A few weeks ago, during several jet-lag nights after my return from California, I enjoyed some precious time of contemplation about this year and about where I want to point my arrows towards for 2018.
Personally, after last year´s accident and injuries, this has been a year of recovery, deep healing, growth and transformation and immense learning. I have felt deep inside how yoga helps to transform wounds into wisdom, pain into compassion; that happiness is a process and not a place to reach. That life sometimes feels like a bad joke, but that it is better when you laugh, and that the most difficult situations offer to you the most beautiful hidden treasures. My theme for 2017, transmutation, was present at all moments.
In February, few weeks after I got out of bed, my dog Ananda and I embarked in a journey to return to Morocco where I had to teach a Teacher Training that I had to cancel two times. Synchronically, a healing workshop I wanted to take was happening in my way in the South of Spain just at the perfect time. A stopover to cleanse and bring a new start after having visited the underworld for several months.
The Teacher Training in Morocco was a full challenge, physical and mentally, being very limited in my asana practice, with my weak legs and a yoga shala in the fourth floor. It was also very nurturing at the emotional level. The group. formed by yogis and yoginis from different places in the world, created a real feeling of kula, of community, and it was truly encouraging to get feedback about being an inspiration but teaching more from the heart than from the physical body.
Reaching those memories, it seems they happened years ago! But only 10 months have gone by. Time is so relative and it is to related to the intensity of life.
This year has gone fast but with certain dose of eternity. Maybe because I have really savour every moment. I have spent time close to the ocean. I have travelled to several places to teach. One of them San Sebastian, were I feel so at home with the amazing Northern kula. I have met again with the Anusara yoga community in Samavesha, where it was very exciting to teach classes for 100 people. I have cultivated very special friendships. I had moments of deep frustration for not being able to do everything I was used to do with my body. I have been in awe with its capacity for healing and regeneration, and I have created a new relationship with it and my yoga practice. I have seen my dog being attacked by two big dogs and spent days and nights taking care of her.
One of the highlights of the year is my studies with Paul Muller-Ortega, a great teacher, the silence retreats in the desert and the new powerful practices, mantras and mudras I have learnt, specially Neelakantha Meditation. For many reasons, California has become one of my homes in this planet. The students that have chosen to be in my courses and retreats have conquered my heart. I have walked though sacred ancestral lands and magical earth temples in Avalon with my dear Sianna Sherman. I have deepened my studies of Rasa Yoga with her.
I have visited and re-visited inner places of wound and pain to heal them. I have watched sunsets over oceans of different continents. I have participated in the Foundation Training Certification Program, a new intelligent alignment system that I hope to help many people with. I have seen mountains on fire looking like volcanoes and I have felt suffocated by the smoke. I have been truly grateful for clean air and blue skies. I have surfed again in the Bay, even if with small waves. I have spent time with my family and seen the impossible: my mom falling in love with my dog. I have received healing therapies. I have started my very first Advance Teacher Training with a very dedicated group of students and special guest teachers… wow…. I could go on and on…
What I have not done much lately is to write in my blog and to be in social media. One of my intentions for next year. What a dilemma!!! When I live so fully I do not have so much time for my phone and my computer. But these are the times we live in. We have to participate in the “real” reality as much as in the virtual one, that keeps us connected out of time and space.
In fact, there is something pending… This year I have celebrated a very special birthday. Half a century on the Earth turning around the Sun. I got so much love and good wishes in Instagram and Facebook and I did not have time to show my gratitude. The same night of my birthday I went into a plane to California to go to a silence retreat where I started this new cycle in my life. So with two month delay… thank you so much for your love. I will be celebrating this one all the year!
In general, 2017 has been a year of intensity. The world seemed possessed by an unstoppable madness. The Earth screams, cries, burns up, shakes. What are we doing to Her? We cannot not listen to the Pachamama any longer. We are losing control of a whole civilization whose social, political, economical and cultural systems are in deep crisis. Technological progress is so fast that there is no time to catch up. The feeling is at times spine-chilling. I don´t know if you feel the same but, often, I feel so small against such intensity and vertiginous change. At the same time, I am learning to live in peace in such a turbulent world. The sensation is similar to surfing in the ocean. A mix of fear, excitement and pleasure; humility agains the power of nature and the greatness of life; gratitud for being part of the whole of it.
Inside all of this, human beings are embarked in a capital process of transformation of gigantic dimensions. Never in history has been a time where all the world esoteric traditions have places their teachings to the service of the whole of humanity. The communication era makes possible that we can access those teachings that resonate closer to our heart. So much wisdom at the reach of all! But if we win to create real transformation the teachings alone are not enough. We need clare vision and great commitment. The moment is now and there is no time to waste.
What do you do in your daily life to heal, to grow?
Which are the next steps to crear the life you wish and the world you want to see?
In this last day of the year, I invite you to dedicate some ritual time to contemplate about 2017: the success and the failures; the moments of happiness and the challenges. Create also some clear intentions so you can bring real transformations for 2018, in your life and in the world. If you want an example of ritual, you can find it in this old entry HERE
I say good-bye with the deep wish to live everything from the love in our hearts. Love for yourself. Love for the people around you. Love for what you fo. Love for the Pachamama. And from there to be able to manifest our wildest dreams, with work and dedication. I will be sharing my dreams with you along the way. In 2018.
Happy New Year!