Yoga helps to alleviate jet lag

I come to standing at the front of my mat and begin to drink in the air around me. It is warm and sweet, filling my nostrils with the scent of this new place. Birds are quietly calling to each other, the sound of the surf just metres away is calming and intoxicating. I am in a new country and want to begin my practice as a way of connecting with this new energy.

It has been almost a week since I last practiced yoga, a long time in my world. I am here to attend a 10 day yoga retreat. It is called a strong retreat and I will practice yoga twice a day for 2 hours at least each. Very strong. I have been worrying that this last month has been so busy for me I have not been able to fit much practice in. Will I be stiff when we begin? Will all of these advanced yogis eclipse me in strength and stamina? Leaving for an international trip without my family had previously filled me with some fear and trepidation. My time was full with organizing them whilst I would be away and it was just not possible to fit much practice in. What to do?

So I begin at samastitihi. Grounding through my feet and lifting through my spine. My breath begins to deepen and my chest opens. I get a strange yet familiar sense of myself and this beautiful island. I have been here many times before and it never ceases to amaze me the beauty and magic I feel here.

I start to move. Inhaling the rich and wonderful energy, my arms lift and my heart begins to sing. Each breath linked with a movement, I go within. Yoga releases the true sense of me and today is no different. All the worrying of what could be falls away and I am my breath. My movements are fluid and easy and I fly across my mat. I have been practicing for long enough now that one week or even one month does not make a difference. I access that place within that is simply waiting to lift off.

I am on my balcony, high above the ground practicing today. Alone with myself and my breath. The scent of incense drifts up from below. The sweet ladies offering their prayers to this country’s gods. Willing all of us here a safe and happy journey in their island. Their gods, my gods, all the same really. All protecting and nourishing. When we allow it. When we believe. When we become it. Are we not all the same? It seems to me today that we are all one and all different at the same time.

Yoga helps me to drop the busyness of my mind. I need not fill it unnecessarily. It does not help anyone, especially me. So I continue to move and I feel so fabulous and free and wonderful. Uddiyana bandha, the energy lock, awakens my core and my heart flourishes. It is simple and something I have done so many times and it is a way to breathe the energy of this island directly into me. I feel where I am now. I do not need to look around, I can feel it.

One way to ground yourself after a long flight and really feel where you are is by practicing yoga in the new land. Allow yourself the time to energetically arrive and witness the beauty of a new place.

Yoga sets me free and connects me to where I am. It is just not necessary to fill ones mind with worries. They are nonsense and today I am realizing that fully. How many times do I need to realize it to stop doing it I wonder. I suppose a few more. Don’t give yourself a hard time and just enjoy your practice I tell myself.

If you choose to accept yoga into your life you can take it anywhere at anytime. I am grateful and find myself in a very lucky situation. I am 39 years of age and have discovered something that will travel with me for the rest of my life. My yoga practice. My husband, my kids and my yoga practice. May they travel and journey with me for always......