Our travels - recharging, learning and sharing 💚

To be able to share yoga in beautiful location around the world is such a big privilege. Off course, the traveling we are doing every year, flying between Europe and Asia is definitely on the top of our unsustainable life practices. As we are only allowed to be in Europe parts of the year (due to Sabins visa restrictions), we anyway must leave. But this is really an easy excuse, as I am pretty sure we would want to go back to Nepal every year anyway. Now I am sitting on the airport again, traveling from Thailand back to Nepal and reflecting a bit on our travels. Especially with the Christmas coming up and seeing the insane amount of stuff and overwhelming amount of material crap everywhere really makes me think.

Anyway, last year we spent some months in Vietnam and Philippines. There were many beautiful moments of tranquility and recharging after the intense summer season in Norway. We had the pleasure of discovering untouched nature, so many waterfalls and beaches dotted with a million coconut trees. We are so fortunate to be able to teach yoga in places with focus on nature and sustainability. Every year I am incredibly touched by how yoga is bringing strangers together to explore the inner world as well as this beautiful diverse planet that we live on. A very special place we taught last year was a retreat space called ‘Eco Sanctuaries’ which is a small (also off-grid) place at Nacpan beach in Palawan. This is a place to go to be in complete peace and do nothing but swimming, hammock chilling, yoga and enjoying the insanely beautiful nature, just in front of the ocean (if you want to check it out see the webpage here: https://www.ecosanctuarieselnido.com/ ).

But last year of traveling also brought us many lessons, especially in how we sometimes take things for granted. Take electricity for example, we are off-grid in Norway and have solar panel providing us with what we need in the summertime. We are also used to power cuts, as it is frequent in Nepal and many of the places we work and travel. But as we stayed for about a month in Port Barton (a beautiful little, sleepy beach town in Philippines), we only had power maybe 2 - 3 hrs. a day (sometimes many days without). Sabin was struggling with the heat at night without having a fan, and for me I have my work mainly on the computer when traveling, forget about saving our leftovers when making dinner for the next day, or keeping other food for some days as the fridge wouldn’t be cold. And off course watching a movie on the computer or other spoiled aspects of our life was suddenly taken away 😂 This was a bit of a wakeup call for me, how incredibly spoiled I am (not to mention relying on electricity)! I kind of thought that I was down to earth and used to a basic lifestyle as that is something we are pursuing. 🤣 But I could feel my own annoyance sometimes when trying to get something done on the computer and the power would be out 🙈 How horrible is that? The lack of electricity invited us to watch the sunset and sit in peace, instead of watching a movie, spend more time in the ocean just floating around to cool down, it forced me to take more time to just chill and be, instead of working. How beautiful is that?

I realized that I now again have become reliant on electricity, in spite of having lived without any electricity at all for a long time in Hagabrekka before we got solar. The energy that many of us have in abundance is non-existent for so many people in this world. Still, we spoil it, without even giving it an extra thought. This year we decided to go back to Koh Phangan in Thailand where we have spent a lot of time before Covid, but it’s been a long time since we were there now. And I have to say, I am shocked! It’s such a different place than when we were here last, where there were small local reggae places with the most awesome live music, beautiful vibe and yummy local food there are now fancy villas with private swimming pools! The whole island has changed into somewhat of luxury housing for expats, people running away from Europe due to the horrors of the world that has been created by us humans. The places we used to go for a beer and good vibes no longer exist, nor the beautiful community of humans that we used to spend time with. It seems like the demand for luxury is taking over the world, not talking about the basics of electricity here, but ridiculous unnecessary comforts that is off course only for the rich foreigners. Who needs a private swimming pool on their front porch when the ocean with its beaches and waterfalls are all around? It seems like the charm of the island has in a way disappeared in this insane demand from the people coming there now.

I often talk about cultivating gratitude in our retreats, but in reality, it is already there within us, we just need to recognize all the things we are so fortunate to have. We just need to realize that most of us have way more than we really need, and we need to learn to stop asking for more. Let’s value the things we have in our lives, it is a time we live in now when some people have way too much and some people have too little. But I truly think that having that insane amount of luxury will not make you happy. A life in gratitude is something you can choose, and if we learn to share and not take and always ask for more, we could live in a world with more equality for everyone. Especially during this time of the year, when Christmas is upon us, it is a good time to make new habits, to make a change here in the world. Instead of stuff, let’s share moments in nature together with the ones we love, share love and laughter instead of stuff. Merry Christmas everyone 💚