Having arrived back to Hong Kong from India a couple of days before the country went into a total lock down I feel so blessed to be home again. The journey back was one of the most nerve wracking experiences I have ever encountered, an international airport full to its seams, rammed flights, all the while holding my breath anxiously as I fixated on securing masks over the noses and mouths of my 3 and 5 year old children and sanitizing everything we would come in contact with. In made me realize what fear can do to you, your ability to think logically, to hijack your sense of safety, to instinctively protect.
Once we got home I started to consider how this virus has united all of humanity, we are all in the same predicament it evades all distinctions we have created for ourselves, fame, wealth, nationality- it has highlighted how similar we all are against decades of racing to stand out and be different from others. How can we accept our situation and allow it to pass? Being confined to our homes with restrictions not to meet any friends or family can be confronting for most people where we constantly divert our attention by changing our environment or distracting from our problems with social settings, but now without this, how can we stay with ourselves, by ourselves and maintain a peace of mind?
For me it was through my yoga practice, every time I felt my mind escaping to the worst case scenarios of the world and the future, I would remind myself to come back to the present moment. Some breathing and meditation would do the trick. When I would feel restless and agitated unable to go for a walk feeling caged in my apartment, I would roll out my mat and start a strong sequence connecting with my own strength and testing my own fitness without having to leave home. This became a daily outlet for me to release any pent up energy so that I could offer a balanced and calm attitude while I began my day working from home, home schooling the kids and preparing the family meals. It made me see how vital my own practice became in sustaining the quality of my mindset and how each day unraveled. I began to embrace the face the situation from a different lens, appreciating the opportunity to finally slow down from the rush of city life, to invest quality time with people most important to me, to relish all the roles we play every single, it helped me move from resisting my reality to peacefully accepting it. How often do we make things worse by what we entertain in our minds? How our reality changes as we are unable to tolerate our circumstances due to the incessant mental rumination?
I felt so utterly grateful for my journey, to acknowledge the treasure of having a self practice, not reliant on getting to a studio, finding a live class online, but to truly tap in to what it is I needed each an every day, something gentle, powerful, centering, expanding, forgiving or compassionate, it showed me how connected my mind and body are and when they are aligned it becomes a spiritual practice, getting a glimpse of that is healing and joyful from within. It was from this epiphany that I realized that this is my gift, I feel blessed to guide a practice being sensitive to always come back to balance.
As soon as I completed my 2 week self quarantine I knew that I needed to use my gift to serve others, we are all going through the same situation but most people feel lost guiding their own practice by themselves. I set out to put a program together that helps people gain awareness to what they actually need (different from what you want), how to create a personalized practice that balances body, mind and energy by combining effective sequences in posture, breathwork, relaxation and meditation. Isn’t this mother nature’s way of showing us that healing happens when we slow down, focus on what matters and bring attention to what has been neglected. It’s encouraging to see how crystal clear the water is becoming in our rivers without human pollution thwarting it’s beauty, let this be a time where we purify ourselves without the scurry of our to-do list and see how our natural health and vitality shine coming out from this global pandemic.
If you want the exact manual which I use to create and teach a self practice, check out Transform Stress to Success, you can expect a daily video of 20 minutes and a weekly live coaching call for 9 weeks so that you have all the tools to sculpt and personalize your very own practice of yoga, pranayama and mindfulness. From the comfort and safety of your own home you will be able to release physical aches and pains and feel centered, relaxed and positive to navigate through these uncertain times.
