What a life I lead...

I have got to tell you about my current situation purely because its just too beautiful not to. I am literally living one of my dreams!

After my elephant encounter I was on the road again up to Pai. This trip was one I had hoped to do via scooter as the 4 hours in a mini bus was getting a little old and the stunning mountains that lead to the valley of Pai are breath taking! Sadly it came down to one of those moments where I was reminded that I was in fact travelling alone and with no companion this probably wasn’t my safest idea. In a bit of a mood I reluctantly booked a mini bus. Hours later it came cruising along and I jumped in plopping myself down in the first seat I found and next to a sweet little Thai lady with some rad tattoos and wild hair. We got talking, naturally, and it was no surprise to hear that she lived in Pai. Inspirational hippies normally gravitate towards this place…

Three days earlier: Hariharalaya yoga retreat Cambodia;

My new friend Maggie was telling me today of an amazing intensive yoga retreat in the mountains of Pai called Exhale that she wanted to try out. It sounds nice but I have done my detox dash for now….

On my way to Pai;

“I teach yoga” my friend in transit told me.

“Oh wow where abouts? I would love to pop by a class”

“Oh I don’t do drop in classes it is at a retreat that I run, its called Exhale.”

I explained to her my friend had just told me about it, grilled her with a million questions and told her when I was in Pai last time I looked around for yoga but couldn’t find much. This naturally got into a conversation about advertising and before I knew it I was volunteering to come by and make and distribute flyers and work on some photography and in return I would learn from her. Much to my surprise she agreed and less then 24 hours later I was sitting in the high bamboo houses in the blue mountains of Pai pledging to another detox diet along with the other rules of silence, yoga philosophy study, breathing training and nasal cleansing, meditation and 6 hours of yoga per day.

This turn of events truly warms my heart. I am a self proclaimed control freak which has many down falls. Predominantly due to the fact that you can not control life and fates path; trying to only causes stress and heartache. This trip has slowly but surely been teaching me to let go and go with the flow. To trust that things will work out how they are supposed to and the path in which I take will be the right one. Plans change in the blink of an eye whilst backpacking and so been on a rigid schedule can be intensely stressful. Rolling with the punches seems to turn them into a positive. It is a beautiful and hugely important life lesson to learn and just another beautiful thing to have gained from this wild journey!

In short a quote we have all heard a million times seems to hold such strong meaning to me, suddenly three little words hold life’s key...

“LET IT BE”

My day to day life now consists of living in a beautiful private bungalow amongst banana trees on the riverside in Pai. Each morning I get up with sunrise, grab my bicycle and bike through the village, out up into the foot of the mountains, settle for some herbal tea in silence and begin the next 11 hours of the retreat. We finish with the silence lifted and a delish dinner, then im back on my bike, with a stop over here and there to chat to friends on selling street, and home to rest my weary bones and hungry belly.  What a life I lead!!!