There’s something wonderfully magical about stepping into a Mindvalley event.
Certainly, the neon wings and purple props make for an enchanting atmosphere. But pomp and circumstance aside, the vibe has an inexplicable gloriousness to it — kind of like stepping into the mind of the person who came up with “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
The reason for this extraordinarily good ambiance? The community.
And when it comes to the personal growth community, Mindvalley events, like A-Fest and Mindvalley University, are where it’s at.
Why You Feel the Need to Belong
We all have the desire to stand out; yet, we also want to fit in. It’s a vital social component of every human being, stemming back from our ancestors who functioned as a group for survival.
It’s no different in this day and age. Cultivating social bonds counteracts the feelings of loneliness, which, unfortunately, contributes to the risk of adverse health outcomes.
Research has found social isolation and loneliness to be linked to a number of physical and mental conditions, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, anxiety, depression, and even Alzheimer’s. And as a matter of fact, social exclusion triggers the same part of our brain as when we feel physical pain.
We are all connected and therefore should seek understanding with each other.
— Vishen, founder of Mindvalley
It comes as no surprise (or it shouldn’t anyway) that belonging is a need. So much so that social psychologist Abraham Maslow put it as one of the main human priorities in his 1943 essay, “A Theory of Human Motivation.”
The principles later became known as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a pyramid-illustrated categorization of our physiological needs to survive (like food, water, and rest) and our emotional needs (love, belonging, and esteem) for our personal growth.
How it contributes to your well-being
The feeling of inclusion comes with benefits, science-backed and all. Here’s a look at a few of them:
- It helps with mental health. A 2020 study on the relationship between community-belonging and self-rated health found that strong bonds within a group of people were positively associated with mental well-being.
- Human touch can help with stress. Hugging, high-fiving, and shaking hands are all interactions within a community. One study even reported that “touch can have a calming effect and alter the way stress is handled, thereby promoting mental and physical health.”
- It contributes to self-esteem. Belonging is more than just having one large group of friends — it’s about quality rather than quantity, after all. In a 2015 study, researchers found that cultivating kinship amongst multiple groups can bolster personal self-esteem.
Without a doubt, being a part of something bigger than ourselves is a necessary ingredient for an abundant life.
And if there’s a lesson learned from the isolation of the pandemic, it’s that connection with like-minded people who can help us step into our greatness.
“We are creating new spaces of belonging,” says Eni Selfo, Mindvalley’s head of community management. It’s a principle she holds dearly, having grown up with the feeling of not fully belonging (“neither fish nor fowl,” as she highlights in a post on her LinkedIn). And it’s one she and her team are adamant to fulfill.
Without a doubt, there are pros to being a member of a group. There are also benefits of going through a transformational program as a collective, as demonstrated in a 2018 study that found more weight loss amongst the participants with buddies than those without one.
When you are on a journey where you are transforming yourself, change cannot be sustained in the long term unless you have a community of people around you who are aligned with that change.
— Eni Selfo, head of community management at Mindvalley
That’s exactly what Mindvalley events provide — the safe (and absolutely fun) space to undergo a personal growth journey with others who are doing the same. As Eni adds, “There’s nothing more impactful than the people you do your life with.”
Serving humanity
While Mindvalley is known for being a personal growth platform, it has always been about serving humanity first. So much so that it’s a part of our manifesto.
And personal development events, like A-Fest and Mindvalley University, are no different.
For many years, A-Fest has been non-profit.
And because the Mindvalley community is a global one, proceeds from prior A-Fests have gone to Syrian refugees. Additionally, the ones from A-Fest 2022 have gone to various non-governmental organizations to support Ukraine in its current crisis.
Using AI-powered connections
Mindvalley is no stranger to technology. Even within its app is a way to make connections with other members — and with good reason.
The reality is, there are so many aspects to personal growth. If you’re a parent, you’d more likely want to link up with other parents. Or if you’re into energy healing, you’d navigate towards others with the same interest.
So within a global community like Mindvalley, how could you find your people?
How would the technology help with making deep connections easier?
Eni explains that the AI-powered connections would send you a list of potential people you can connect with based on your location, interests, career, Mindvalley quests that you’ve done or are going through, and life goals, on top of other factors.
It’d essentially act as a buddy system for anything and everything Mindvalley-related, from quest communities to local meet-ups to Mindvalley events around the world.
Appreciating the Mindvalley Members
One of the wonderful things about Mindvalley events is the people with a shared passion for growth and transformation. Here’s what some members who’ve been part of the Mindvalley community have to say:
Ashok Thakur, India
Community and events are so awesome that it is almost impossible not to be positively impacted or changed. It is like you are in a river of content and knowledge. No matter where you are, you are going to flow. If you swim, you will go farther but even if you just float, you are going to change. Force of the tide is going to take you with it and show you new vistas.
Kerry Fischer, United States of America
About a year-and-a-half ago, I started doing meet-ups in New York and I met lots of Mindvalley members and now, they’ve made this global. So, it’s been really cool to watch these local meet-ups happen because I really think that connection is the key. … [Personal growth] is something that I’ve always studied and I’ve always loved, but I’ve never had anyone to discuss it with. So meeting up with people who are from the Mindvalley community — they’re all interested in personal growth and becoming better — and it’s great.
You can learn more about how Mindvalley impacts its members at Mindvalley Stories.
Take events like the Super Bowl, World Cup, Burning Man, Coachella, or even Holi, for example. You’ve got to admit, the collective energy is always at a whole other level than watching it digitally.
These kinds of events cultivate a community (or communities) of like-minded people — American football fans for the Super Bowl, self-expression enthusiasts for Burning Man, music lovers for Coachella, and so on. And these communities provide belongingness, interrelatedness, connectedness, and a list of “–ness”-isms that fulfill the foundations of human needs.
Since belongingness has a great impact on your well-being, it’s important to be intentional about cultivating it with those who share the same values and commonalities as you.
Here are Eni’s suggestions on how you can find your people in the Mindvalley community:
1. Identify what’s most important to you
Different Mindvalley quests are going to attract different profiles. For example, someone looking to instill Love Week in their workplace will have a different interest than those looking to uplevel their sex life or even those who want to move beyond their love wounds.
For Eni, it’s about her professional career. So for her, she would gravitate to those in the community who are doing the same.
Find out what’s important to you, she advises. It’s about “being intentional about what type of conversation you want to have and the type of people that you want to surround yourself with.”
2. Know how to leverage the connections you make
If you want to learn about something you’re unfamiliar with, find a mentor. Cultivating a relationship with one can help guide and motivate you, as well as impact your choices and life trajectory significantly.
Since personal growth is wide-ranged, so are the people in it. And at Mindvalley, you’ll find all sorts of profiles.
You want to find a best-selling author? You will. An inventor? You will. A psychologist? You will. A person who channels energy for abundance? You will.
“So how do you want to really leverage this community?” asks Eni. “How do you want to leverage the connections that you can make, leverage the doors they can open for you in a way that helps you become the person you want to become?”
3. Join a meet-up
The way to find your people is to actually go find them. You can absolutely become a Mindvalley Member and join curated events, like A-Fest, Mindvalley University, and so on.
You can also go to your Mindvalley app and click on the “Connect” icon. There, you’ll find people near you, so you can arrange a hangout if you prefer.
If you’re not yet ready to commit, you can join a meet-up. The great thing is, Mindvalley members come from all around the globe, so you can find them meeting up in different cities around the world.
At Mindvalley, it’s not about the had-to-be-there vibes to show off on social media; rather, it’s about a way to cultivate our common humanity to connect with other people.
Diving head-first into the deep end of personal growth can be a lot. And when you’re immersed in it during events, like A-Fest and Mindvalley University, it may feel something like being in the aftermath of a glitter bomb explosion.
So this is an invitation for you, instead, to experience Mindvalley, one bit at a time.
When you sign up for an account (for free, of course), you can check out sample lessons of the different quests available on the Mindvalley app. Each quest has its own accountability group so even if you’re online, you can go through the journey with like-minded individuals. What’s more, if there’s someone in the vicinity of your location who’s doing the same quest as you, you can meet up with them.
If you’re unsure of where to start, this simple quiz can help you identify the areas of growth you want to prioritize. As Vishen once said, “Epic things start with small, humble steps” and being a part of the Mindvalley community can be the first.
Welcome in.
Tatiana Azman
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