Divas That Care Network

A Kora, and the Cycles in Life

• Divas That Care Network • Season 15 • Episode 59

Share episode

Come and listen to our Host, Gia-Raquel, as she chats with today's guest, Ann Scheerer, for our “End of Year, Beginning of Me” Podcast Series.
A powerfully themed mini-series helping women close the year with clarity and step into the next one with grounded self-love and vision.

Ann Scheerer, PhD, is a professor of environmental sciences and sustainability and a longtime meditation and yoga practitioner. Ann's courses explore the current "unsustainable" planetary situation and engage students in designing social responses to prepare for changing conditions. Ann believes contemplative practices like meditation and yoga are crucial for personal resilience in these complex and uncertain times. She came to Yin Yoga practice to slow down and listen to her body. Through deep and long Yin yoga poses, she found a deeper connection to her body and to the earth. These practices have supported Ann's teaching and influenced her curriculum. As a proponent of slowing down, Ann encourages students to be more aware of our choices and self care. Ann embraces change and has shifted her career a few times following her curiosities and earning multiple degrees. In addition to her PhD, Design and Planning, she has obtained two Master's degrees - MSLS (Master of Strategic Leadership for Sustainability) and MPA (Master of Public Administration).

A high-altitude pilgrimage around Mount Kailash meets a joyful Santorini yoga retreat to explore release, completion, and the sacred pause between endings and beginnings. We share Buddhist insights on compassion and impermanence, practical rituals for letting go, and how travel reshapes identity.

• Circumambulating Mount Kailash as a ritual of completion
• Body, speech, mind practices at high altitude
• Compassion and generosity modeled in Tibetan culture
• The infinity symbol, prayer flags, and Green Tara
• Impermanence, bardos, and the sacred pause
• Decluttering stories and things to create space
• Joyful flow and laughter on a Santorini yoga retreat
• Integrating lightness through journaling and reflection
• Creativity as a path forward: writing, mandalas, song
• Carrying new energy back into work and life

For more Divas That Care Network Episodes visit www.divasthatcare.com

SPEAKER_00:

It's Divas That Care Radio. Stories, strategies, and ideas to inspire positive change. Welcome to Divas That Care, a network of women committed to making our world a better place for everyone. This is a global movement for women, by women engaged in a collaborative effort to create a better world for future generations. To find out more about the movement, visit divas that care.com after the show. Right now, though, stay tuned for another jolt of inspiration.

SPEAKER_02:

Namaste, and welcome to the Divas That Care Network. I'm your host, J. Raquel Rose, owner of Airs Above Yoga, and you are listening to Above the Ground podcast. If this is your first time tuning in, our network is in its 15th year and listened to in over 30 countries. I would like to personally thank you for giving me the gift of your time. As always, it is my honor to hold space with you. And today, talking about holding space, we have our returning guest, Ann Sure, and she is here to talk to us about kind of a theme of releasing, letting go, um, moving on, and more importantly, some of the insights she took from the amazing travels that she's been through this this year and how they have inspired her on her path, on her journey, any pivots they might inspire her to have made, and just to share with us the insights and amazing, wonderful stories that she came upon as she took these beautiful adventures. So, and thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm so thrilled to have you back. Thank you, Chia. Thank you so much for having me again. Appreciate it. It's my honor. So should I just start in?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, please. So by all means. So I know you've gone on a couple of trips. Um, one of them happened to be yoga related, but one is probably one of those like bucket list trips that I would think um for many people. I won't limit it to just women. Um, but you did take a trip to Nepal and the Himalayas and Tibet, correct?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I did. I um engaged in a pilgrimage, a spiritual pilgrimage. And um the highlight of the pilgrimage and the the whole challenge that I'm really relating to this theme of completion is taking a Korah, which is a ritual, a Buddhist ritual meaning circumambulating some sacred object, taking a Korah around Mount Kalash, which is the um a very sacred spiritual mountain in the Himalayas. And it has been for thousands of years a spiritual trek of Buddhists and of Hindus, and um it's can be it's a total of 30 miles, and I did it over the course of three days with a group of people in Tibet, and I was really attracted to being able to get to Tibet. It's not easy, it's in China. So this group was um focused on a spiritual journey. We uh visited many monasteries along the way as we drove up the Himalayan plateau and got to Mount Kailosh, and the the actual Korah itself was really a pilgrimage, pilgrimage in the eyes of the Buddhists, um, to really kind of dig deeper into our body, speech, and mind. And that's really what we got as this in this physical life that we have. So um in growing spiritually, which I've always been a proponent of, um, and completing past karma, basically, letting things go. Um, this was a real opportunity to to test my not only my body physically, doing a 30-mile trek, going to elevations as high as 18,500 feet. Wow. It was a yeah, it was a pretty physically demanding experience. Um, and I made it. So over letting go completion of any fear or doubts, um, and letting that stuff go and starting fresh, you know. Um uh so physically, uh, you know, body speech, it's a matter of how do we interact with other people. I was with a group of 15 people, we're in adverse conditions, three days driving up into the mountain, and then three days walking around Mount Kalosh. Um, lots of challenges, staying in very austere conditions at night in these. Yeah. So um really coming over kind of the the speech and how do we deal basically how do we put ourselves out there with other people and realizing how what I'm how am I reacting to things along the way, learning about ourselves. And and then of course, um the mind and just the power of the mind to get through things. And um, while I was on that trek and you know, walking up to these high elevations, I really did have this kind of overcoming sense of what I'd been through like the previous couple decades, because it was a tough couple of decades, and now I'm I'm moving into a new chapter that's now been a little bit easier. I kind of feel like I paid my dues there. And this trip was a way, you know, really for me to complete a lot of um old karma, old stuff that I was maybe holding on to and being hard on myself, some self-loathing kind of things. But in that experience itself, it was so spiritual. Just walking in the air and on those in those mountains was in itself just felt like made me so much lighter. Getting out of my element, my typical working day, and um going to a new culture that that really did um make me feel differently about myself um than when I'm in my own culture. So going to such an exotic culture. So, yes, a lot of completion. I really felt like when I was on the top of that pass, I had made it. I was like, I can do this, I can do life. I feel lighter. Let go of that, those things that were maybe holding me back. So a lot of completion in that.

SPEAKER_02:

Look at what I'm capable of, right? Like, and you can even surprise yourself to a certain extent. And I've I've heard it said, and I don't know who coined if it was a specific quote or if it's just kind of that thought process that goes around of you never really know yourself until you travel outside of your, and I don't want to say comfort zone because it's a little bit trait, but literally to in the instance of what you did, out like alone, if you know, even if you were with a group, but if you weren't with, you know, a friend or a partner or someone like that when it's just you and the world, and you just pick yourself up and you plonk yourself down elsewhere where you know no one, you know nothing, and you are just your raw self in this brand new experience. You find aspects of your personality, aspects of your ability, aspects of yourself, of your true deepest self that you are that are outside of the structure that you create yourself for it for yourself in your everyday. Um believe that to be true because you have to get out of out of that to even have the perspective of oh who can I be here? Who am I here? Who am I truly? Because now I all the things that define me in air quotations for those that are listening, are not there to be a mirror. And now I'm just existing in this space, in this new space, and and the it the potential is limitless in theory.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes, I I love that. Um I think completion, as we all know, is part of the whole process of change that we're always in as human beings, and the planet is always in. We see the seasons change. There's completion in like right now, the season of celebrating completion of fall and going into winter. Um, so with that, I I really um in completing certain cycles, I've I really feel uh um deep gratitude for for ritualizing completion, where we can look within ourselves and think and look and say, wow, I survived this cycle, whatever it may be. Um I will ritualize this by do doing something for me, taking a yoga class, going on a spiritual retreat. I love spiritual retreats no matter how they come, you know, just so they're good. But this was an extreme one that I just did. Um but retreats for completing something, you know, loving yourself and being um feeling good about yourself for completion, and then moving into the next phase. We're constantly in change. So renewal for beginnings, you know, you at the end of every completion is a beginning. So, how can we complete things really well? So, what what we've learned, who we are, strengthen ourselves, love ourselves more, love others more, um, and then begin the next phase, beginnings, which may be the theme in January.

SPEAKER_02:

But that's always the theme, right? The fresh start, right? After after the toil, after the trouble comes the potential hopeful reward, right? Um, did you have any any insight and that you're comfortable sharing? Because sometimes these things can be very private, but any insights, any visions, any any kind of like aha moments, any any like gentle enlightenments, if you will, while you were, whether it was while you were actually walking, whether it was at night after you, did you have any like aha moments or any any just lightning bolts?

SPEAKER_01:

Figuratively. I guess one thing, so much of it was uh like this feeling that just going to this culture, this Buddhist Tibetan Buddhist culture of based on you know, there's not a lot of division between church and state there. You know, they they're definitely um all Buddhists, and um there is coming from compassion and generosity as their first thing. So there was so much generosity by these people for us. Like we they love picnics, and we went out on a uh had a picnic after we visited a monastery, and there was a group of Tibetan family and um couple families of Tibetan people having a really nice picnic, and they came over to our blanket. There were like 10 of us, and they put out like their bags, please have some. They boiled up these little potatoes, you know, like little potatoes and salt, and they were just in the bag, you know, takes so we each took a potato and you know, they had a bag of wrapped candy, and and so they just randomly came over and said, Here, you know, and um just the warmth of these people and that that love and compassion. And then I've always been a fan of the infinity symbol, you know. I have me too, and I've got another now. Now I got another one with the infinity or the Buddhist um infinity symbol, endless. Oh, that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02:

I love that.

SPEAKER_01:

Did you get it?

SPEAKER_02:

Did you get it there?

SPEAKER_01:

I got it right before I left. Oh, per I mean, that's perfect. I love that. Yeah. That symbol showed up everywhere. Really? Yes, because it's one of their eight precious uh sim auspicious symbols of uh so there's eight precious symbols, and um oftentimes these eight symbols are in at doorways, so when you enter places, you you have auspiciousness um you know put upon you, or you think that way because you these these see these symbols. Um but the infinity sign, anyway, has been meaningful for me. And um so these symbols showing up everywhere on buildings and flags, and um, and then I just I was in one of the monasteries, which was thousands of years old, and it was still an operating monastery with Buddhist monks in it, with all these relics, Buddha, Buddhist statues, and statues of all these you know different deities. Um and I just got this overwhelming feeling of like, how many years this place has been here, and in these walls, how many mantras have been said, you know, chants by these Buddhist monks, and how many people have come in to pray. And like right in this building, there was so much love and compassion that was like you can't quantify. And this sounds maybe kind of crazy, but it just I could like feel that like there's an infinite amount, and then the infinity thing like clicked for me, like, oh, this is what an infinite amount of love, because you know, it's always happening in these four walls, these chants and these uh uh noises and the people that come in, which is goodness, and it's exponentially kind of swirling in there, and you can kind of feel so it gave me this thing like, oh, this can happen, even in places where there's division, and maybe we think that we can't connect from heart to heart. And yeah, this is kind of woo-woo stuff, but we are all humans and we can all connect on that heart level. So it really, those kind of experiences in these old monasteries after I had it the first time really kind of um felt like this energy sucking me in each time. And I'd seen an infinity sign on the wall, and I'd be like, There's my affirmation, you know, really kind of making this a ritual around um how I can connect to these ideals and bring them into my life. So I think that was a big one, um, as far as uh really kind of a something that really stirred me and made me kind of shift a little bit um inside. Just also physically completing the Korah, um that especially hitting those high um elevations when health sick and um and just saying at the top of the Korah, the top of the mountain pass, Jolmala Pass, it's called, uh, people will put like hang up prayer flags. So there's thousands of prayer flags hanging in the light incense, you know, and say a prayer to a loved one or a lost person, or you know, lots of things happen up at that because at that pass is supposed to be a really magical place where transformation can occur. So um, when I was up there, I um basically um placed a green Tara picture. Um I love the Tara as the feminine deity of Buddhism, um and just consciously said, let go of things that no longer serve me, right? Yeah. All that past stuff, like I was kind of alluding to before. And I I seriously I felt lighter I felt lighter than I've have in years after completing that. I love that. I gave myself permission too, and then that you know, to let go of some stuff because we hold on to stuff that we don't even realize a lot of times, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, even just in the like in the physicality, like the things that we have, right? The things that we keep, the things that we oh gosh, what and I like we're gonna go to the the the complete yang from the yin that we were just discussing. And if you ever saw the movie Fight Club, which happens to be one of my like all-time favorite boobies, it has some of these principles threaded through it in its own very special, kind of dark way. Um, but one of the things that I remember that stuck with me from that was the quote, the things that you own wind up owning you. And that quote I do remember, and I always took that with me, going, like, that is that is so true. Like, I don't know that there is anything more true than that statement. And of course, it's a it's it's a conversation about materialism versus the spiritual things that we hold on to. But I believe I believe that everything carries energy and that even the things that you hold on to from a place of love still carry that energy. And I think that um I I don't remember the specific Buddhist principle with regard to the things of loved ones or or passed on, but I do believe that Native Americans are very specific about not holding on to things um from their deceased loved ones because it it carries the spirit. I believe there's something to that effect, and I don't want to butcher it or get it wrong. Um, but I I do believe that, you know, that process of release can be a good place to start for people who may have issues is releasing things that you can touch, like actual things, because I think that that the physicality, for example, in your trek, in your in the Korah, in that actual walk, in what you put yourself through, the physical demands on your body, is in essence the same principle, if I as let's say cleaning out your closet, but it's for your body. And your body is is the thing that is holding because remember, our bodies store all of our emotions, they store all of our pro unprocessed energy. And I think that, you know, when you talk about spiritual retreats or you talk about um, you know, you talk about going on on, I believe, the like sweat lodges, those, those types of things where it's this physically demanding, whether it's sitting in a sweat lodge, whether it's hiking up a mountain, whatever it is, that physicality purges your body the same way that you might purge a purge a juncture or purge a closet, this way to be able to tangibly release, but in that spiritual way, you're using your body as the vessel that it is to release all of that decades of trauma, of difficulty, of whatever it might be. Um, and just having that kind of sensation of for those who are listening who have who haven't maybe started a spiritual journey but want to or or just take take from this the idea of releasing, purging, moving through, and letting go. Um, that there's there's the mundane, right? We always say, and then there's laundry, right? The mundane, and then what you did, which is which is like the just the epitome of, if you will, of of the way to purge and to release and let go.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, uh, yeah, exactly. And also the the mind connection there is really huge because our mind has to let us let it go almost. You know, um and what when you were talking, I thought of how um uh Buddhists in general let go of thoughts. We know that thoughts and things come up and that it's always fleeting. So uh when I watched our Tibetan tour guide, an amazing man who could speak English, Tibetan, got us through all these obstacles along the way with the Chinese government, which that's a whole nother story, you know. Oh, yeah, I'm sure by the Chinese. But he was a Buddhist, and he people would get you know upset about things, and all these things would swirl around him, and he was so calm, he figured out what the the um core of the issue was and came back and solved it. He would never hold on to any criticism or any negativity, or so the Buddhists kind of have this way of in relating with people instead of reacting like you called me that, I'm gonna call you a worse name back. Right, right, which doesn't lead down the best path necessarily. They have this ability to say, that person was not happy. So I feel compassion for them. They are upset, they are not happy right now. So I can't take it personally that they just Snapped at me and reacted, I will be even more compassionate to that person because they're obviously having a hard time. So that's kind of how I explain it. You know, of course, they've had years of practice, they grow up with this, but they just don't react. You know, instead they respond with love or realizing that, you know, since we're all the same at the core, you know, if someone has an angry reaction, there's they deserve some compassion. So it's a really interesting way of just people interacting with each other, just loving and um very, very generous um along the way. But releasing thoughts like that before they become a story in our our minds, I guess is the point. Because we can hold things like, you know, for years, you know, in that job I had, there was this that I got screwed over in that relationship, we got screwed over, and how dare, and then all of a sudden, you know, you can kind of say, Oh, we're all suffering in some way in those things. And there's a lot of causes and conditions that cause weird stuff to transpire. But who are we to have the power to figure it out or to blame just one thing or you know, so it's too complicated, let it go, let's be in the present, you know? Yeah, but a lot of that. So just seeing, yeah, how we can release things in our minds too before they can get sometimes out of control. You know, I know I do that, I can really dwell on stories and then make myself sick, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, and then that's the power of meditation, too, when you're talking about Buddhism and you're talking about, you know, the idea of I don't want to say control over the mind, but we'll say redirection and the stories that you tell are within your control to tell. So, you know, even the feelings and the emotions, less so, because those just come up like, you know, untamed animals, right? Depending on on whatever thought process, but it's always a thought that sparks the emotion nine times out of ten. Um, or the emotion may spark the thought. It's it's kind of like the chicken or the egg, but it's, you know, they they talk about when you're trying like the power of medification, they talk about, you know, feeling feeling the thing that you're trying to manifest before you have it. And I think it goes back to your point of of kind of the story that you tell yourself and starting to talk yourself out of that spiral and say, okay, what what feeling do I want to feel? And tell yourself that story instead. And start to say, okay, well, this happened and you know, there's I always look at I always look at whatever we'll call negative things that occur, you know, there's a reason for this. There's there's a I'm there's a lesson in this that I chose, and I this is just my personal belief that I chose before I came into this incarnation and that I chose this lesson and that there's something, and I'm gonna repeat it, whether I like what whether I like it or not, until I have or my soul has expanded into that lesson, and I can then move on to the next lesson, which will hopefully be maybe a little bit less challenging. Um, but I think that that idea of storytelling and the mind aspect is you know, we we talk about mind, body, spirit, but there's definitely that that link of the mental having probably one of the most pronounced effects on the physical that we are consciously aware of. Because I know that the spirit does consistently in always, but I don't know that everyone or that most people are as consciously aware of the impact of their energy and their spirit on their physical manifestation.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, right. Because we do, as I think the Buddha said, we our mind creates our world. So we, you know, we all have different minds and how we work them and what we choose to think about, um, I guess, or what we're forced to think about kind of shapes our world. So being able to work with that's been very helpful for me to meditate and to work with my mind a little bit more, like learn about myself a little bit more. It's really easy to see other people's stuff, you know. It's a little hard to see our own because we're so close to it. Um so meditation has really helped figure that out. And also, I just you know, with completion, I love the um principle of uh impermanence. Um, that's just a natural principle for the world, right? And that is about the cycles of change and always everything's impermanent. So if we get too attached to anything, um, that's gonna be the cause of our suffering. We gotta just realize, well, things are gonna change, and it's not always easy, but yeah, how can we learn from it? How can we become wiser, like in the Buddhist thinking, wiser and more compassionate? These are opportunities for us to become more wise and more compassionate, these difficult things we challenge to not face in our lives. Um, there's another concept that just because we're in this kind of I'm thinking of cycles and change, I wanted to just throw out there that maybe a listener would be interested in, and I think it's powerful. Um, are the this idea of a bardo in Buddhism, where a bardo is kind of different phases of existence, but it can also mean like secular. In a bardo, you have a beginning, a middle, and an end. And uh so there's different scales of Bardos in the Tibetan um Buddhist religion, but um, and I know just a little bit, but these Bardos, if we look at kind of different chapters of our lives or different seasons as Bardoes, we we can see these beginnings, middles, and ends that have happened if we look in the back in our life or if we're right now in a certain bardo, like um, you know, I'm teaching a course right now, and I'm in the middle of the semester, so I'm kind of in the middle of that bardo of that course, you know. Yeah, um, and thank goodness there's an end coming. And so there's gonna be an end. And then what's better than a fresh start again or a little break in between Bardos, you know, yeah, before we start up the next thing. And so maybe there's a time, you know, that kind of completion is it maybe in between a bardo. And you know, the biggest there's a many teachings on bardo's, but the big thing is that we're currently right now in this bardo bardo of a physical lifetime, as far as the Buddhists are concerned. And then when we die, we'll move into another bardo, right? Yeah, and that time of death, that time of changing into a next bardo is like the most powerful time ever, you know, for our power of our consciousness. Going down a rabbit hole here.

SPEAKER_02:

But no, I love I love this, I love this rabbit hole.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. And I'm not an expert, so I hate to go too much into it, but uh my point is that at that completion of a bardo or of a cycle, the wise people, wise elders are telling us there's a lot there.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Because it's be at the end of one cycle and the beginning of another, and there if you know, you can really kind of how do I make this Bardo better, or how do I be a better person, or how do I, you know, whatever it is, but if we use those kind of endings and new beginnings in um in ways that can really nourish us, I think it's powerful.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, oh a hundred percent. And I think, you know, when you talk about you talk about the infinity symbol and you talk about the idea of of the fact that it literally represents it literally presents that the cycles are there there is no true ending and there is no true beginning because it's all it's all just one, right? It's it's all the same. And so I think that you know it's well beyond our tiny pea size human brains to comprehend the intricacies or the you know the the reach of that concept, um, at least for my tiny pea sized human brain. Um but I just I believe that, you know, if you've ever and I don't want to get too too dark with this, but if you've ever experienced death up close, or if you've ever been, you know, in the room, it's a very intimate, very it's obviously awful and heartbreaking for those left behind, but it's a very, very intimate moment. And there's a certain literal, um, but there's a figurative quiet. Um, and I've been in in the room with family and friends who have passed, um, some as they passed, and there is this in that moment. Um, and I don't I don't know what it means, but it's like it's like that, it's it's like the point in between the breath. That's the best way that I can explain it. It's the pause in between the breath. So for everyone in the room, they miss for the people that are close to the person, they miss the moment, like because they're so consumed by their grief. But for someone who's in that space, um, and I think maybe a lot probably nurses experience this quite a bit more than more than most humans, um, or or you know, people who go through this process. Um, but I believe that there's that that sacred pause. And for me, if we're looking if we're talking about the the not the Buddhist infinity symbol, but the tr the tradition I don't even want to say traditional, but the one I'm most familiar with, which is the sideways figure eight, right? Um, I feel like it's represented in the connection between the two at the crossing point. And that's just the way that I process it for me, but that that that space in that moment that like you breathe in, you breathe out, it's the circle and the circle, right? There's that pause in between, and it's so quiet, and it's just it's just it's filled with sacredness, or it's filled with love, and it's filled, you know, it's filled, it's just it's it's spilling over. It is a spilling over cup in that moment. Um and that's just something that I've experienced.

SPEAKER_01:

Brilliant example. I think that would definitely be an example of a bardo, just that in and out breath and that pause in between is really a powerful place. And I, you know, I think Buddhists would say that's where there are infinite possibilities, you know, when we slow down our mind and we don't let our self-talk kind of derail us, there's really everything's open and wide, you know, for us to explore. So that pause is really that's a great way to yeah, say what I was trying to say there. The pause um is the sacredness and just possibilities. I love the idea. A lot of, you know, nothing's holding you back, really, there.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. No, other than you, yeah. Generally, nine times out of ten, it's your own, it's that, it's that mind, right? It's that storytelling. Um or or fear. Fear, I think, is one of the biggest things that holds us back from our full expression of our of ourselves, of our human selves and our spiritual selves in this in this plane of existence. Talk about going into the woo-woo lands. I think we're we're fairly fairly well there at this point. Um I know, I know, you know, we could we like we could unpack so much here um and still just skim the surface, but I know that you also went on, maybe not as I don't want to limit it by saying that, but I know that you also went on a yoga retreat as well, which I I don't know if it had the gravitas of the of the excursion in the Himalayas, because I just think that's I mean, how many, how many times does any some people never go to the Himalayas in their in their lifetime? So like I said, that's like a big not only a physically demanding, but that's a bucket list experience, right? That's a that's a if I've done nothing else in this world, I went and I went to the Himalayas, right? And I I had this amazing journey and I did it, right? Like you said, I did it. I I'm still here and I had this beautiful experience. Did you have how was would you talk a moment or two about your experience with the yoga retreat and if um if there were any things that came from that out of that for you that maybe tied into the experience? Were there any any threads of similarity between the two in a spiritual or physical way?

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks for asking. Yeah, I was it really was uh blessed this summer to be able to take such amazing trips. And um the yoga trip was to Santorini in Greece, and um was with a company called Yoga Adventures, and they do uh adventures all over the world. And this was definitely a fun girls' yoga trip, um, a little bit different than the um my trip to much different than my trip to Nepal and um Tibet. But when I think of it the summer, I reflect back, I think of kind of from the highest top of the world point from Himalaya to the sea level of Santorini. So, you know, these uh viewing life through different elevations um and um just lifestyles are so different. I mean, so many, so many things that um many cultural differences between the two places, um, and you know, where Tibet is quite remote, so not a lot of tourists there. Santorini, um, Greece is quite the touristy place, but the Greeks are just lovely. And so there was a very they love Americans because we go there and spend a lot of money and and they're so you know, so friendly, such good food. Um, so my intention going into that retreat was really because I do practice yoga. We've talked about it before absolutely in yoga, and um but I do do some, do the traditional yang and and half the yoga, which was uh what we did at Santorini. And it was this just this beautiful location of um overlooking you know the Aegean C and engaging my intention is what I'm going for here. My intention was to deepen my yoga practice and and just laugh a lot and be joyful, right? You know, because it's gonna be great with a lot with um other like-minded women. So we started every day and doing yoga, and it was such a joyful group. Um, I deepened my practice in some ways, but then I thought, you know, I'm gonna lighten up and not have this be so much about trying to accomplish something physically. I'm gonna be about spaciousness and going with the flow. So um that kind of came to me in doing yoga and trying, you know, here we were looking at the sea, the flow. So it was really kind of like practicing going in the flow kind of thing. Um and just beautiful. We laughed tons. We had so much fun. Um how many women? I think there are eight women from the US that um all I went with my cousin Mary, who is a blast. Wonderful, um, wonderful woman, and then some other women, but we all bonded. It was just another, you know, loving group. It was so sad to leave. But and you know, that I guess that just dawned on me. I've been having a hard time with completion of this summer, actually, because these amazing adventures, and then you know, I've got to complete I still want to be on that high of you know these amazing adventures, and I have to complete them now and go back to work. So that just has been, you know, what I've been dealing with the last six weeks. Um, but I think I'm back to to the workspace now. But there was there is sadness in completion for sure. And it doesn't happen overnight. I guess that's what I'm coming to right now after the yoga trip. It almost got me like, I don't, I don't want it to end, you know. Yeah, yeah. This wonderful place and everything is just like not real almost, you know, it's not that um, but just left there feeling, you know, super blessed. I guess I just, you know, post Tibet feeling kind of like a little bit of a lightness after that experience, you know, just a little bit kind of fell off my shoulders, really out of my head, like that. I wasn't holding on to. And then going into this, and I just like I'm gonna be a yoga diva and have a great time. Let's laugh a lot, be joyful. We dance, we went on a catmaran and danced, and you know, we just um had a good time. So now it's like on the other side of that, and now, yeah, that completion of having to like get back looking at the computer screen and thinking hard about things.

SPEAKER_02:

But think about all the all of that energy that you've transmuted in those two experiences that are still with you when you sit back down at your computer, because you're not gonna be the exact same person, person that you were, right, before you left for the pilgrimage. And and I feel like it's so beautiful that you had this strenuous, um, deep, like it's very deep, right? And you feel lighter because of the depths that you have to go through, even just physically, right? And and I'm sure mentally, as you were going through the, you know, the the dynamics of a group of people that you don't know in a place that you don't know, and then sleeping in a tent, you know what I mean? Like all of that is is taxing physically, mentally, emotionally. Um, and going through that, coming out the other side of that lighter, and then doing this beautiful, um, like again, the opposite, right? This gentle, you know, I'm sure you the accommodations were probably pretty exquisite, right? Like, like being on the beach and being at sea level and just um and just enjoying and create that lightness. You literally created a trip with the lightness that you found at the mountain, right? Like you, it was like the embodiment of that lightness and that celebration for what you accomplished. And even if it wasn't intended to be that, even if that wasn't where you went with it, that idea of of like that like like I deserve to dance, like you deserve to dance, right? Like you, like you deserve to have that fun and in that beautiful experience and be in that wonderful place and you know, celebrate your body and celebrate your femininity and do all of those things, and and then the laundry and then come back to work, yes. But now you're coming to your teaching with this lightness, and that energy that you are exuding around you is is still with you. So even though the culmination of the actual summer season, the culmination of the actual event is there, the energy, your energy has shifted, you know, potentially forever in a positive way. And not in the day-to-day, but the overall that lightness, like you're gonna carry that with you, and it may change the way you teach, it may change the way you inspire others. Um, you know, and that grief is part of that that celebration.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you. You know, this right now, doing this with you is definitely feeling like completion in a lot of ways, too, for that on that aspect of the journey, my journey, you know, just coming back here. But yeah, um, and I kind of thought of that as we I was getting ready to talk to you today. I'm like, this will be good completion for kind of like, yeah, these trips happen. I like how you've just framed it. Um you know, one thing I haven't done because I felt like I don't want to complete that, totally complete the Tibetan Nepal trip in my mind or something, is put out my like slideshow, my little, you know, video or photos about this trip. I have so many. I have like 600 from three weeks I was gone. Oh wow. And so I can't do all of them, you know. So I have to go through each one, and I just haven't. Wanted to delete anything. I want haven't wanted to like organize them into the folder that these are the ones for the video. Finally, this weekend, because we're talking today, I'm kind of doing that and it's been on my mind. I need to share my trip with people. You know, this is ridiculous. It's four months later. Uh so thank you. I think this is part of my uh, you know, weird completion just of the the whole holding that whole trip and the aftermath because it doesn't end. You know, the the you know, that pilgrimage um did not really end on July 17th when I came back. It was just almost kind of a beginning, you know. Yeah, an ending, but then a beginning as we're kind of talking about. Um but thank you for that. Yeah, I think I will carry that that lightness and a little more spaciousness. Um, I do feel like I'm carrying that forward. And a little bit more reflective um actions, you know. That was part of our trip was meditating in the morning and then doing some reflections in the afternoon. And um that just the process and the act of reflecting on things, and I love to journal, so I will put them in my journal, a lot of thoughts, and that really um has become now more of a practice, I think. And um, even in my teaching, you know, this didn't work out so well. How can I change that for next time? Or, you know, things like that. So a little bit more reflective practice um in my in my journal writing as well came from that, I think. So a lot of good, yeah, little seeds that in the completion of those adventures that um planted for this next phase, I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And I love that you said, you know, I haven't, I haven't, thank you for sharing that, like you haven't gone through the photos because you you like you're literally holding on to that trip, right? And like I feel like the irony is in that sentence because you like in order to really fulfill that practice, you have to let it go. Like that is right, like you have like like that, that that that blockage that that is the blockage that we all suffer through. Like you literally just hit the nail on the head, like this beautiful trip. You're still trying to hold on to it. You don't want to go through the process of releasing of releasing it by by facing the photos, right? The photos are the physical manifestation of the trip, and you want to carry it with you. And the ultimate act, right? If we could come full circle on this entire conversation, the ultimate act is you just out like shared with us is letting it go, making it real, making it real for the people around you, sharing it with the world. And and I think that that that's beautiful. And if you're starting to do that, I think that that you're ready.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, it is time. So the timing of us speaking together today is um perfect because now I have space. I you know, I didn't have quite that space before. I had to go to Greece and another couple hundred pictures, and yeah, you had to celebrate. Right, right, and so you know, have that ritual. Yeah. But yeah, thank you. This is this is really that's so true. This is conversation that's been really a helpful act of completion.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I love that. And is there anything that you are moving on to, anything that you're looking forward to in the upcoming year?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, um, you know, it is going to, I got a little bit of a taste of what it's like to um take the summer off and travel and um push myself and think about deep things. So I think there'll be more of that coming in the future, um, for sure. So trying to trying to figure that out. I'm uh at this point kind of hunkering down for a good winter of um thinking about that, actually. Like how will that pan out? Um, you know, the next adventure um and the next part of my spiritual path. But I I tell you, I've always been uh I've loved in my adult life anyway, these spiritual adventures that women, especially women, right? But no, there's men write them too, but you know, eat prey love.

SPEAKER_02:

I was I was already thinking, I was right there with you. Yes, I was right there with you. It was it felt like a very eat prey love summer for you.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. And um Wild or uh Wild with uh you know Reese Witherspoon, I think it was just called Wild, where um Cheryl Strade took the walk up the cascade, you know, and her spiritual, she was, you know, mourning the death death of her mother, and I just love that book as well. So um, you know, that was another motivation to do a big spiritual adventure is to kind of get some good material. And I've been doing a lot of reflecting, you know. I want to do more creative work, and why couldn't I maybe write some poetry or write something around these themes? So those are actually, you know, that's one thing I'm leaning more into, you know, um different types of creativity in this next phase. Um, so like writing more, drawing more. I love mandalas. Oh, they have the mandolas everywhere.

SPEAKER_02:

Those are beautiful, yes, they're amazing. And then they and then they talk about the act of letting go, and then they just clear them. And it's just like, yes, you're just like, oh my gosh. Yeah. It's just the and it's like hours, thousands of hours of work that goes into them, and they're so intricate and so beautiful. And then it's just like that, if there's ever, ever a metaphor in physical right there, just wipe it off. It's just it's yeah, it's it's amazing to me.

SPEAKER_01:

At any moment, yes, we could have something devastating wiped away, you know. So that's the nature of life. So yeah, the mandalas. So I just draw like doodle mandalas a little bit and for relaxation and just got a few of those in my journal. So I want to draw more. I've been in my head so much, like most of my adult life working and and um, so yeah, just looking for more creative um pursuits too, as I go into the next phase, because getting a little, you know, the mind needs to be refreshed with new ideas and new things. And and I love my work, teaching and sustainability, but I have also um need more too. You need to keep it interesting.

SPEAKER_02:

So yeah, it's and it's all about balance and you know, your that what you your work is so impactful and so necessary and important for everyone. Um, I know I have started to reduce my single-use plastic use ever since our last conversation. Um you know, I I've been I switched back to bar soap. So at least in somebody that's great.

SPEAKER_01:

Lean it but you know, little by little.

SPEAKER_02:

Um but I you know, I believe because just because this flew into my my intuitive mind, so I'm going to share it with you. Um, I feel like the journal that you took with you might be a great place to start, you know, potential book or potential, you know, you you have it, it's there, and then maybe you can build on that and it'll turn into something beautiful. I'm sure it already is something beautiful, but but if you look at it with the intention of sharing it, it might be able to help others.

SPEAKER_01:

That's a thought. Thank you. I will that yeah, definitely. And I was looking back at my reflections before we we talked today. So yeah, there are nuggets in there for sure. Yes and you know, I just thought of another creative pursuit that we're pursuing right now. My me and my partner Todd. Um, we're writing some songs. I love that. That's amazing. So we just wrote finished one that I wrote, so I will share it with you.

SPEAKER_02:

Um please do. May I ask for the name of it? At the bridge. Beautiful. I love that. How how how on brand? Because uh yeah, I'm sitting here and living here. Looking at the bridge, yeah. For for those of you listening, that uh Todd and and Ann happen to have a bridge at their very beautiful home. So um they live above uh the branch of a river, and it's just it's a gorgeous, gorgeous setting. So um yes, yes, absolutely. Well, are there any final thoughts, any final just inspiration, intuitive hits that came to you that you'd like to share um with our listeners before before we move on with our first day in Mercury retrograde? I had to throw that in there somewhere.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, I guess with that, one thing that I came away with was the thinking of everything is sacred. You know, even the worst of the worst, there's uh something in there that could be a nugget to help you learn and grow and maybe learn more about your own mind. So that would be one thing. Um, and with that idea of thing everything is sacred, even the worst of experiences, it's hard to think of that at first because how you know we don't want awful things happening to us. Um but in those moments, just to be able to get through them, you almost have to, for me, I almost have to, there's got to be something sacred in this for me to move through and get through this phase and move towards completion. Um so everything is sacred, and where we're vulnerable, there are possibilities in that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I like I love that actually. Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm a little Renee Brownish, but you know, like when you're feeling most vulnerable, like going to a foreign land, yeah, I felt vulnerable. I flew out on the day that the um we have so much news, but the um in the Middle East, there were some air raids going on. So we're kind of June 22nd. Um and so I'm like, do I do this or not? Well, I you know went for it. But it the possibilities when you kind of you know push into the uncomfortable spaces, there's a lot of pace possibility in there. So yeah, I'll end with that.

SPEAKER_02:

I love that. I love that. Um, thank you so much, and for sharing the uh well, first congratulations on all of your adventures. And I look forward to hearing more about the ones that are upcoming when you when your path unreveals itself, right? Because you're gonna you it'll be a winter of hungering down and you know being with loved ones and all that, and then hopefully there will be a new trajectory for you when you go on your next adventures. And I can't wait to hear about them. And I think just thank you for sharing with me and thank you for you know being such a such a beacon, right? Like, I mean, what you did, not every woman does or has the you know what to do, right? Um, but you did it. So you did it and you're here and you celebrated with an awesome yoga retreat afterwards. And I just I love I love the positivity and the light that you are bringing to all of it. So I just want to thank you so much for sharing your time and your space with me. Thank you so much, Gia.

SPEAKER_01:

It's been a delight.

SPEAKER_02:

It's always it's always delight. I just want to say that I also appreciate and appreciate each and every one of you for our listeners for sharing this space with both of us. And so please feel free to share the same with your loved ones. For more goodness, follow me on all the socials at Above the Ground Podcast and visit my website, airsaboveyoga.com. As always, please don't forget to check out my amazing sisters at divas that care.com and all of my other episodes where you can find us on Spotify, Odyssey, Apple, Amazon, iHeartRadio, or anywhere else that you might feel guided. Again, my name is Jiraquel Rose, owner of Airsabove Yoga, and you are listening to Above the Ground Podcast, where every day is a good one.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for listening. This show was brought to you by Divas That Care. Connect with us on Facebook, on Instagram, and of course on divas that care.com, where you can subscribe to our newsletter so you don't miss a thing.