Download: 'Mindfulness' events planned at metal festival

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A heavy metal festival is to introduce yoga and meditation spaces this year.

Download's organisers are set to offer a "mindfulness" programme alongside the usual rock riffs, solos and snakebite.

Bosses of the three-day event, in Leicestershire, said the deaths of Prodigy frontman Keith Flint and Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell had inspired the move.

Experts say evidence for the benefits of mindfulness is "encouraging", but more research is needed.

Enter Shikari frontman Rou Reynolds, who has spoken about his own mental health struggles, has backed the scheme.

He said: "We're rarely consciously in control of our turbulent mind.

"Mindfulness allows us to regain control as we learn to observe our thoughts instead of getting caught up in them."

Does mindfulness work?

June's festival at Donington Park will be headlined by Slipknot, Tool and Def Leppard.

Melvin Benn, managing director of organisers Festival Republic, said the festival hoped to "provide a mindfulness haven...with meditation, sound baths, and more".

Prodigy frontman Keith Flint took his own life in March and Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell died in 2017.

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