mind at ease
I think I've started practicing yoga in every city I've ever lived, only to realize, after a few sessions, that I didn't have the patience nor "time" for it. Of course I understood the meaning and purpose of the training, just that I was too "busy" to learn how to slow down or how to breath correctly. I remember I was always wondering when the class would finish so that I could get out calling that important phone call or meet up with some friends for drinks. And a few seasons later, I tried it again, but I simply wasn't ready to slow down, until now.
One of the main reasons to why I wanted to leave everything behind and sail around the world with Alex, was because I had come to a turning point in life where I felt the need to cut out the things that didn't really matter in the long run. I was also anxious to take a distance to the regular world, as an opportunity to begin looking inward. True that I've always been a spiritually inclined person, but my life was rushing too fast. Too many unnecessary challenges, way too much alcohol, late nights and I was leading a physically destructive lifestyle rather than a healthy one. Without consciously knowing that I needed to better take care of myself, I quickly suggested to Alex that we should set ourselves free and sail the oceans of the world together. For many other reasons too of course, much for the love and affection that we felt for one another, a chance to get closer to each other and to build a foundation for the love we were willing to invest in, but one of my personal reasons was that my body and soul was yearning for a change. A change that would allow me to grow as a human being.
Having been out sailing now for almost two years, thousands of miles away from the jetset-life I was accustomed to back home in Europe and around the world, one thing that has now grown to be more important than anything in my life, is to be able to breath freely, to lead a slower, harmonic life and to properly take care of my body. The body is after all what carries our soul and without constant attention to it we might loose contact with our inner spirit. That disconnection is something I've experienced much in my past, a distance to my Self that sometimes made me make wrong decisions as well as treating myself and others in ways that hasn't always been the best ones.
So as a natural progress, I started practicing yoga again a few months back. Combined with my daily exercise and meditation, which I've been busy with ever since we left Europe behind, it allows my body and soul to be at peace with my being. Not only does it give my body the flexibility and strength that is good to have when sailing and leading a very physically challenging life as we do, but it also puts my mind at ease. It gives me strength and ability to, with a clear and conscious mind, make better decisions. It opens up my soul, makes me less affected by outer disturbances and distractions. It allows me to breath and analyze situations before rushing with answers and thus giving me time and opportunity to act better. Decide better. Do better. Live better. And evidently, to be a better partner, friend, human being than what I might've been before. Not saying I was ever terrible at any of those, just that there's always room for improvements within ourselves and I'm glad that I've found my way to achieve a greater form of inner peace and fulfillment. Which naturally reflects on the people I meet, those that I invite into my sphere and the people that I share my life with.
Ultimately, life is just a series of actions and reactions, and we can choose if we want to make that chain a positive or a negative one. To keep myself in good shape, spiritually and physically, makes my little chain in this big world a better and more harmonic one. It really is so easy, and though I'm endlessly thankful for the vast experiences my earlier life has given me, I regret that I didn't fully embrace this knowledge before. Never too old for improvements though.
