Sri Lanka. Yoga retreat in Ulpotha
Hello my loves! Happy New Year! Hope 2017 started with positive vibes and you surrounded by magic :) I want to share my thoughts from a recent trip to Sri Lanka. I have never been to that part of the world, but I’ve always been captivated by Eastern Traditions and religions, Ayurveda medicine and simple natural way of living. Someone told me that in my past life I was a monk living in Indian ashram somewhere in 6 century. Don't ask me why so specific haha but I do believe in reincarnation, past lives and karma. I believe that all life matters and we didn't ‘just’ appear out of nowhere to live on Earth. We all have a purpose, a reason to be here. Each one of us are SO unique, we are all here to bring more love and unity. We all have soul that do not die with our physical body but continues its journey through the Universe and eventually comes back to the Earth.
The place I was staying called Ulpotha - its a small village in the middle of the jungle. I lived without electricity, hot water, cell phone reception, TV, coffee, wine etc.. well, you get the picture :) Its only me, my body and my mind that didn't get stimulated by social media, news, youtube. I did yoga twice a day, meditated every morning infront of my favorite Ganesh (pic below) sometimes accompany by monkeys. I walked barefoot , eat organic fresh vegetarian food that grown in the garden. There is no fridge so the produce is as fresh as picked the same morning. I signed up for every day ayurveda treatments that were performed by local villagers. The ayurveda doctor is from a near by clinic. He sees his patients for free you only need to give him leaves from a sacred bodhi tree in exchange for his service.
It was a very basic way of living: eating fresh food, drinking coconut water, pure water that comes directly from the spring, connecting with people that at the beginning of my arrival were complete strangers but by the time I had to go back home I was crying saying Good Byes. We shared so many moments that were deeply spiritual, we cried together when meditation was very intense, we danced with blindfolds - and when you really dance like no one is watching is a very powerful experience.
We hiked to the rock and as we watched the sun go down and a full moon rise at the same time it was like nothing you can imagine. I felt the heart of the Earth, the power of Mother Nature, I felt SO grateful to be alive and having this experience.
This trip was very important and came at the right time in my life. I needed to get away and focus on myself. I put myself outside of my comfort zone. It wasn't easy to do that. But as we know if you live comfortable you don't grow. I’m all about challenges, growing, self developing, learning and discovering.
OM Shanti
