Vibrant Living; A Journey from New Zealand back to the USA

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Where does the time go? It feels like just two months ago I was driving from Invercargill to Dunedin, stopping in between to see wild, Yellow Eyed Penguins in their natural nesting grounds (which I did see by the way!). But it hasn't been two months. It has been nine months. NINE MONTHS since I was last in New Zealand; since I last sent a postcard; and shamefully since I have last written a blog. Where did the months go?!

So that cat is out of the bag: I am not longer living in New Zealand. Life threw me on an entirely different path, one that brought me back to the United States and back to Tennessee of all places. The past year and a half have been one of coming full circle. It is a big cosmic joke in a way, as if the universe has tallied everything I once believed to be true and thrown it back in my face. If I have learned one thing over the last year, it is that nothing is absolute.

Being back in Tennessee, I realize on a deep, spiritual level this is where my heart is supposed to be. For the first time in my life, I feel a divine purpose and direction - one I would not have found without my experience of living in New Zealand.

Vibrant Living Retreat Center

During my last months in NZ, I connected with The Vibrant Living Retreat Center in Hanmer Springs on the South Island. Each month, over the course of five months, I spent between five and ten days with Mary Jo Halligan and Steve on their beautiful property. Here, I was brought on to teach over half a dozen AcroYoga Workshops and serve as a resident massage therapist.



My time at Vibrant Living was just that, vibrant and alive. Living with Mary Jo and Steve on this piece of earth they flooded with love and immediacy was reviving. I shared a room with fellow massage therapist Maddie Allen, from the UK. Over the months, we hiked mountains, soaked in hot springs, practiced yoga, shared healing arts in the grass, and even went white water rafting. Each night, we had dinner together, sharing gratitude and conversation. They quickly became my family.

During the weeks I was not at the Retreat Center, I was traveling the South Island, living and working on an organic sheep farm, and housesitting in Christchurch for two of those months. While in CHCH, I was assistant teaching weekly AcroYoga classes with Maira, and teaching at the Canterbury University Acro Jam. I coordinated closely with the AcroYoga community in Christchurch and quickly found another family of beautiful individuals.

In my final weeks at Vibrant Living and in New Zealand, I saw my life taking a new and untraditional path. Teaching AcroYoga regularly had such a powerful effect on my life that I knew I could not go back to a "normal" occupation. The practice had become my yoga; it was the way "I moved through the world." The practice naturally cultivates deeper relationships, fluid communication, trust, and community - all of the key elements I value and want to nurture in my life. I watched it transform lives and build positive communities. As my VISA came close to expiration, I felt a strong pull to bring this practice back to the States, and in a formal setting.

Looking at the logistics of becoming a certified AcroYoga instructor in the US seemed both terrifying and lofty. The biggest feat was that I first had to become a certified yoga instructor, AND have a years' worth of teaching experience before I even qualified for the AcroYoga Teacher program. Being a yoga teacher was something I NEVER thought I would be. My yoga practice thus far had been such an intimate and personal experience. The last thing I wanted to do was stand in front of a room of other yogis and be on display, especially for the duration of a year! Most terrifying of all was that I had to submit photos of myself in a handstand. I hadn't attempted a handstand since I was 12, and the idea almost paralyzed me.

I specifically remember sharing these doubts and fears with Mary Jo. She brought attention to my perspective, suggesting that the experience was not about the students. It was about me, about taking the opportunity to grow in my practice and my spirituality. And boy was she right!

My Yoga Guru

It wasn't until I left that I realized that Mary Jo at Vibrant living had been my yoga Guru in the most intimate sense. She provided me a space to go deeper and to explore my true nature. Together, we practiced both acro and traditional yoga together; we had long discussions about spiritual connectedness, global consciousness, and meditation. She subtly introduced beautiful and life changing healing arts to me such as Quantum Healing Hypnosis Therapy, Access, and Lymphatic Drainage. With her library and yoga room at my disposal, I threw myself into absorbing as much as I could. My personal yoga practice became more vital than ever, my awareness of my universal spiritual-self started to bloom, and as I began to explore my spirituality more deeply, Mary Jo was always there to bounce ideas off of or to ask questions.

Mary Jo never took an official role in teaching me but was rather a living example and a raw, genuine, and humble human being. We shared our strengths and weakness, our hopes and doubts, and our fears and love. Ultimately, she was the most powerful representation of a guru. Simply through being her authentic self, she guided me to recognizing that I am my own Guru, G-U-R-U, or as we like to say in yoga: "Gee, You Are You!"

Yoga and AcroYoga Trainings

As soon as I returned to the US, I signed up for a 200-hour teacher trainer immersion program at the Ashville Yoga Center in Asheville, NC. For three weeks I lived and breathed yoga. The experience was transformative and life changing, a blog all on its own.

In April I started teaching regular AcroYoga Classes at Dragonfly Aerial Arts Studio and connected with Georgi Gardner, the founder of the Knoxville Acro-balance, Flow and Fire Jam, and she now teaches with me. Around this time I also launched my own Business called AcroKnox: AcroYoga Knoxville (www.acroknox.com). Through this platform, I offer classes, workshops, and private session sin the Knoxville area.

During this time, I also continued with the other teacher training prerequisites and attended an AcroYoga Elemental immersion in Little Rock, and a Lunar Immersion in Washington D.C.. While at the Lunar Immersion in April, one of the instructors Katie Capano told me that I was ready to sign up for a Teacher Training right then and there. I was floored. I thought I was still a solid year away from being prepared or even qualified to attend an AcroYoga Teacher Training.

Over the next few weeks, I took what she said as a sign and decided that I needed to attend the Fall AcroYoga Training. Over this past month, I have written five short novels which I submitted as a part my AcroYoga Teacher Training Application (which I am sure has inspired them to add a word cap). Within 24 hours, I received an e-mail back saying that I had been accepted into the program! I will be attending the 2016 AcroYoga Teacher Training outside of Guadalajara, Mexico.



When I left for New Zealand, I had no intention of coming back to the US, yet coming back has proved to be the ultimate adventure.

There are no limitations in this life, except for the ones we place on ourselves. And nothing is absolute.

Don't foget that.

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Photos

Acro Star!
Mary Jo and Steve :)

Comments

[taracloud]

Inspiring!
What an incredible journey to find yourself! Doors opened so easily for you, it was clear that you were ready! How wonderful to have had so many opportunities for going deeper at Vibrant Living (what a name!), and now to have found your true place and service--congratulations! I felt uplifted just reading of your journey.