back again!

"yoga is seeing life the way it is" -- patanjali's yoga sutras

i'm back from my travels and easing back into life in d.c. or rather trying to ease back into and finding the current is moving rather fast. i think it took me going away to somewhere quiet before i could see just how busy my life is here. i'm doing a low salt/sugar/mostly vegan cleanse right now and it's really opening up a lot of space in me. i'm taking advantage of that to figure out what stays and what i need to leave for a while in all areas of my life. the answers are surprising me but i am trusting the shifts because it always does seem like life gets better if i can just trust it.

as always, i'm having a hard time summarizing anything from the trip but the highlights from my travels were:

1) quality time with my mom at her funny new home in the villages (i love the theme song on the website). imagine 80,000 retirees running around in golf carts on a leisure schedule with huge smiles on their face. my mom set up my room with white roses on my bedside and spoiled me with blueberry pancakes in the morning.

2) the goodwill in deerfield beach (i found a dream navy-striped cardigan) among other gems (i had my mom ship me a box)

3) seeing abraham, they always amaze me and inspire me about how to have more fun and allow more prosperity into my life.

4) a day at the beach in delray where i saw this beauty constructed and chatted with my wise sister (by soul) danielle about how to give our lives good meaning.

5) all-you-can-eat sushi in boca. amazing and its probably better that there are many hours in between me in this place because judging from what i did in an hour there, i would ruin it for myself real fast if i had easier access.

6) my thai massage teacher sukha was an inspiring woman and i learned a ton from her. i have a new respect for how awesome and opening thai massage is. i actually got to the point toward the end of the week where i couldn't take it any more of it--i was already so open and i needed to ground. just like the sushi, there are limits to a good thing.

7) kripalu in general. it's a great place with the right balance of sacred and chill. i went to the baths every day and ate my self silly because its some of the best tasting healthy food i've ever had. my favorites were the baked oatmeal, maple oat scones, baked samosas, and greek sweet potato, feta pie.

8) taking a walk down to the lake with some dear thai massage folks and seeing one of the first massachusetts spring days and feeling that i was really present for that moment.

9) the general beauty of taking a retreat. i learned that i am grounded and that i can really help people through taking the time to take care of myself.