Lost & Found

This isn't a story about losing and re-finding my mind, body and spirit in tropical paradise. It's simply what I call beach brain.

Our yoga teacher training schedule starts at the crack of dawn and finishes after the sun has set. Routines set in very quickly here because there is barely enough time during the break before we're back in session. Here's what my Mondays look like:

6:00am - 8:00am Yoga Session
8:00am - 8:30am Breakfast
8:30am - 10:00am Spanish Lesson
10:00am - 1:30pm Morning Session
1:30pm - 2:00pm Lunch
2:00pm - 5:00pm Bank
5:00pm - 6:00pm Sunset
6:00pm - 8:30pm Evening Session

What is wrong with this schedule? Right, the whole afternoon at the bank. On the first day after arrival, I forgot to retrieve my bank card after withdrawing money from the bank machine. My first reaction is grave panic. After the mini heart attack, I asked one of the staff to call the bank for me to see if the machine still had my bank card. Luckily, the bank has it! I walked home to get my ID and then walked all the way back into town. It's not a far walk at all, but in the hot afternoon sun, every step feels that much farther.

Entering a bank is like going through an airport security. First, you're asked what is your business here. Second, you go through a security check point and bag search. Finally, you're allowed inside the air-conditioned (thank goodness!) waiting room. You get a number from the machine and wait, and wait, and wait some more. The bank is always packed no matter what time of the day it is. Banco Populare is a fitting name!

45 minutes later, my number was called. I practiced my Spanish: "Me olvidé mi tarjeta en el cajero de automático." A few minutes later, the teller checked my ID, had me sign the "lost & found" register, and handed me my bank card. Happy dance!

Unfortunately, I forgot my bank card in the machine a second time within the first week. This time, I had to wait until Monday when the bank reopened to go back to retrieve my card. So I went through the same process again, except the wait was 1.5 hours. There were 40 people waiting ahead of me. Sigh! There goes my afternoon siesta time!

Since usage of electronics is prohibited in the bank (not that I have a smartphone to play with), I spent a good portion of the 1.5-hour wait time writing this out to make sure that I've learned my lesson this time.

Excerpt from "Self-Awakening Yoga" by Don Stapleton

Nosara: Where, What, When, Why

WHERE: Nosara, Costa Rica

WHAT: Nosara Yoga Institute (NYI) Yoga Teacher Training (YTT)

WHEN: January - April 2016

WHY: Because...

WHERE: Nosara, Costa Rica

Nosara lies on the Pacific Coast in the middle of Central America. Located between Montezuma and Tamarindo, Nosara is a little town bustling with ex-pats. The town itself is actually a few kilometers inland from the beach. Depending on who you ask, you'll get different answers on whether the playas (n. beaches) (i.e. Playa Guiones, Playa Pelada, Playa Garza) are called Nosara as well or they are their own pueblos (n. villages, towns). There is this saying: "Nosara will welcome you when you're ready for her, and she will spit you out if you're not ready for her." Just watch some people lose their minds when the water or electricity comes and goes, and you'll believe the saying too.

WHAT: Nosara Yoga Institute (NYI) Yoga Teacher Training (YTT)

Nosara is renowned as a yoga haven, in which Don and Amba at the NYI had very much a hand in bringing this reputation to the region over the past 20 years. The institute sits on a lush, $4.5-million jungle estate (by the way, it is currently up for sale, so better get on it if you want to get your hands on this gorgeous land)!

WHEN: January - April 2016

I'm doing the 500-hour Yoga Teacher Training, comprised of 200 hours of fundamental training and 300 hours of advanced training, over the period of three months from January to April. For the first 200 hours, I am with 50 other students who share many common desires from deepening our own practice to discovering who we are as a teacher in yoga and in life. This self discovery process is what makes NYI inviting because the training doesn't focus on one particular style of yoga, but rather invites us to search inward and discover our own teacher within us.

WHY: Because...

Last year, I read Don's book "Self-Awakening Yoga: The Expansion of Consciousness through the Body's Own Wisdom". In it, he asks the question: "Have you ever made a decision in your life based on your heart?" This triggered something in me that became something much greater in the big picture. Honestly, the day I signed up for the NYI YTT, for the first time in my life, I feel like I am following my heart!

Following our hearts is sure a lot of hard work! We study yoga 50 hours a week for four weeks, thus adding up to the 200-hour fundamental training. Our schedule starts at 6am and finishes at 8:30pm everyday including weekends. In addition, as part of following my heart, I wanted to learn Spanish while in Costa Rica, so I rush to and from Spanish class at the Nosara Spanish Institute twice a week. During the breaks in between sessions, there are just enough time to cook, eat (mindfully), wash up, and afternoon siestas (n. short sleeps). We get Saturday evenings off, and that's the only day of the week when we can catch the sunset. I love the fact that all the families and friends gather at the beach and watch sunsets everyday religiously.

Go out and follow your heart, amigos (n. friends)! Pura vida!

The Fear & the Joy of Skiing

I was very fortunate to got to spend 1-on-1 time with Kristen Ulmer at Alta. Kristen was a mogul skier on the US Ski Team, though she was more known as the first true female extreme skier jumping off 50-foot cliffs. You can even buy her trading card or poster on Amazon here.

She talked about embracing fear, instead of overcoming fear, to become a better skier. The fear of skiing is an essential ingredient to the joy of skiing. For example, the fear of falling and getting injured makes us more alert to our surroundings (objects in the terrain, changing conditions, and other skiers). Another example is the fear of the difficult terrain brings us excitement as we take on new challenges. Without fear, skiing would basically be boring. Isn't it a simple concept? The hard part is internalizing the concept and having a mature relationship with fear whenever it creeps in.

This mindset shift changed my skiing (and life)! During the past couple weeks in Whistler, I often found myself grinning from ear to ear after tackling challenging terrains because not only did I made it safely, but also because I hung out with fear in a relaxed and confident way. Imagine seconds slow down to minutes, and minutes turn into hours. Imagine every turn on the snow is full of varied sensations from the feel of the snow beneath the skis to the weight of the body above the skis. Rather than being completely paralyzed by fear, this is how skiing should always be enjoyed!

I survived without a mobile phone & I almost died on New Year's Day

I survived without a mobile phone

Almost everyone now owns a cell phone of some kind.  It's a convenient tool, an always-available link to friends and family, and a pocket computer with... wait for it... an actual telephone! Most of us are extremely attached to our phones, and some people now even have phone notifications connected to their watch.

The day I left San Francisco, I gave up my iPhone! And I survived! The first few days I would reach into my pocket for the phone and only to come up empty-handed. It was a little unusual at first but I learned to live without it fairly quickly. For example, if I'm lost, I would ask a stranger for directions. If I'm meeting up with someone, we set a place and time to meet, and both parties would be accountable to show up on time.

It may sound like an archaic way of life, but I LOVE the simplicity of life without the distractions -- Only the important stuff gets done. Everything else is just noise.

Here's an interesting read: America's Quietest Town: Where Cell Phones are Banned

By the way, if you've texted me and didn't get a response, it's likely because I didn't receive your message.

I almost died on New Year's Day

I was driving on the Sea to Sky Highway between Vancouver and Whistler. It was a blue bird day, but the temperature has dropped below zero. All of a sudden, I hit black ice and my car spun out of control. In just those split seconds, I remember thinking "I'm skidding into on-coming traffic", "now I'm facing backwards on the highway", and "I think the car has stopped spinning. Oh no, it didn't"! Boom!

I could have hit the guardrail and went flying over the cliff or flipped over upside-down. I could have hit the on-coming car head-on or the cars behind maybe also head-on. I got away lucky with a bump against the snow pack and literally drove away until there is a safe spot to pull over. Ironically enough, this would have been a good time to have a cell phone to call for help!

Instead, I asked passerby where to find an auto shop. "Here!" What are the chances that I had pulled over right in front of one. Except nothing was open on New Year's Day. With help from two people, we removed the bumper, detached the lights, and checked that there is enough tire clearance to drive on. When I got home, I realized how lucky that I didn't get hurt (other than a few cuts and bruises from crawling on the ground when working on the car) and thankfully no one else got hurt either.

Here's another interesting read: World's Most Dangerous Roads - Whistler's Sea to Sky Hwy Rank #2

Not exactly the way I imagined starting the New Year, so here's to another year full of surprises! Cheers!