I did something unthinkable. I feel like quite the bad-ass. I had a room in a beautiful Victorian house in Brooklyn for seven-hundred-twenty-two dollars a month, all inclusive. I gave it, and most of my belongings, up to travel the world indefinitely. I was not unhappy. I had a good job. I had been practicing yoga for ten years and teaching two to four classes a week for about a year. I didn't own much besides some furniture and a lot of books and nail polishes. I had no romantic relationship, kids, pets, or even houseplants. Life was comfortable so why would I leave? But really, why should I stay put? There are plenty of opportunities to travel and teach yoga all around the world. The first gig to come through was a goddess wisdom festival in Rajasthan, India. Next, a chateau in Southwest France agreed to put me up in exchange for teaching and renovation work. I had places to go and work to do.
In seven months of adventure I've learned that it's easy to be fully present in the moment when it’s yoga next to a sunflower field in France with a group of international new friends. Harder to be present during a daylong panic attack at an overcrowded, drug-fueled hippie festival in Serbia. That drowning panic attack feeling is awful. It reminded me of my fragility. I had been managing my life so well for so long that I forgot what it feels like to fall apart. It's not pleasant like a field of sunflowers but it is undeniably human. Through the array of emotions and experiences, I practice yoga. In Rajasthan, I learned that traditionally, girls and women do not practice yoga. They cover their faces, marry in their teens and definitely do not travel around the world alone. We in the Western world are living the evolution of yoga. I love to learn and share modern interpretations of this ancient system. How can we use this tool of yoga to cultivate mindfulness and compassion in an ever distracting, increasingly scary world?
Home is where I lay my mat – from France to Serbia, India to Cambodia, Australia to New Zealand I realize that on this journey, I must struggle and drown a little otherwise I may as well have stayed safe at home in Brooklyn. For me, this is the yoga. "Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final." Rainer Maria Rilke.
I travel and live yoga because it makes me feel so tremendously vivid. Yeah, but is it worth leaving a low rent unicorn in New York City? Ask again next time I'm ready to rent an apartment.
