be in Miami on my way to Love Burn!

What is Love Burn?

Love Burn is the Burning Man regional for Miami. What's a Burning Man regional? Think of it as a mini Burning Man. In order to be an official regional the event has to follow the 10 principles of Burning Man and be run as a non-profit. All of the ones I have been to feature an effigy that matches the theme of the event, a temple for personal reflection, and other large art pieces that will eventually be set on fire! The first thing people often ask when I mention the festival is "so is that like a music festival?" Sure there is a lot of music and dancing, but that's only a part of what you can experience there. Most music festivals are heavily commercialized and consumption focused. Burns are more like massive collaborative performance art pieces. Everyone there is bringing something to contribute to the entire group, whether that is a stage, a yoga class, a fire dance performance, or just a lot of positive energy and being an amazing fucking person. They are only able to happen because every single person there works together to build, play, and then leave the festival without a trace. As much as I love EDC, it's pretty disheartening to see just how trashed the place is when you leave every night. If a burn is done right, the only evidence it happened a few weeks later are just enough specks of glitter to make you wonder what happened there (and ideally not even that).

What am I going to do there?

Well here is a taste of what happens:

I honestly haven't had time to go through the What/Where/When guide yet, that's an activity I love to do on the way there to get hyped, but I have been thinking about a few things I'd really like to do. Learning a flow art is on my goal list for 2018. I want to learn poi and staff. I actually studied Shaolin long staff when I was living in China and would love to have a reason to get back to practicing. There is almost always someone teaching beginner flow classes, so I'm hopeful to find one. The trick of course is it's near impossible to plan things at a burn. Time tends to lose most meaning and something amazing might happen at any point and lead you off your intended path. Maybe you had too much fun the night before and aren't waking up in time. Maybe you met someone really cool at a bar and you want to go on an adventure instead. Immediacy is one of the 10 principles and it's one that I find myself needing to push for, as I tend to like rigidity and structure. The whole idea is that you see an opportunity to do something cool, do it now, because it might not be there again. That art piece that looks cool? Go look at it now, cause it might be on fire later. That art car that looks fun? Hop on, it's probably going somewhere great. The whole idea is that if you leave yourself open to experience, you might find something amazing you never could have foreseen.

Who am I going with?

My amazing fiance, a friend that we met at a Burning Man decompression party this year who is quickly becoming (really already) one of our favorite people, and her awesome BF from Denver. Not only that but we're part of a larger NYC theme camp called "The Schmear." We're hosting a bagel brunch on Saturday and a few other NYC themed things, and my talented fiance designed our epic flag!

This is going to be our first burn where we are really running with our local community and we're excited to get more involved and get to know them better!

But really, isn't it just an excuse to do a lot of drugs?

Certainly that's something that happens there, but most people are using them to enhance their experience and not for the sole purpose of getting wasted. I'm of the opinion that you should try most things once and Burns are generally safe and supportive environments to try new things. Honestly though it's an amazing experience sober and I'd say the majority of people only drink a bit and some not even that. Again, the whole idea is that you use the festival as a place to experiment and open yourself to experience as a means of personal growth. Sure it's fun, but it's really meant to be a growth experience. The entire process between prep, surviving, building or crafting costumes or art, teardown is really hard. It can be very uncomfortable at times. It's challenging. But ultimately discomfort is how we grow.

That's it for now, hopefully I'll have an amazing trip to report on when I get back! I'll leave you guys with some more amazing pics of years past:

All images from the Love Burn website. Go there to learn more!