Hello beautiful people,
Time goes so fast when you're having fun ;-) another 3,5 weeks gone already!! Time for a short update!
Brisbane was great, beautiful big hot room, awesome students, nice & funny teachers and had my own bedroom just between the kitchen and laundry (LOL). But so convenient to live so close to your work, haha!
The owner, Sherry, is an awesome lady; she's almost 65 years old and ownes 2 studio's in North Brisbane. She is always happy and soooooo funny, I always had to laugh when she's around. Such a strong and admirable woman! She always called me "my darling" and made me feel like I was family. I really liked working in her studio's, very good energy & good vibes. She's a bit messy, chaotic sometimes and a bit unorganized but always taking care of her students and her teachers. Trying to make her community more real and vital by organizing for example a silent class once a month and a Sunday's breakfast. It's really nice to learn the students more this way and make real connections, creating a community.
One time I practiced a private Bikram class with more than 30 rugby players... hahaha. It was a tough, hot & humid class. Sometimes I felt like I was in the Zoo because these guys kept on making weird animal sounds all the time. They were moaning & groaning, haha, very fun experience! Some said afterwards that it was the hardest thing they ever did in their life....Can you imagine?
Too bad Brisbane does not have big nice beaches itself, while it's around 30 degrees normally (these days) and most of the times sunny... I was so determined to go to the beach at least 1 time during my stay. The closest place to Brisbane with nice beaches is the Goldcoast! Hey, I've been here before...during my previous Aussie-trip ;-) Only this time, no car.. :( But there's a train-bus connection from Brissie, takes only 2,5 hours... haha. But yeah, it was my day off and I wanted to explore a bit, see the sun and go to the sea! And I also made a date with a lovely Dutch yogini who I've happen to know via my friend Eric (in NL), so funny! We were skyping and he told me about this girl, Jorinde, who had a similar story as mine and apparently she just settled down in the Goldcoast to work for a yoga-studio coming period. So I contacted her via FB and we made a date to go to the beach, YES! It was perfect! And our meeting was lovely, so much to share and so much fun!! And we could just speak Dutch the whole time, also nice for a change :-)
A week later, we made another date and she came my way to Brisbane (she had a car). We went to South Bank, a place in the middle of the City where you can relax and chill-out at nice eateries with stunning river views of the Brisbane River. Again, another great get-to-gether where we could share our experiences, views of life and lot's of fun :-) Enjoying a nice glass of wine again and having a great time!! (I detoxed for 2 weeks, after amazing Tassie-holiday, haha) But it tasted delicious again ;-) Thank you Jorinde, so happy to have met you, and see you later again on Bali!! Goodlluck with your yoga-challenge in the meantime! X
I've also met some people from my Teacher Training again at the studio I was living & working. One was a staff-member at my training, Darren, and one was a trainee-buddy, Alicja ;-) So nice to catch up again together and just spend an evening talking about our experiences, teacher training, yoga, Bikram....
Also met 2 teachers who did Bikram Training after mine (6 months later)! It was amazing to practice their classes and hear their stories. One was actually from the Netherlands, Matt!! He's Australian but lived in Amsterdam for 7 years, and practiced at the same studio as I (but another location, so we didn't know each other before). He recently moved back to Aussie with his partner, but he can speak and understand Dutch. So funny that we met in Brisbane for the first time, haha, such a nice and happy guy and what a small world!
So I could practice a lot of yoga, obviously, which I did & enjoyed very much!! Next to that, I explored my floating-experience a bit more and had in total 4 floating-sessions during my stay in Brissie. This is sooo nice!! It makes you feel so relaxed, your whole body can just simply relax, even your neck-muscles, cause you're just floating because of the 350kg Epsom salt in the water. And when your body is completely relaxed, your mind can relax as well (or you can train it in the tank while floating). I think in a way, it has similar results as a Bikram-class, because you can can calm your mind, and afterwards you feel re-born, refreshed and completely relaxed!! When I'm back in Amsterdam, I'll definitely try the floating centre there!
During the last weekend of my stay in Brissie I went to a 2 day- Kundalini -workshop at another yoga-studio and met some more beautiful people. We discussed amazing life-subjects, shared experiences and learned from a special senior teacher from the US, Dr Jivan Joti. A great and inspiring woman, so honest and humble cause she was just passing on the teachings of her teacher, Yogi Bhajan, who brought Kundalini yoga to the Western world in the '70s.... Yes, my 3.5 weeks were gone in no-time and I feel very satisfied about it.
Right now, I'm already back again in Cobargo at the Saphhire Coast (New South Wales). I'll watch the yoga-studio of Amrei again as she's giving workshops/seminars elsewhere, this time for a month, and enjoying the beautiful surroundings, stillness and quiet moments for myself again :-) In between, she will come back for a week and we can practice the Advanced series together, yeah....;-) looking so much forward to that!!
A very lovely weekend to you all, be good, stay good & be good to others :-)
Lots of love, Xx

Geschreven door Lina.yoga