Thoughts On Happiness From Costa Rica
I’ve been thinking about the concept of happiness—how hard we chase it; how tirelessly we work for it; how it’s always ahead; or, something to look forward to down the road. But, that road is long. It’s hard to be content and at peace when we’re always in motion. By the time we come to understand and appreciate a place or an experience, it’s already behind us.
I found my yoga practice here in Costa Rica, not because I was searching, but because I kept my eyes and ears open, and tried things I was curious about.
It took many years and trying many different styles for it to finally click. But the thing is, I just don’t think I was ready until I was ready. They say, “Teach and the students will come,” and I couldn’t agree more. I’ve taught so many students over the past years, some once and some hundreds of times. I don’t take offence to when I’m not someones teacher, I encourage people to try different styles of the practice, and different ways to move your body all together. You never know when you stumble into something that will change your direction and the way you see things forever.
As time has passed, my practice and yoga itself has transformed me a dozen times over. As much as yoga is my foundation and my home base, it is not all that I am. I am large, I contain multitudes. My happiness is the combined moments, experiences, people, loves and heartbreaks that I have encountered, up until this point, in my life time.
One of the heaviest burdens I have carried for so long was the idea that there is a perfect path for me and I need to find it. One passion, one truth, one destination. But within us all there are multiples. I can find happiness as a yoga teacher, an academic, an artist, a scientist, an author… and it isn’t my job to figure out which path is perfect, it is just my job to live.
Yoga is my roadmap, directing my movement, but the experiences in between have been that of spontaneity, passion and curiosity. Yoga is my anchor, grounding my being so I can participate fully in my experiences. And yoga is a piece of my happiness, not all, but a piece to a much larger puzzle.
Tell me who YOU are, comment below or email me directly. Would love to know all the parts of who you are that make up your happiness.
Pura Vida,
