Body Mind Spirit Celebration

Body Mind Spirit Celebration runs holistic festivals in over 20 cities a year. Austin is one of their regular stops, typically hosting a two-day weekend event. The events cover natural health, personal growth, psychics, and healing, with enough live entertainment mixed in that they feel more like a weekend gathering than a vendor hall.

The organization started in Ashland, Oregon in 1986. They created what became the Body Mind Spirit Expo in the 1990s, expanded through the Pacific Northwest, then pushed into the Southeast. In 2012 they bought the Metaphysical Celebration in Colorado and launched their Whole Life Festival, which folded more entertainment into the production. In 2020 they picked up the Victory of Light Festival in Cincinnati. After four decades of doing this, they're still a small, self-described "holistic minded team" rather than a corporate outfit. The longevity says something. Most wellness event companies from the 1980s didn't make it to the 2000s, let alone the 2020s.

Most expos in this space amount to rows of vendor tables in a convention center ballroom. Body Mind Spirit Celebration puts real thought into what happens beyond that. Their festivals include yoga domes, kirtan and ambient music stages, meditation spaces, and live sand mandalas being created on site. They've brought in what they call a holistic circus. The result actually feels like a celebration rather than a trade show floor, which is harder to pull off than it sounds when you're organizing events across 20 different cities.

The lineup at any given event mixes local practitioners and vendors with regional and nationally known figures in the holistic world. You can get a tarot reading, try a bodywork modality you haven't encountered before, sit in on a personal growth talk, or just walk the floor and see what catches your attention. The equal emphasis on natural health, metaphysics, and entertainment has been their formula from day one, and they haven't changed it.

They describe themselves as "super excited about bringing together the spiritual and alternative and new thought communities" and "holding space for magical connections to happen." The language is earnest and they own it. This is not an ironic crowd. The people who show up, exhibitors and attendees alike, are genuinely into this stuff. Walk in skeptical and you'll still find something worth your time. Walk in open and you might not leave for hours. The atmosphere runs warm and talkative. Vendors are there because they believe in what they're offering, not because they're working a booth rotation.

Anyone interested in exhibiting can reach Ali Amaya at 541-482-3722 ext 412 or ali@bmse.net. General questions go to believe@bmse.net. Full event schedule and details are at bmse.net.