Tag: #junglelife

Already one month in the jungle… still staying strong 💪👊😜!

littlemissyoga on
Planted an abony tree 😊

Yes, I am back again with a new, short update from 1 February until 10 February 2020 . I hope you like it, please comment, like and subscribe to keep updated 🙏🏻 😊.

1/2/2020: Another Dutch invasion
17 million people in that tiny country, they need more space, let’s all go to Sri Lanka 😉.

Today 2 Dutch families checked in, 2 of them took part of my Yin class 😊. One family stayed for 3 nights, and they didn’t have a planning for 1 day. I told them that if they would like to have some spare time, I could do a bit of kids-yoga. Not really easy with a 2-year old daughter and a 4-year old son. The girl was so cute, the boy was more into building a castle with all the yoga props 😉. The mom was there as well, the dad had finally time to read the news paper with being disturbed 😉. I am not a certified kids-yoga teacher, but after my second ‘class’ kids-yoga I am seriously overthinking to take a training. Even though I can find a lot of examples on YouTube, I am more into taking a proper course (also not an online one) to feel, experience, to share ideas with others. If you have suggestions, let me know 🙏🏻👍🏻.

4/2/2020 – 10/2/2020: 2 Yoga retreats in a row 🧘🏻‍♀🧘‍♂🙏🏻😊
After the Dutch invasion left, a new retreat started on February 4 (Sri Lankan Independence Day, 4-2-1948 by the British Government; the Dutch had already left the building 😉). This time 5 people, 3 singles (well not here with their partners) and 1 couple. 2 of them were officially yoga teachers (1 recently got her Ashtanga-certificate, the other was teaching for about 1,5 years). It was a mixed group, mixed nationalities and also mixed levels. A challenging one, I can tell you that! It was hard for me to keep the ‘group-mentality’; after the 2nd day I gave up on that. Some of them came here to relax only, and do yoga on the side 😉, so they took their ‘me-time’. Also good for me to discover how I am reacting and responding when the group is so divers. To set my boundaries and take my position as a yoga teacher. Normally, a group takes the last morning class, has breakfast altogether and then they go. This group had 3 different check-out times, so I had just 2 people in the last morning class. But it was a fun and great class 😊!

Let me share one experience with you I had with this group. One of the ladies was quite poshy. When I told her about the second-class train and that it was really good, she said: ‘Oh, I only travel 1st class here. And I also don’t take a TukTuk, only a taxi. So gross, a Tuktuk, and all the dust, I get dirty. And it is just a few dollars, compare to my place it is so cheap.’ My face was about to do like this: 🤨🤔😳, but I managed it to stay like: 😊🤐. No judgements😇😅. If I am not teaching, I am a human being, and yes, I judge! The sentence ‘compare to my place’ was heavily repeated in many more conversations. I mentioned that maybe it was a good idea to be in this moment, and to look around and to enjoy everything around her, including the frogs in the toilet and the gecko poo on the bed. I added on that these things probably didn’t happen in her place, so now she was creating new experiences. She didn’t appreciate my comment, the rest of the group tried not to sniffle or laugh 😅. This is just one example, I can write a whole book about it 😉. But that is a new project 😜.
The good thing is, we planted a tree, for the project of Reforestation💪👏👊👍!

In between the retreats I went to Digana with Nell, to buy some sweet snacks, and oats, nuts and raisins for my breakfast (one of my struggles, the breakfasts here barely contain fibers, so I am hungry almost the whole time, and a little variation is welcome 😉). Then we had to go back, because new people were coming and they wanted to do a Yin-class. I rushed myself to get ready, but the guests arrived late, so no Yin-class that evening. The next morning, 7am, we had the kick-off. I decided to do a meditation on the veranda of our ‘honeymoon cabana’, the view over the lake is amazing and also the energy there is lovely. And it was full moon, that made it even more special 😊. These two girls loved it! They were lovely to have in the retreat, especially after the previous group 😊. They were so grateful and happy with everything, so easy going. For yoga I had to do a bit easier class, both weren’t quite experienced, and that was also good for me.

After these ladies no upcoming retreat, a lot of regular guests and one is here specific for yoga, but he didn’t book a retreat. So, non-stop teaching for the next 3 days. Oh, I had a local lady for yoga last week. She told Nell she practiced yoga before. It appeared to be 20 minutes (altogether 😜) on YouTube. But yes, she practiced😅. We did more or less a Yin-class, she liked it. She texted already she will be back next week 😊, maybe with some friends.

New place for teaching… yes/no/yes/no…
In my last blog I mentioned about Rukgala, a yoga retreat centre nearby my current place. It took a while before I got a response, they are now looking at one of their other centres to station me there (close to Negombo). The last message was 4 days ago, still waiting for a reply about the exact starting date and what they will offer. Keep you posted!

Already the last paragraphs 😉😇
So, that’s it for now, I try to keep the blogs shorter for you. I hopefully can post a new one soon, it was a bit hectic and busy here, I even had to postpone my online Dutch class, because of the big groups here (and none of them did yoga😠). Furthermore, a new article is on the way! Focussing on spring time, opening up and letting new, fresh energy in 😊.

Thanks again for reading, you can leave a comment if you want to share something with me as well 😊. And maybe you have some tips for me for kids yoga (in mean time I am checking if I can find a teacher training for it, suggestions are highly appreciated 😊🙏🏻).

💜💚 With love 💜💚                                              
littlemissyoga


P.S.: I had the hardest job during planting a tree… taking pictures🤪😇.

Struggles…😖🙄😠🤔😤(part 1)

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Note: This blog has been written between 21/1/2020 and 10/2/2020). Some struggles have been solved already😊.

Sometimes I got some reactions of you as reader, you are asking me if all is always going well. Hell no, I got struggles here, definitely. Different ones than in The Netherlands, though. Let me share some with you.

Anti-vampire food 🧛🏼‍♀ & Feeling like a Bounty 🥥
Because my stomach and my intestines cannot stand garlic and raw onion, I have to ask the cook to modify the dishes. Apparently, this causes confusion and miscommunication. So, sometimes I don’t have a proper lunch, because all is with garlic. Since we are in the jungle it is not so easy to get something else or cook something for myself. I feel that my body is getting weaker, I am lacking important nutrients like protein. We have cow pies (or black eyed peas), lentils and even soy meat, but when it is prepared, it all contains garlic 🙄. Sometimes it looks like you are eating garlic as main dish mixed with something else 🤪. I tried to eat it twice, I got quite sick twice. That was for me the reason to cut off the garlic completely.

I thought it wouldn’t be that difficult to do so, but I feel that I am causing a lot of troubles and confusion and I struggle with it. I got the feeling that they don’t believe me, they think I do it on purpose. They make a lot of jokes about it, my patience to accept all jokes is almost gone… I don’t know if I need to tell them (they will take it personal, that’s part of the culture), or I just let it be. I have chosen for the last option. I just accept it the way it is, and nowadays, they don’t mention it anymore 😊. Lately, I had a talk with the owner, on the day I didn’t feel well because of the garlic. He spoke with the cook about my garlic-issue, now everything is fine. Well, I still have to ask/write down on the whiteboard in the kitchen: NO GARLIC. Another thing is the variety of the food; after 2 weeks I was done with the curries and white rice (which I eat in really small amounts, because it has barely nutrients and for the carbs it is not necessary to eat that much rice), so I am creating new meals in here 😊. Like plain boiled lentils with boiled veggies or salad (salad without dressing, they use too much salt and vinegar, that’s ruining my salad 😅). Pumpkin soup with a little water and fresh coconut milk, no salt, no onion and no garlic and red rice, yummie 😋😋 (red rice is so much more stuffing and tastier than white rice 😊). For lunch I often safe rotti ((it is made of wheat flour, grated coconut, water and oil, it has the shape of a chapati or a rice cracker) and have that with my nutmeg chutney (instead of jam, dahl curry and coconut sambal 😉). Coconut is almost in every dish… I think I am a real Bounty 🥥at the inside right now 😂😜.

Money, money, money 💰🤑
Another frustrating issue is the payment. I hand in a loose piece of paper, all classes, rooms and dates written down for the lady who does the accounting. Unfortunately, she is often asking me for my notebook, to take a picture (which she has done already…) to start checking everything for the payment…. It’s all double work and it makes me a bit (well… way more than just a bit😅) grumpy. The only thing I am thinking: why do I do all this work? It is all for nothing. Frustration, irritation, and then I have to remind myself: breathe in, breathe out, stay calm, be patient (the same things I tell in my yoga classes 😜😇). At the end, all is fine, but the whole way of working… it is so non-consistent, there is no logical order, and then they are complaining that it is so busy… 🤔🙄. For me it is so easy to think: Analyse your way of working, change it if needed, save time, save money. And there we get the magical word: ‘change’! That creates stress here 😉😝. In many things they are really laid-back, but when they need to change something suddenly or quickly, they get stressed. They need more time to get used to another way of working. For me, it is so common to change, modify, adjust for one purpose: work les and earn more (Western mindset😉). After a talk with the owner I changed the registration of my class, I now do it myself, I don’t need to ask the staff to do it (and they are happy with that 😊). Me too, because I know for sure that I get paid😜.

You’re hot 🥵 & you’re cold 🥶
I have had my ‘stress-moments’ here as well, I had that with taking a shower. I had only cold water… There is a note that they heat the water by using a solar panel, but on rainy/cloudy days they need to heat up the water manually (a big barrel and underneath it they make a fire to heat it up). I spoke to the staff to manually heat up the water, no problem. Fortunately, one of the guys was clever, he walked with me to my room, checked all pipes and concluded that the blue tap was my hot water. So, we opened it, let the water run for about 1.5 or maybe even 2 minutes and yes…I had warm water! Lovely, especially when you want to wash your hair or shave your legs. The good thing is, I really appreciate the warm shower, I realised that isn’t that common to have warm/hot water. I am very grateful for that, every time I take a shower 🚿🙏🏻😊.

As you may have noticed, this blog is called ‘Struggles… (Part 1)’. Yes, there will be a part 2! Do I have so many struggles? Yes and no, I just don’t want to post a super long blog 😇.

Do you want to stay tuned? Subscribe to my website and you will receive an email when I post a new blog or article 😊.

💜💚 With love 💜💚                 
littlemissyoga                    

        

Inspirational thoughts thanks to the rain (unfortunately, it’s not raining men 😂😅)

littlemissyoga on
Finally, wearing my rain coat :)

This whole week is rain the main ingredient of the weather. And as many of you know, I don’t like rain. At night it makes a lot of noise on the roof (a metal roof, made of plates), especially the leaves and all other things or maybe even animals that fall on it. In the jungle there are a lot of trees, there’s a good thing about them: when it is raining, they give you shelter. But when it doesn’t rain anymore, they start dripping, so you get wet anyway. Happy I brought my raincoat, for 2,5 months useless in my backpack, but now I wear it daily.

The rain makes me always a bit sad. It is always changing my plans, e.g. going for a walk and take pictures changes into relaxing in the hammock, read a book, type something and listen to the raindrops on the leaves and roofs. The rain is slowing me down, making me accepting the current situation and forcing the things to do I am postponing for days, or even months. Working on my plans, catching up with online studies, read about yoga, practice yoga, dive deeper into my ideas about my future. And because I didn’t sleep well due to (or because of) the rain, it is good to slow down. To turn more inwards. The same as Yin Yoga doing with my body, mind and soul. I don’t practice Yin a lot, but during teaching these classes, sometimes I practice the poses during the class, I feel such a massive calmness, stillness and peace entering my body, my mind and my soul. It is telling me that I am ok as I am, that the present moment is so beautiful and powerful, that I should enjoy every little bit of it. And that the past and future shouldn’t take away this moment. The focus on my breath helps me to stay present as does the sensation in my body when the pose sets deeper into it. This wonderful stretch, the opening, the power of gravity, the capacity of my body, the power of the breath, the power of the now. Eventhough I am quite a Yang-person myself (a lot of masculine energy), I am slowly opening my softer side, my Yin-side, the feminine side. Gentleness, kindness, softness, self-love and self-care, acceptance of what I am, all of myself, the good things and the bad things, all these things make me the way I am. Like Christina Aguilera sings: “You are beautiful in every single way”. Or Lady Gaga: “I am on the right track baby, I am born this way”. As a teenager I was always inspired by female singers, especially gothic singers. Not only the beauty of their voices, but the way they perform, they act, the power they have to show the world their qualities and after all: their message in their songs. I wasn’t jealous, I saw these people as an inspiration, an example; I told myself: one day I will also stand on stages and show people (without showing off) my qualities, my power, my enthusiasm for that one special thing. Maybe I don’t have 1 thing to focus on, because I like a few things very much, but there is 1 thing in common: I love to share my passion and enthusiasm about it with you, to inspire you to follow your path, to do what you really like. And I do this in the way of teaching. I teach yoga, I teach students (helping them with difficulties they have with some subjects at school) and I write blogs and articles and put them online, so everyone can read it. By sharing my knowledge, my vision (I try not to judge, which is hard, cause it is planted in our instinct) I hope to inspire others – direct and indirect – to take a look at their lives and give them the courage to change if they need a change to find their way to happiness. Happiness should be the journey, not the destination. And to discover, explore and experience happiness you will go through rough times, periods in which you feel unhappy, even more disconnected with yourself than before, this is part of the journey. Sometimes the best chance to happiness comes in disguise, e.g. as a blockage, an obstacle, a disease. So even when you are on your lowest point (as far as you can tell at the moment), keep on breathing, surrender to it, open your heart, listen to it and remember: you have all the answers inside you, you just need to ask the right questions. And hell yeah, you will ask yourself questions which aren’t the right ones immediately, but they teach you a lesson, they give you the knowledge you need at that particular moment, before you can carry on. It’s that simple 😊. Although the experience at the moment doesn’t feel that way…hold on, you’re closer to your goal than you think. So don’t give up! Lift up your head, look up, then you can see where you are going to, which direction you have to go. Every little tiny step forward is a step forward. Even standing still is a good thing. Time for contemplation, reconsideration, reconnection, gathering your powers back together, recharge yourself. Only then you can continue your journey. And soon enough you will discover that you have reached your goal, the summit, the peak, and you realise: you made it! Look around you, look down, see the long way you have been taking, maybe it looks like you just finished a trail run of 85kms, and you have reached the finish line! Imagine how that feels! Can you feel it already? How does It feel? Feels like you want more, doesn’t it? Enjoy that feeling, embrace it, inhale it, put it in your body, mind and soul, feel the power of it and let that power flow through your entire body, let it enlighten your soul, let it fill up your mind with bright new ideas, new goals. Even small goals, small ideas are perfect; never underestimate the power of the little things, e.g. doing the laundry, or washing up, or finish your last push up of your 3rd set of 15 push ups. Feel this victory, celebrate it with every cell in your body (and you got millions of them, what a big party it will be!!). And keep this in mind; it will give you the will power to continue, to keep on climbing that (maybe difficult) road; once again if you have reached that top, you will even feel better than the first time.

These words are not only for you, they also are really empowering for me. Some people told me that they are so surprised of how much energy and positivity I have, time after time. Believe me, I can be the complete opposite… a real grumpy, angry and negative person. Sometimes I am afraid of myself when I feel that way; then I realise that I do need these emotions. To find the balance for my over-enthustiastic and over-energetic moods, I need to be low, it is my way to restore, to slow down, to recharge. The more aware I am of both sides, the more I find my balance, the less mood-swings I have and the happier I am. This process will never end, I will only become a better master when I observe it (hence sit back and let it happen), accept it and let it go. Sometimes it takes a few minutes, sometimes it takes a day, but as long as I am aware of it, I can make a decision, I am fully in charge to change it.

And during this writing I feel that I feel way more energized, not that tired anymore due to my lack of sleep. For me, writing this kind of inspirational words (based on my own experiences) helps me to get back my energy, my flow. I hope it also works for you, so that’s why I share my words, my thoughts with you. Let me know what these words did to you and maybe you want to share your experience with me, I would love to learn from you! In this life we are all students and teachers, no matter how old you are😊.

💜💚 With love & happiness 💚 💜    
                    littlemissyoga                  

P.s. I had the intention to post is right away, but as always unexpected things… 😇 The good thing is: the sun is shining again 😎 ☀🙏🏻!