Hey girl, I know why you’re here. Like me, you want to shed weight while having fun experiences that not only transform your body, but also heal your soul, and mind.  My intention is that this blog inspires you to go on adventures, invite your friends, and make new friends to grow your girl tribe while shedding pounds just like I am. So without further ado…

The first festival I went to on my weight-loss journey was called “High Vibe Fest” and it happened in June 2025. I knew that this festival would be the catalyst for healing my feminine wounds and help me to make more friends to build up my girl tribe of like-minded women. I was surprised by how quickly my body began to heal too.

Every Sister in my tribe goes to festivals like this (after they crowd surf of course) and if you want to be brave like me and my sisters you will too.  Here’s my High Vibe story of empowerment.

 

Getting My STEPS 👟 in + Signs of 9 everywhere

Tara and I packed her car for our camping adventure in the desert oasis and using our superwomen muscles, we loaded this super heavy rug on the top of her car all by ourselves, it was a total badass girl power moment for us! I snapped one of my nails in the process. But hey, festival life, right? We will be talking about that rug for years to come, it was that big of a feat.

On our drive there we saw the number 9 everywhere, signs, the map navigation system, license plates, building addresses…literally everywhere. And being the spiritual sisters we are, we took that as a sign and you know we totally googled what that could mean for our festival experience. Just look at what our search results revealed to us!!!

“In numerology, the number 9 signifies completion, endings, and new beginnings, spiritual enlightenment, universal love, and humanitarianism. It represents the culmination of a cycle and the potential for a fresh start, often linked to spiritual growth and serving a higher purpose.”

I mean, come on!!! How could it get any better than this? Was this a sign that I was in the right place at the right time and everything was going to work out for us or what?!

After we went through orientation and put up our tent, we toured the grounds, went to town and got gas, prepped for our shifts the next day and enjoyed the djs that played at the various locations throughout the night. Most of the vendors had set up their shops and the food vendors were already filling the air with delicious smelling organic food. Tara and I went to the Nohm elixir bar and ordered 2 tea spritzers to share. One was some kind of divine feminine concoction and the other was divine masculine. We drank them with the intentions of healing past wounds and attracting romance into our lives. For the life of me, I wish I could remember what was in those teas! I scoured my camera for pictures of the menu but like a dummy I didn’t take one. Please forgive me.

All in all, I tracked 11,999 steps for the day, made a few new friends, and went to bed with a heart full of love and gratitude with the sounds of really great music to lull me to sleep in our perfectly placed tent under the best  tree on the campground.

 

Day 2, I learned that men can be trustworthy

–Dudes and nudes–

I woke up prepared to experience new energy and I was not disappointed. The energy of this day was all about the masculine.  Oddly enough I did not see a single one of the new girls from my girl tribe that day.  I found that really interesting. Even more strange, men were flocking to me and I had to wonder if I was still dreaming because the attention was so unexpected but also very enjoyable. Before this day I felt awkward receiving compliments and attention from men, on day 2 I welcomed and appreciated everything I was receiving. They were giving me massages, hugs, buying me presents, and loading me up with compliments. I got a few phone numbers and instagram follows too. Could it have been the tea from the night before? 😏

Here’s how it went, after doing kundalini yoga with Tara that morning, my day started with John walking me to my shift. He taught me about the importance of hugging, how many hugs you should give and receive every day, how long a hug should be, and the proper body positioning for hugging. He also gave a few demonstrations throughout the day to make sure I got my recommended daily dose of hugs.

John recommends 7 hugs per day that last 20 seconds or longer.

When you embrace the person you hug, align your bodies so your hearts are touching. “A heart-to-heart hug, or the “right” way to give a hug (moving to your right rather than your left).”

During my shift MJ was incredibly attentive. It happened to be the hottest day of the event so far and he fanned me, brought me cold waters, gave me so many compliments and a neck massage. On my break I went to the pool, where I met “Rave Daddy”…he was naked and asked me to hold his watch when he got in the pool and told me about how important it was to properly take care of your body while attending a rave or festival.

After seeing so many naked people at this festival I decided to be brave after my shift and visit the foamy steam oasis ( and also because the showers for the camp were still not set up.) For those of you who may be unfamiliar with a foamy steam oasis, this was a big tent that had a shower station where someone would spray you with soapy foam using Dr. Bronner’s brand soap.They also had a steam room, 2 giant water beds, a dj station and dance floor. And yes, people typically were nude in there. My first time there I decided to just get naked. In public. For the first time ever. When in Rome, right?! I chatted it up with several people while I was there. A group of women in the changing area made me feel more comfortable with the idea and set my expectations in a nurturing way.

It was surprising to me that I could have normal conversations with naked men, multiple men, and none of them were flirtatious or inappropriate in any way. Being surrounded by a group of other naked men and women with imperfect bodies gave me a feeling of relief and confidence I have never experienced before when I was alone with an intimate partner. This was incredibly liberating. There was not an ounce of shame or embarrassment in my mind. My body wasn’t a dirty thing. My body wasn’t embarrassing. My body deserves to be loved and seen.

I made a friend with a man who worked there, he went by the nickname Solar and he was in charge of the foam spray. He was also naked. In public. Not his first time ever, lol.

Ok so get this, after I felt complete with my experience I was walking out and the women working in the front asked me how I liked it… I told them how much I loved it! So they offered to host a cat walk ceremony for me to strut my stuff on the dance floor. I accepted their kind offer and I did it with grace, confidence, some sass and a little bit of silliness. Now, I’m not saying that you need to go out in public and get naked, this was part of my healing journey and I fully embraced it.

Later that night I met back up with Solar and he gifted me with an unlimited pass to the oasis. We went back there after having tea with Tara and some other girls and he gave me another massage on one of the water beds. I was such a spoiled goddess that day and I loved every frikin moment of it. This is the life I deserve. 

 

Day 3, I found my girl tribe

The Swan, the Dragonfly and the Rose Temple

Have you ever woken up one day and just knew that was the day that was going to make all the difference? This was my experience on the last day of the festival. My intention was all about me.  I knew it the second I woke up. All the other days I was just the “go with the flow” kinda gal. Not this day. Nope. The Rose Temple was calling to me, it was a women’s only sacred space with several events taking place that day. It was all working out so perfectly. That morning I had breakfast with Zhanna, the woman camping next to Tara and me.  She did a Native American card reading for me using a deck she brought with her.  I pulled 3 cards, one for my past, one for my present and one for my future. I will tell you about my present card.

I pulled the swan in reverse.

Swan

The power of woman

Entering sacred space,

Touching the future,

Yet to come,

Bringing eternal grace.

In this story I found myself relating to swan…

 

About Swan Medicine: Grace & Trust

Swan teaches us how to move through transformation with grace. She starts as an “ugly duckling,” unsure of who she is, until she learns to surrender and trust the flow of life.

In the medicine story, Swan flies into the Dreamtime and lands in a pond, confused and searching for the future. Dragonfly appears—the guardian of illusion—and points out a swirling black hole, saying, “That’s the doorway to other realms. You can enter, but only if you’re willing to trust what the Great Spirit shows you, without trying to control it.”

Swan says yes. She lets go, surrenders, and is pulled into the spiral. When she returns, she’s completely transformed—graceful, radiant, and wise.

If Swan shows up for you, it’s time to stop resisting change. Trust your intuition. Go with the flow. You do know what’s coming—so stop second-guessing yourself.

Accept the gifts. Trust the process.
Don’t give up—give over.

Do you have chills yet? If you don’t now you will after you read about my day.

The Rose Ceremony

Rebecca Roberts makes a rose tincture. She is based in Colorado and I have been connected to Colorado my entire life. This was what I was waiting for all day. I just didn’t know it until that moment.

She begins to tell us about roses, their healing properties, how she made her tinctures and what they help with. We all partook in some of the tincture that also had a little bit of a hallucinogen effect to it. Next she asked us to think of a moment, a painful memory, that we wish had gone differently. I thought of a time I was on a date with a man who ended up flirting with another woman in front of me while completely ignoring me. She then guided us through a meditation to experience that memory differently. I tripped a bit and saw some vibrant colors and flowers in my vision. The woman next to me flat-out fell asleep. After we all came to and the meditation was over we all went around the room and shared our memories, experience of the meditation and feelings moving on from that pain we just released. It was beautiful, we all were sobbing. So much pain was told in the memories these women, including myself, shared that day. I decided I would trust the partner I choose to be in my life to be a trustworthy man. I allowed myself to have faith that this would be my reality from that day forward.

Before this festival, I had spent nearly 2 decades depriving myself of meaningful friendships with other women. It wasn’t until I began talking about this with other women at the festival that I realized I was not the only one who had this wound as a result of very similar relationship experiences.

I write about this part of my journey because it is so important to what I needed to heal before I could even begin to make more female friends. It was my intention to work on the parts of me that were showing up in relationships that kept attracting men who were not worthy of my time, energy, and attention. =

This part might be a little triggering, but here is my big wound, and like the other women I met in the Rose Temple that day, maybe you can also relate if you have ever dated a man who would be inappropriate with your pretty friends. Or if you ever got a call from one of your friends telling you that your boyfriend was calling or messaging them asking to hang out without you there. Maybe you found out that your boyfriend had cheated on you with someone you had considered a friend.

It’s been my experience that these men probably didn’t realize that women talk, they tell their friends and sometimes they even tell the girlfriend. Have you ever gotten one of these messages from a friend of yours, “OMG, look what this girl’s boyfriend is messaging me!” including screenshots of the conversation? I used to wonder about all the stories being told about my boyfriends in these friend circles that never made it to my ears. It was hurtful knowing that my friends were getting hit on by my boyfriends. It was embarrassing knowing that my friends knew that I was dating a man who would act like that behind my back. It was understandable why they didn’t want to hang out with us. What must they have thought of me knowing I would date someone so disrespectful? What did that say about me knowing that I would tolerate this behavior? Were they thinking I was so desperate for love that I would just put up with this? Did they wonder if I couldn’t find a decent boyfriend because of my low self esteem? It was the choice to stay with these men that also drove some of these friends away.

And here’s where it gets synchronistically mindblowing. 

After all the sobbing, hugging, and healing from the rose ceremony I walked down to the creek to release anything that was brought up or let down from that session. Surrounded by the naked people once again I plunged my feet into the water and sat down on my favorite rock. Next to me was a man who started chatting with me about quantum theories, energy, NLP, and all sorts of far out there thoughts. I totally dig conversations like these. One thing he said to me that really stuck out was that he has this book shelf full of books but doesn’t think he could possibly live long enough to read them all but then he remembered, he was the one that wrote these books in past lifetimes and he just left them here so he could remember what was in them. Because we are all one. Real mind blowing stuff was revealed to me in that conversation.

There were dragonflies everywhere at this creek, the most amazing shade of blue I have ever seen and one landed on my leg. Was it welcoming me into the portal? Do you think it recognized me as the swan? Is your mind blown now? All I can tell you is that after I walked out of that creek I felt like the Queen I have always been with the determination to fill my time with experiences that bring me peace and happiness.

 

Book your festival tickets now, do it for you!

At this festival I shed more than just pounds, I did a lot of things to embrace and let go of many of the insecurities I’ve been experiencing for several years now.  You can probably imagine yourself in some of the same situations I found myself in at this festival. Before you go to bed tonight, go online and find a festival near you and buy yourself a ticket, tag me on instagram @AprylDance  after you booked your festival tickets.