The Yoga Sutras of Travel: 1.1

1.1 "Atha Yoganushasanum"
NOW, the exposition of yoga is being made

Atha=Now; Yoga =of union; anusasanam= exposition or instruction

I have always been resistant to writing. I have been forced out of necessity to sit and write a great deal of content for teaching, training, news letters and various projects. I find that when I actually spend the time with it I gain clarity and can shape the vision of who I am continuously becoming and more deeply understand what I am wanting and where I can focus my energy best. I have said that I would write a blog about my travels often enough now to give it power and have my students hold me accountable to the process. I look forward to your reflections and hope to step towards my personal edges which for me is always the idea of vulnerability. Writing makes me feel naked and exposed, so I step forward to this project with both love and a bit of stress. Thank you for taking the time to walk the path with me.

As I am preparing for a very large teaching tour, actually a super saturated year of traveling, I begin to step towards my first few stops of the year, Auckland and Nelson, New Zealand, and Sydney Australia. It will be my first time to visit this part of the globe. My mind has been wrestling with the term preparation. I will be traveling for 5 weeks abroad; home for one week; back south to Chattanooga for a week in TN. This is just the start of the year and it is a tremendous amount of time away from the people I love and has totally messed with my homebody nature.

I may be the biggest kid at heart, but I keep a pretty grown up schedule including owning/ managing a studio, teaching as an independent contractor for 7 other yoga studios and schools, being a landlord to a vacation rental property and having a full time commitment as a Mentor Educator for my family at AcroYoga Inc. The latter is the inspiration for this trip. The bonus is that my boyfriend (domestic partner, life mate... we haven't figured out what to call it when you aren't married but have a level of commitment that is equally valid. why do you need a state document to validate what you mean to someone else... I digress and that is a topic for another blog.) Brian is traveling this part of the trip with me and we will have the opportunity to see his cousin Simon. Brian and Simon have not seen each other in about 20 years. Saying yes to an adventure in Auckland where it will be warm and sunny; teaching what I love; all while seeing some family was an easy thing to say yes to the project.

After saying yes, the work starts to set it. Set the dates. I will have to coordinate with studios and co-teachers that are 10-12 hours away and make a ton of arrangements.
Step one Make the List
1. Studio Contracts
2. teaching teams for 3 week long events 
3. Marketing (this one would take two pages by itself so lets just know that is a large and time consuming piece of the puzzle)
The above list began 10 months prior to the departure date which is tomorrow morning.

NEXT: what to prepare for actually going away.
1. House sitter for our four cats aka Fuzzballs of Love!
~ much gratitude and thanks to my awesome cousin Hatter Marie

2. My Studio...
Wow, this is a long time for me to be away from my heart and my community. We need class coverage, not just for me, but for Brian too. 6 weekly class worth and a monthly Acro Offering. 
~More Gratitude! I can not imagine how I would do this without the help of Nadya Matyachak, Devon Blakely, Leslie Underhill, Corinne and Mark Farrell, and Valerie Klass!!!

1st SNAG! ugh!!! I double booked myself. frig. what am I going to do. I am booked to teach Anatomy in NYC in the middle of my trip. Panic starts to set in. How do I manage this one? Let's start with honesty and check in with the training team. Amanda and Holy come to the rescue and shuffle the dates to make it all work out for me.

There is a laundry list more, but I don't like to ramble about the mundane details. I simply sit back tonight and look at how much time and energy has been spent over the last 10 months to bring this single journey into being. This one relatively short tour required so much attention, I realized that to me it mirrors my practice and my teaching path, it is all preparation for the moment of arrival. NOW!


The Yoga sutras (196 lines of yoga philosophy) are considered to be the "handbook" of the 8 limb path of yoga.  The very first line rings in my mind.


Sutra 1.1 NOW, the exposition of yoga is being made


NOW, as in this auspicious moment, to me implies preparation before hand to make you ready for the ultimate NOW and at the same time each step of preparation requires you to be fully present step by step which is being in the NOW. The preparation helps to ensure that when you reach the destination you can be at your most vigilant point of awareness, deeply connected to your experience and free from distraction.


The Expostion of Yoga is Being Made...Yoking, Union, Blaance
This too takes mindful preparation.


My daily tasks become my yoga. I realize it is not and cannot be done alone. Each step I have taken relies on the compassion and support of those around me. How can I be the best version of myself to give love and support in return? How can I pay it forward?


Each step of life prepares us to step forward towards union of our hearts, minds and bodies. NOW we are ready to move deeper into adventures of the soul, NOW we take the tools of the practice (Body movement, Breath-work, Concentration, & Meditation) to bring us closer to our own true nature. Now we prepare ourselves more fully to see one another in the light of love.


How do you choose to prepare for all you do?
How do you choose to prepare for the great journey of the mind and heart?

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