Burning Man: A Yogi's Perspective

Kurt Johnsen (YogAnonymous.org, Sept. 9, 2011)

First, the most common question: “It’s not a concert, so no one is headlining.”

Second, “No, it’s not a Hippie Fest like a Dead or Phish show.”

So what is it?

This weeklong art event, which creates a temporary city of 50,000 in one of the harshest places on Earth, is an experience. It’s a trip!

For sterile stats on its origins (1996 and on a California beach), see Wikipedia.

The location is one of the most unlikely places to party on the planet, a desert of fine almost wispy white sand. It is three hours outside of Reno, Nevada. Nothing, and I really mean nothing (neither plant nor animal) is there most of the year.

Then the Burning Man crew comes in, weeks before the event. They lay out a clock-like grid for the temporary city, which partially wraps around a playa of art, a wooden man who stands ready to burn, and a temple that makes me cry each time I enter it. More

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