Friends, I have completed my 200 hour yoga teacher training certification and although I’m thrilled to have graduated, it truly is bitter sweet to have parted ways with the dear teachers and friends that I have made. I could have continued for so much longer, although perhaps not with the 12 hrs a day, 6 days a week. However, that is what it took and the program was magnificent! I’ve not only learned so much but many a lamp has been lit within my soul and now I have so many more questions and a desire to learn much more in some beautiful and newly discovered subjects.
Today I had the pleasure of volunteering at a local orphanage and I got to teach 16 children some yoga, music, and games. It was amazing, to say the least. As the children chanted Om shanti, shanti, shanti I felt as if I could smile, cry, laugh, and melt all at once. I look forward to how the universe will unfold the ways that I (and you!) can help.
Speaking of children, Mirabelle and Jasper are still having a blast here in Bali and we cruise through the monkey forest via motor bike, swim, do yoga, sing, dance, play, and what not, every day. We miss our dear family and friends and yet we’re really not so far after all. Just one day into the future, it feels at times. Love to you all. *xo*
Oh whew. The rocking chair doesn’t squeak. My family is living in a little bungalow cottage and only one of the rooms is air conditioned. We all sleep in it together and both Ua and I are enjoying the treasure of the before bed stories and early morning snuggles, as well as sleepy time murmurs and giggles. There is a funky bamboo crib that Jajee sleeps in but as soon as he wakes he’s in the gigantic comfy bed with the rest of us. Ahhhhhh. Bliss.
When my family and friends were asking me what had inspired us to move to Bali and why we were going, the answer seemed quite simple to me. You see, long ago I had been to Esalen in Big Sur for the weekend and I had felt so connected with our universe and I felt so close to understanding my purpose and mission at the time. On the drive back from Big Sur to Redwod City I had a long heart-to-heart talk and prayer with the universe. I did most of the talking. Well, I thank my lucky stars with all of my heart, for that night my prayer was answered via Dream.
The wind rushed up all around me and lifted my hair and all of the greenery swayed in the big green field around me. I looked into the eyes of a beautiful woman who I thought must be an angel, surely. She knew all my thoughts without my speaking them and she understood my plight, she heard my plea. I assumed that the place must have been heaven. I stood to the side of a big wooden building that was open and the day was sunny. Other people milled about quietly and the tranquil ambience was as intoxicating as could be. I felt cleansed and renewed. I woke up in the morning and I told Ua about the dream as well as wrote about it in my dream journal. Little did I know that the dream held vast significance and yet I knew that it was more than just a dream.
A year later we went to a concert that was different than many of the venues we attend because it had tables and chairs. Our friend got there first and saved a spot for us at a table right up in front, next to a gentleman who happened to live in Bali. He also happened to have lived in the exact same village in Thailand, Pai, that I fell in love with and stayed both of my visits to that country. His name was Troy and he told Ua and me all about the village he lives in here in Bali, as well as all about the yoga school that he and his parter have founded. Both Ua and I knew that our lives had changed and that this chance encounter hadn’t been merely coincidence. We had been inspired!
That night before going to bed I stopped off at my laptop to google the school of sacred arts that we had learned about. I found the link to the teacher training Troy had mentioned and also saw a picture of Simone, Troy’s parter. My heart stopped as I laid my eyes upon Simone and the photos of the Yoga Barn, where the teacher training was to be held. Could it be? Yes, indeed. The same beautiful woman and the same gorgeous place that I had dreamt about so long before. Not only had my prayer been answered, but as usual, the universe was working in synch with the divine timing that always seems to know best. My heart started to beat again and I went to bed with an enormous smile, knowing full well that my prayer had been answered and that the next step of our journey had been revealed. Et voila!
My dear husband believed in the miracle and although he is the principal of a small high school and very content, he is willing to follow the dream and find a new school to work with, new friends, new ways of life, and a new beginning. Our cherubim, Mirabelle and Jasper, are very young and yet also willing to flow along with this transition. Ua informed the dear owners of the school where he works that this school year would be his last with them, we began to give away most of our things, we read books and began learning Baliniese, and we could barely contain our excitement!
And now we are here. We have journeyed for a day across the clouds and through the sunbeams into what feels like what surely must be another land. Another time and space in this dimension we know as life. I’ve felt the deja vu sensation so many a time as I’ve happily lived here and we pray with hearts full of thanks and gratitude for being shown this path, and for the guidance and courage that it took for us all to follow through.
I traveled for years solo-style, just my backpack, guitar and me. It always seemed so much harder to help others to get up and go, when and where the wind was blowing me. I’d work three jobs just to buy my ticket and have money for food and shelter and then I’d blissfully do as I felt inspired. I was so thankful that I’d had the opportunity to travel abroad so much. Many, many folk said that now I must be content to stay in the US with my children. However, I believe with all of my heart that if you are given a dream and once inspiration is instilled, you must work with all your heart and soul until that seed sprouts, blooming into the flower that lives within all of our hearts. Everyone on our green earth has been given a different dream and ambition, which is why I believe our world goes round in a harmonious circle. Just go with the flow and we’ll all help each other, for each one of us is in pursuit of that flower. :)
As I stood in my first yoga session at the yoga barn and looked out across the rice paddies my heart was stilled. I was in awe with my surroundings and that it was all really real. During a balancing pose I was using a beautiful pink flower in a tree above me as my focal point and just as I was admiring the incredible beauty of the flower, a yellow-bellied humming bird flew up to have a sip of the nectar which must have been no less than magical. I watched and I said what must have been my millionth prayer of the day. Friends, we truly live in a beautiful world and no matter where we are there is beauty all around us. Here’s to the beauty we share and to the day when we shall all live, smile, and dance together in perfect harmony. Oh what a day it will be. ~ *Love, Light, & Peace.* ~
One month. In exactly one month from today my family will be embarking on an adventure that I’m expecting to positively inspire and mold our future forevermore. We are moving to Bali, Indonesia and there are hopes of helping to make our world an even better place than it already is. Welcome to my website/blog that will enable me to keep in touch with you all, as well as help you to share your talents, ideas, wares, and what not. Testing, testing, 123. :)