I\’m back at Bikram Yoga Tranquil Point in Tasmania as I write this. I decided to come back for a week long Bikram Yoga teacher retreat, which so far has been an experience I can\’t wait to write about! I spent the last 3 weeks teaching at Bikram Yoga Dunedin in New Zealand. It was an interesting transition to pack up and start all over again in New Zealand after I got so comfortable in Tasmania. A new place to live, new students, new studio, teaching in a city as opposed to the small town of Cygnet. All this uprooting and lack of routine for me is totally out of character and I have to admit I was quite lonely when I first arrived in New Zealand.
I immediately occupied my time with sight seeing and of course finding the best places to have coffee. Which wasn\’t difficult! One cafe was better than the next! The beaches and the scenery are so absolutely stunning. I would stand there and look at the rocky cliffs, the ocean, the endless, rolling, green mountains and think this must be the place where rainbows start and end! It was again hard for me to drive from point A to point B without stopping and taking picture after picture. I was getting used to driving. I finally stopped turning on the windshield wipers every time I tried to make a turn. Crossing the street, however, still threw me for a loop. I decided the best approach was to look in every direction before I crossed the street! After all, there could be crazy American drivers on the road! God willing I get back to the States in one piece!
After a few days of teaching and practicing in the studio I started to feel more at home. I have loved and preached about the benefits of Bikram yoga for years, but the really amazing thing about it now is wherever I go in the WORLD to teach or practice I instantaneously have new friends and I extend the network of my professional contacts. The unfortunate part is, I realized my new occupational hazard is meeting really great people and than having to say goodbye. I decided to pick up a saying my brother-in-law says and keep it to \”so long for now\”…and never, never say goodbye.
At Bikram Yoga Dunedin I was teaching 8-10 classes a week and practicing once a day. Not a crazy schedule by any means for a yoga teacher. However, the studio in Dunedin was just a bit more humid than I was used to. As a firm believer in sweating once a day, I am definitely not complaining! It just took some balancing. I found myself eating based on iron, zinc, magnesium, protein, electrolytes and I was back to drinking A LOT of water in a day. As I did back in training, I truly had to fuel my body. Not a bad lesson to learn. I still managed to carefully time when I would fit in cinnamon rolls, ginger slices and cheese scones. The entire time I was in Dunedin I was eyeing up Afghan Cookies but never managed to order one. I think I was afraid they were going to be THAT good. I finally got one the morning I was leaving and it was TO DIE FOR. A chocolate cookie made with cornflakes! Who knew that would be a good combination?
I had a few revelations while I was in New Zealand. I had heard stories of people having emotional releases and major epiphanies in training or through their regular yoga practice. I had never had one and of course was waiting for it!!! One day I was walking along the beach at Sandfly Bay. The sun was out, the water was perfectly blue, there were sea lions lounging all over the beach. Just a perfect day. Since I started teaching full time, I have had some extra time on my heads to contemplate and think about things that never used to cross my mind. I started thinking with all the traveling around what are the most important things I need….water, yoga, mint tea, good coffee and I would just LOVE to go shopping. A little retail therapy. I couldn\’t believe that thought entered my head. Was my soul that empty that shopping was one of the things that filled it up! The very thought was the result capitalism and mass marketing at its finest! When did that happen? How long has been purchasing overpriced clothing been filling my soul? WOW! That is something I have to work on. Talk about peeling the onion. It\’s going to take a while to get to the bottom of that one! I\’ll get there.
My other revelation was based on a piece of advice my father often gives me. In my lonely first few days in Dunedin, I was spending A LOT of time in cafes drinking coffee. Every now and then my brain switches back to the societal norm thinking of what am I doing here? I should be doing more in a day. I\’m not working 40 hours a week. I\’m not busy enough. I almost have no need to set an alarm…something is not right! My father often says \”what you think about comes about\”. Although, I tread lightly on the topic of putting what you want out to the \”universe\”…Call it what you want, it never fails to prove true! I have always been envious of people that could just sit around Starbucks, completely leisurely, not rushing anywhere, no \”to do\” list. I have thought OFTEN, god I want to be able to do that. Was that so much to ask? To have a life where I could JUST sit and enjoy sipping coffee without having to run off to the next thing? Apparently not! I was now living that life! What I thought about did come about…TENFOLD! Needless to say, now I\’m a believer of that trusty saying! Over the years, I have most certainly become more mindful in my yoga practice. When you take that outside of the yoga room, off your yoga mat, it can be a scary, daunting thing to become more mindful of the thoughts crossing through your brain!
My last revelation was based on something on Emmy Cleaves said while I was in training. Emmy is one of Bikram\’s most senior teachers. She\’s in her 80\’s and still practices and teaches at Headquarters in Beverly Hills. She\’s an impressive woman to say the least. In one of her classes during training she said always move through your postures with intention and purpose. It\’s funny because a whole year later there are little bits and pieces of information from training that just come out of my mouth while I am teaching and I didn\’t even realize I absorbed it to be repeating it! All part of \”trusting the process\” I suppose. The statement makes perfect sense in the yoga room, but I started thinking every single day of my life should be handled like that. To live every single day with intention, with purpose. It\’s my life, my own responsibility to write my own road map. Everyday I set an intention. After all, what I think about comes about!
