"Time stretches to accommodate your growth" ~ Jenni
A year could be a long time or pass by in the blink of an eye. In my experience, when traveling, it seems to be both. And that time away, be it a month or a year, will be forever etched in my memory as a series of profound and unusual experiences that reshape the very fabric of my being.
The trials and tribulations of language, culture, and ‘new everything’ are very present moment based and require my mind to be here and now. The change of climate brings a new way of dressing, and living. Conversations are interrupted with no words to say what I want, and google translate becomes an imperfect and yet beautiful bridge between two worlds that previously could not intersect. The aversion to being mauled by savage mosquitos is replaced by the awe of empty beaches for as far as the eye can see. It’s all here on this planet earth; the whole scale of ecstasy to horror, very much amplified when living near the equator between a wild jungle and the endless sea, at the end of a very long dirt road.
This is a place where simple tasks can take a considerable amount time to complete because there is no auto-pilot, no known place to get organic food, no place to fill up the car with gas, no one to call if the internet goes out, or if the tire goes flat, or the water stops filling the tank. Life here is very unpredictable, and strewn with precarious one-lane bridges without guard rails that appear without warning. It all requires a surrender to “Pura Vida” the famous and very much lived phrase from Costa Rica; What will be will be, the good life, the pure life, don’t worry be happy, be grateful, all is well, all is perfect. It’s a necessary and sweet way of life.
The land of aloha has prepared me for this unwinding of time and space, where I am required to unravel my knots and preferences, relearn how to do many things, and let go of completing anything by a certain time or day. Nothing can really prepare anyone for their own experience of how all the unknowns of each day will integrate in their own body. This is a place where every moment is a learning, an opening and an opportunity. At the edge of jungle and sea a discomfort exists, asking of us to breathe and be, let it all integrate, as we are outside our own self imposed box and comfort zone. Ahhhh, yes. This is that place that will create the most magnificent of memories and the hugest of expansions if we allow it.
And so this is where I am, with my son, who is thriving in the freedom of space and surf and the open-mindedness of a community that chooses to live in this remote little slice of planet earth. It calls to people from the center of their hearts, pulling them in and wrapping them in an amphitheater of sounds; from endless surf to howler monkeys, macaws to thunder and torrential rain. It is a wet and wild wonderland that can be a little scary and a lot magical.
We are here because we felt that pull, and the window of opportunity opened just wide enough to provide the clarity of jumping through. We were fueled by love and supported by timing and just enough of everything to make it work, mostly. This is my 5th time living abroad; previously England, India, Nepal and Peru. All were challenging at first and then, once the dust settled, unbelievably life altering in the best of ways. Growing pains are not necessarily fun, but learning to sit with the discomfort and feel everything, letting it move through and out is one of the biggest and best ways I’ve ever experienced to expand my field of possibility and my Self. We are all capable of much more than we can even begin to imagine. Let’s expand together!
"You can't stop the waves but you can learn how to surf"
John Kabat-Zinn
NEW YEARS RESOLUTION :::
Freeing and Healing your Heart
I just finished an amazing 22-hours of online continuing education with Dr. Jeffrey Yuen. Master Yuen is one of the most sought-after teachers of Chinese medicine throughout the world. He is an 88th generation Daoist priest, and apprenticed for more than 20 years in Classical Chinese Medicine and other Daoist healing arts with Master Yu Wen, who transmitted his lineage to Dr. Yuen before Master Yu Wen’s death at the age of 108.
Honestly, I have never learned from anyone more profound and knowledgable than Dr. Yuen.
One of the subjects we spent 12-hours delving into is entitled: “The Nine Heart Pains”. It teaches us this:During sleep, your immune system releases proteins called cytokines, some of which help promote sleep. Certain cytokines need to increase when you have an infection or inflammation, or when you're under stress. Sleep deprivation may decrease production of these protective cytokines. In addition, infection-fighting antibodies and cells are reduced during periods when you don't get enough sleep.
“All diseases are rooted in the Heart.”
In order for full healing to take place in our bodies and in our lives, we all have to tap into this root.
Angeles Arrien author of The Fourfold Way learned it this way from indigenous healers and Shaman: When someone was ill they would ask;
When in your life did you stop singing?
When in your life did you stop dancing (moving)?
When in your life did you stop being enchanted by stories; particularly your own life story?
When in your life did you stop being comforted by the sweet territory of silence?
(This place contains the deepest mystery of who we are)
Wherever you stopped, this is where you began to experience loss of Spirit (Shen). This is the place to start. Sit in silence and feel that memory.
Read more about Healing Your Heart, with Resources and Inspiration by clicking below:
When we heal ourselves, we heal the world".
Mark Nepo Poet/Philosopher