Yoga in an art gallery – Lang Toun Fest takes me out of my comfort zone

It’s not the usual way to appreciate art, but festivals have a habit of creating new and different events and experiences.

This was part of Kirkcaldy Yoga Festival, one of the many strands to the 2026 Lang Toun Fest, and its Yoga Nidra event, led by Lisa Mulube, was fully booked.

I’m no yogi, but the classes I have done I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, even if my downward dog looks alarmingly wonky, and there are poses that defeat my gnarled old body - and I struggle to visualise stretching a big toe or opening up my chakras.

Nidra yoga is something anyone can do as you simply chill out in a room where the only sound is the soothing voice of your tutor, and it is surprisingly comfortable lying on a mat for an hour with your socks and shoes off.

Doing yoga in an art gallery also allowed us to explore the works on the wall, and I found myself curled up below between a print of the Michael Colliery disaster, and one of Jocky Wilson on the oche. That’s what festivals are all about - trying something new, exploring, discovering. And enjoying.

Where Lang Toun Fest works a treat is it serves up host of things to try, groups to discover, and places to go.

As a community led initiative, it ticks pretty much every box, and now we are into year two, it clearly has something other initiatives here have lacked - staying power.

I love festivals, big and small. They create a buzz that spreads far beyond the entry gate, and create memories that can last a lifetime. We cannot recreate the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, but we can ride its coat-tails in the same way as North Berwick does every year with its Fringe By The Sea shindig which brings huge names from music, literature and comedy to town and into a giant upturned blue tent the park at the end of the High Street. We got bigger parks, better transport links … just sayin’

Browsing this year’s Fringe brochure, it also struck me we need to copy what it does in the next Lang Toun Fest programme, and give people a bit more info rather than just the date, event and venue.

That takes time and resource but it would be well worth the return - a brief description and a social media link gives people the option to find out more and move a step closer to attending or taking part.

There is no doubt the printed programme works, and works well, so we need to shout about what we have, while pulling all the levers to create, or bring, something even bigger to town because we have something really special here.

Give folk what they want, and sell them the opportunity to try something different.

If you can persuade around 15 folk to lie down in an art gallery for some yoga, then you can almost certainly get them along to a craft event, or take in a conversation with an author, and take a chance on a live gig that sits outwith their normal sphere.