Yoga as a Home-Base

Yoga as a Home-base

The end of the summer consisted of chaos, the kind of chaos that comes from making memories and from sheer determination. I was determined to finish my yoga training hours before the summer ended, mostly because I thought we would be moving come fall. We did not end up moving the second fall began, but the determination to finish my hours in that time frame motivated me to focus and get them done. 

*In fact this blog post right here, is the last required yoga blog post. From now on the posts that you receive from me could have any subject! What a notion! (We all know, I will still talk about yoga because I love it.) As soon as I submit this post I can submit my packet and will therefore be a Yoga Alliance Certified Yoga Instructor. (Cue Trumpet Fanfare!) I am so happy to be certified, but it is bittersweet. I am sad to leave the student phase of my yoga learning. There is just so much to learn that I will have to continue being a yoga student even though I am done with my training. I digress...

One of the factors of chaos was travel. The first trip we went on was to Canada for a week. (I love Canada! No, really!) My sweet in-laws and Husband and I stayed in a cabin in Banff National Park in Alberta. It was so wonderful to be out in nature and to be experiencing different scenery. It filled my soul with joy and contentment. While at our cabin I told myself I was going to keep up with my personal yoga practice to not lose momentum on my training hours but also to keep my body healthy during traveling. 

I did not bring any of my yoga equipment (except for a racquetball and a slo-mo ball for the Hubs.) so the yoga I could do was only what was in my mind. This was actually perfect. I would sit on the balcony of the cabin and meditate until my body felt like doing some yoga postures. Sometimes the meditation would be short and I knew exactly what I needed that day, other times I would sit and ponder for quite some time before I felt inspired. It was my time and there were no limits. I could go as short or as long as I wanted. 

The next trip was to California my home state. My step-brother got married and all the siblings trekked our way to California to be there for his special day. This trip was more chaotic and on a more of a specific time-frame. There was driving, driving and more driving. (And a train, plane and rail system.) While traveling life back home keeps on going, even if you aren't there to experience it. 

As mentioned before Husband and I were planning on moving this fall. We are working on a career change for him and we were hoping to move out of state to be closer to our families. This will involve so many changes (most of which we are excited about and impatient to happen, but there are some that are scary.) 

How do you deal with changes, chaos, travel and uncertainties? For me, it has been yoga. A quick yoga practice in the airport waiting for flights, a long meditative practice when everyone else is asleep, a yoga practice filled with fear/tears and deep heavy sighs, a surrendering yoga practice or an acknowledging greatness in yourself practice. I've written about my emotions seeping into my yoga in previous posts and I have come to realize that this has been my primary coping mechanism. 

I was talking to my mentor about my situation and she said "Thank goodness you have yoga to help you through this confusing time." I think I understand that better now than I did when she said it to me. Yoga has become my home-base. When I am feeling stuck in life I can feel a release through the movement of a flow. I can find my confidence, my patience and my sense of hope and well-being in my yoga. It isn't always instant, but it does happen. 

I had to write an essay about my Yoga Instructor Training and there is a line from it that I want to share with you. "I have found my home-base in yoga, I have found a piece of my life that helps guide me to work with the other pieces. To have a profession where I can share this knowledge of comfort to others while continuing my journey with it is a dream come true." 

Namaste Bloggers.

-Camille

P.S. I received my Yoga knowledge from www.gobodhiyoga.com 

The training program was wonderful and I am so grateful to have been a part of it.