Articles

Conscious Impact: Living Yoga in Nepal

A few months ago, I was telling a friend about the revelations I had during my yoga teacher training. Moving through trauma in my body, breaking habitual patterns of the mind, realizing the complexity of dis-ease and reclaiming my voice–to name a few. I found myself, in the end, describing the experience as “life-changing,” coating the phrase in disclaimers before I uttered it.

Rewriting the Story—One Word at a Time

I am here, again, with an enervating ache in my chest. Sipping air, careful not to choke on the Asian Pacific humidity, as fears of another health issue leave me scanning for the mercy of kind, accepting eyes. Instead, I find judgment in my own pupils.

It was week two of my yoga teacher training in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and I was unraveling.

Finding the Beauty During Monsoon

“Should we go back?” I asked myself, as the pelting rain and thunderous rivers created an unrelenting cacophony in my mind. I stopped to flick two thumb-sized leeches off the rubber grips of my trekking poles in an attempt to avoid another feeding frenzy—a horrific sight I hadn’t gotten over since the night before, when I discovered these invertebrates can weave through fabrics otherwise thought to be impenetrable.