Posts from the ‘Michigan’ Category
I’m hanging up my nomad hat. Retiring my gypsy skirt. Clipping my butterfly wings.
Ok, that’s a little dramatic. But I am, after over a year of wanderlusting around the world, settling down moving into an apartment of my own and staying in one place…for a while.
Destination: Denver!
About a year and a half ago, as the urge to leave New York City grew stronger and stronger, I had an intense cross-country romance with an awesome guy in Denver, who I oh-so-creatively nicknamed “Denver”. After one visit, I was hooked on Denver (the city), but not the guy (sorry G!). With the notion of leave NYC becoming more and more real, I realized that I needed a bigger change and started dreaming up a serious plan, starting with India. I had no idea where I’d end up, and I didn’t really care. There was a part of me that still loved the idea of moving to Denver, but I was open to anything and everything that could happen in the next year or two. So off I went to India, armed with one bag and a heart full of adventure.
Those seven months around Asia were beyond amazing. Setting foot in India, Thailand and Bali, I knew I’d be coming back. Along the way I met incredible people, many of whom were perpetual travelers. These people, these professional wanderers, intrigued me to no end. They live their life differently. Why not?
Back in the US in June, I was not ready to make any long-term decisions. I setup shop in my family’s summer cabin in the woods of Northern Michigan. Three inspiring months of teaching yoga, doing Thai Massage, cycling and spending time with family. It was perfect.
Come end of July, I started hopping around again with Michigan as my base. First stop: Wanderlust Festival in Lake Tahoe. Wow. This yoga/music festival was pretty much life-changing in more ways than one. Most notably, I fell madly in love with someone I thought was my soulmate. All of the sudden, all bets were off and we wanted nothing more than to be together. Which would require me to shift some big plans I’d made and move to Salt Lake City. Suddenly, the idea of settling down and growing some roots was very attractive. But not yet. I had another two months of traveling ahead of me.
In short, those months went like this: Tahoe –> Michigan –> Salt Lake City –> Michigan –> New York City –> Upstate NY –> New York City –> Michigan –> St. Louis –> Salt Lake City –> St. Louis –> Chicago –> St. Louis.
I know, it’s exhausting to even think about. I was done. In more ways than one.
In the course of that whirlwind, my heart was broken, my health was slipping and I had no clue where to go. I ended up back in my parent’s house in St. Louis, Missouri. For the first time in ten years I was back in the comfort of my childhood home, enjoying the freedom of doing nothing. So naturally, two weeks of sleeping ensued.
I am a big believer of the Universe sending us lessons. All the time. It’s up to us to learn from them.
Sometimes we are fortunate enough to experience and learn a valuable lesson in a considerably short time frame. Other times, we are not so lucky, drawing out wrong relationships and situations for years, even decades.
I somehow managed to fall madly in love, experience a bliss I never knew existed, proceeded to lose myself in that love, experience heartbreak, and go through the grieving process…all in ten weeks. Holy lessons learned!
[Enter Denver. Again.]
In the course of that beautiful love affair, I decided not to move forward with plans to go to massage school in Costa Rica. I was done with traveling to foreign countries for 4 months at a time. Plus, I wasn’t convinced a traditional massage school was the right path for me. I do Thai Yoga Massage and want to continue learning that craft, but I also want to study Western therapeutics and get my massage license. Well, it just so happens that the only school in the country (to my knowledge) that offers an integrative approach to massage – Thai Yoga Massage practicum + Western therapeutics training – is located in Denver. And classes start January 2012. I found all this out the day it was clear Salt Lake City was no longer happening. As usual, the timing is impeccable.
So here we are. I just returned from a quick Denver trip, visiting the school and securing an apartment. The place is perfect, the school exactly what I’m looking for. And the Denver yoga community is so inviting. I couldn’t be more excited. Finally, setting down roots, teaching long-term and starting my practice: exactly what I’ve been yearning for these past few months.
A kitchen. A studio space. A backyard with planter boxes. A hammock. Even a storage shed.
I’m trying not to be attached to these things, but, my goodness! After living out of a suitcase for over a year, they sure make things so very comfortable.
As my teacher told me, all this moving around from place to place creates a feverishness inside. It is true. Being physically grounded naturally lends itself to being mentally and emotionally grounded, as well.
Although, today I just finished reading Tales Of A Female Nomad. And find myself dreaming of my next chance to get away, take off with one bag and immerse myself in something totally new and foreign…
Namaste brave souls.
Something happened today in yoga class. Both this morning and afternoon class, something powerful started brewing. It came into the eyes around the room, almost like a wave coming up and settling slowly across the room. It happened a few times and each time I saw it, I felt a sense of overwhelming peace. Like epitomizing the reason for teaching in the first place.
Today was about balance. After a long holiday weekend, many of us can say our sense of balance was tested in more ways than one. And not to blame fireworks, fishing, eating and whatever else you indulge in on the 4th of July. Our balance is tested everyday. Relationships, work life, diet, activity, you name it. We are constantly striving to figure out what mix works best for us. At least we should be.
Living a life in balance takes practice. I sure as hell work on it on a daily basis. In asana, everything takes practice. As Sri K. Pattabhi Jois said, Practice, practice, practice, practice.
Today we explored how the keys to achieving balancing poses in asana directly relates to living our lives.
Pop quiz: Can you do this?
My answer for every one of them? YES
As we made our way into more difficult arm balances, I decided to share one of my favorite quotes:
“Simply put, the reason there are things you want in life that have not yet appeared, is because you’re just not used to thinking of yourself with them.” -The Universe aka Mike Dooley
A teacher once told us if we can hold ourselves in chaturanga dandasana, we could do this pose (version of parsva bakasana). That changed everything.
So I shared with the room. Suddenly, people perked up and started giving it a shot. As I watched them – fully in their moment, their determination, concentration and breath all working together – I felt my heart melting just a little bit with every try. This was yoga.
In yoga, we are not working on the poses. We are working on ourselves.
So what are the tools for balancing in asana?
- Foundation: Everything starts with a strong foundation. Feel your body firmly rooted to the earth and pressing down to rise up.
- Breath: Breathing evenly and controlled. Not getting flustered, upset or crossing past your edge – these are things that cause us to hold the breath or breathe erratically. Relaxing completely, feeling at ease and joyful in your actions.
- Core: Strength comes from the inside out. Feeling strong and steady in your core allows you to move purposefully and with integrity.
- Focus: Gazing at an unwavering dristi point in front of you, softening your stare to an intent yet relaxed state. Letting whatever else is happening around you fade into the background.
- Attitude: Ah, it always comes back to the mind. In asana, when you fall, just laugh, get up and try it again. This is what makes you stronger.
Such is life. Such is life.
I’ve been a naughty blogger. I know this. Yes, I stopped mid-Bali. So to update…I arrived home a little over two weeks ago after an inspiring amazingness-filled seven month adventure. Life-changing? You bet. So much to be grateful for.
I cannot begin to wrap up that last month I spent in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Suffice to say it was the pinnacle of my entire trip, with the best people and energy and yoga and…fruit…oh the fruit! And black mango sticky rice…Ok ok, back to the post. I miss Thailand and all the amazing souls I met there, but the show must go on.
And go on, it has! Life since arriving back to America has been fabulous.
Things are happening. I don’t wanna get all Secret on you here, but seriously, you believe it and envision it, and it will find a way to you. Almost every day something happens. I’m starting to feel like paying the Universe for overtime. And you know what? It’s because I wholeheartedly believed life was gonna be amazing the second I got back. None of that “adjustment” stuff. Ok, of course I had insane jetlag for a week. But I let it do its thing, had an 11 hour sleep one night and poof, jetlag be gone.
I first spent 8 days in my hometown in St. Louis, MO. Unpacking takes serious dedication! I had a massive box from India, covered in over 200 stamps. I’d never seen anything like it. Mahavir from Arambol came through, good man! Going through my India things was like opening an incense-filled chapter of a book. So many stories, so many things, new and old, were stuffed into those bags. I found my glass and mirror mosaic elephant – my pride and joy purchase from India – in pieces at the bottom of that bag. A wooden Ganesh broke, too. I guess India was saying, as a reminder: aparigraha (non-attachment). Oh well, I have good memories of that thing on my altar in the Pink Palace, Arambol, Goa.
I bought too many random gifts. Never doing that again. I had this bag from Bali filled with things that I dragged from Bali to Thailand then left it in Bangkok while I went to Chiang Mai for three weeks. In Chiang Mai I bought a thai massage mat + bag (awesome!), which bumped me up to three pieces of checked luggage, and meant paying a $150 excess baggage fee. Great, I thought. What a way to go out spending money. Well, I think the Universe sent a little angel to guide me out of Thailand and on my way home. From the moment I left Bangkok in a taxi to the airport, things were in my favor. We were late, so we floated through traffic. My driver – this adorable Thai man – played John Denver’s “Leavin’ On A Jet Plane.” I cried happy tears, remembering listening to this song as a kid on road trips with my family. I arrived with my three massive bags and a ridiculously long Balinese handmade dragon kite wrapped in paper (for the nephew, of course J. Rushing to the counter with my stuff I tell the Thai Air woman I have excess bags and need to pay for it. She looks at my stuff and kinda frowns…
”You can’t carry any of those on?”
I said no, they are clearly too big.
Can you combine them?, she asks.
Hmmm…maybe I can.
Still, she said she’d have to weigh them to make sure they’d pass the weight limit.
“28 kilos. The limit is 25. Can you take something out?”
Ugg. Not really. I took out a book and watched the weight go nowhere.
So instead of saying ok, looks like you’ll have to pay the fees, she looked at me and motioned to the luggage wrapping station by the entrance. “Go there, I’ll let them on as one piece.”
Bam bam, another obstacle averted. I showed up to the luggage wrapping guy and he looks at my bags, tells me it’ll be 200 bhat (instead of their listed 240). I look in my wallet and I literally only have two 100 bhat bills left, along with some change. Smiling, I handed the notes to him.
The list of things like this go on. Suffice to say I made it home just fine. I even got to take a shower in the Tokyo airport. If you ever get a chance to do this, take it. It’s so luxurious amidst all the chaos and waiting!
With eight days in St. Louis, I saw my some of my best friends in the world, gave away some massages, ran a 10K, demoed a badass Specialized bike, and sampled the STL yoga scene. One week later, I packed up my stuff – again – this time for three months in Northwest Michigan….and Tahoe, NYC, upstate NY plus a wedding.
Michigan and me have a long, memorable past. Every summer of my life I’ve come to the same summer vacation town, a community of cottages in the woods and lakeside. People have been coming here for generations. Our cottage – “the Hut” – is nestled at the top of a hill in the middle of a beautiful, ancient birch and maple tree forest. This place is like my second life, my second love…not many people ever see this side of me. That’s me, in the top-right room of the “addition”.
This place inspires. We bike. We play tennis. Visit the local farmer and craft markets. We cook, hike, kayak, read, campfire, ‘smore, sunset, pick berries. Life moves at a different pace here. Every single person I’ve taken up here over the years has fallen in love with and felt the pull of Crystal Lake, Frankfort, Sleeping Bear Dunes…”Up North” in general. Think everything on “Main Street”, tourists walking down the sidewalk with waffle cones of homemade cherry ice cream, 1950’s A&W trucks cruising down the road, the beach packed with people watching the sunset over the pier and lighthouse.
I’ve been here every summer of my life, and I wasn’t about to miss it in 2011. While in Thailand in March during the vipassana, I realized I wanted to be here come June with my family. I told myself, when I go up there I’ll stay for the entire summer, teaching yoga and pilates at Anna’s studio, Studio On Main. I had no idea how I’d actually accomplish that at the time, but I put the idea out there. After one initial email and a little intervention from the Universe again, I was on the Summer schedule before I even arrived back Stateside.
So here I am, teaching yoga, pilates and meditation at the one yoga studio in the small, bustling vacation town of Frankfort, MI. Aside from teaching 7-8 classes per week, I’m doing Thai Yoga Therapy privately.
So. Back to manifestation. (Yes, I’m about to get all Secrety on you.)
Thoughts become things. It’s true.
And it’s time people start using that gift to change their reality and shine some more loving, positive light in this world.
Thoughts become things. Choose the good ones. (Thanks Mike Dooley!)
xo
Ames
Amy Carole
