Take a deep breath...
I'll never forget the first time I heard crystal singing bowls... I was in Sayulita Mexico getting ready to go out for the evening. The sound was unlike anything I had ever felt before, YES... that I felt. Deep in my body I could feel the vibration of the sound. It was calming both to my body and my mind. Previous to my yoga introduction, I had not heard of sound therapy or crystal bowls. Those conversations were reserved for the people on the fringe or so I thought from the conditioning of my religious upbringing.
With a strong background in cycling, I remember when yoga first blew onto the scene in British Columbia with the introduction of lululemon. Chip Wilson, the founder had previously made waves in Westbeach snowboard clothing, a brand I knew well from my days as a snowboard instructor. But Yoga? ... Is it more than standing on your head and that weird thing one of my instructors did with his stomach like a belly dancer to cleanse his intestines... What was I getting myself into?
Each Thursday evening I would mop the cement floor of my bicycle shop and dim the lights for those that would join me in rolling out their mats. The deep stretch of Yin Yoga and the final resting pose, the corpse pose would often lull us to sleep as our bodies surrendered to the floor. This practice wasn't always a part of my life and even today I feel like I still struggle to find stillness when it is what my body craves the most. Connection with others, connection wth myself... isn't it interesting that the thing we want the most, that we know we need the most, we put off or never do.
Traveling to Bali for a yoga retreat was the perfect excuse to both find time for myself and step off the North American continent. Getting married at the age of 18 and having kids young meant that there was no time to explore, cut my teeth on a career or to see the world. Maybe this sounds familiar?... Maybe ambition got in the way of travel... each of us has a story don't we?
Arriving in Bali, the airport is immediately filled with humidity and incense... if you know, you know. The line through customs starts to reflect travellers from other countries and all walks of life. Those with backpacks larger than their body, others already dressed to hit the beach. Outside, cars and chaos await as Hindu gods interrupt the skyline... black electrical wires scramble across poles and buildings and you immediately wonder how a place with so much chaos can hold the reputation of so much peace.
This was after all the backdrop of the movie Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts... the one where she found herself, fell in love and wrote her heart out.
As the days went passed by, I found myself at the Pyramids of Chi. Yes, there were actually pyramids, green juice, gongs and a sound healer named Kendal. As I made myself comfortable in her small cabin, I can't remember the exact question she asked me, but I knew immediately the tears would fall. Are you okay? The truth is I don't know why I'm crying... Maybe it's the stories that I'm carrying. The work that I do is so heavy I can't hold it anymore and so the sentences that I desperately want to speak come out of my eyes.
Looking back I acknowledge that these words may not have been what were spoken, but I know deeply they were what I wanted to say. Take this weight, help me to let go...
As I stretched out on the bed, Kendal shared about her brass bowls, her teachers and the process of laying the bowls on my body to play them as she listened to blockages in my chakras. As the vibration moves through your body, the intention is to clear the blocked energy... to remove things that are no longer serving you. As she played the bowls on my body, the soothing sound of chimes filled the air. My mind began to feel at peace as I no longer noticed my breath...
Feeling the surrender of sleep, I could hear Kendal's voice... Take a deep breath, come back to your body.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, we went through an after care plan and thoughts around integrating the practice, she said to me... Lucy, you may experience vivid dreams or feel a bit out of sorts.
As the months would pass, those dreams would be sure to come and they would in the most beautiful way light the path...
