Journey to Health: Continuing to Live From my Heart

October 15, 2011 By Leanne Vogel July 13, 2015

My experience at Yasodhara Ashram in August was life changing. I came home with peace toward myself, my surroundings, and my decisions. I learned that in order to move forward with my life’s journey, I had to accept myself, forgive myself, and find happiness from within. To keep negativity, worries, and doubts at a minimum, I’ve come up with a couple of ways I can remind myself of the beauty that’s within me. One of my favorites so far has been my new approach to journaling. The approach is simple. Be open to learning about myself through all of my day-to-day experiences. I’ve been amazed to learn that a slight tweak in awareness translates to major positivity and love! I’ve been successful in finding one beautiful thing on a daily basis, writing about it, and truly understanding how it makes me feel. I’ve written about a man in Home Depot that was building a gift for his wife on their 50^th wedding anniversary, my yoga teacher who advised me to find length instead of pushing or stretching into a pose, and about Lexy; our loyal dog, coming to my aid when I’d tripped down the stairs. I would have never been open to accepting these experiences and translating them into a message that could be applied to my own spiritual growth. But here I am a couple of month’s later, reading into the signs, staying aware, understanding myself, and becoming happier as a result. So, this is when something exciting happened. I was feeling all zen like one day, playing with the idea of returning to Yasodhara in the New Year, when this crazy idea came to me.

Leanne, you should go to India!

That’s totally the way it came out. Straight to the point, no beating around the bush, clear as day. India. I immediately felt compelled to go for it. Now, I’m not a spur-of-the-moment gal. I usually sit with a decision for a couple of days before I jump head first into the unknown. Especially if it involves me going too far from home. But this, this was something different. The moment it came to me, I just felt it was right. I felt safe, and warm, and welcome. It wasn’t because I thought the trip would be fun, or that it would result in a nice vacation, but rather that I trusted what my heart was telling me, and knew it was what I needed to do. Next thing I knew I was planning a 3 week trip to India. Yes, India. You know that place that’s like 7,574 miles from my front door? Ya, that’s the one. After doing some research on Ashrams; and deciding that I wanted to stay in line with the teachings from Yasodhara, Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram in Trivandrum; a couple hours flight from Mumbai, felt like the perfect place. … and it’s in the tropical part of India, which can’t hurt, right? A month following my decision, my VISA application was approved, travel clinic visits were booked, flights were arranged, a 2 nights stay in a swanky Mumbai hotel was booked,  a little bed at the ashram was confirmed for 3 weeks, and I had one heart filled with fear and excitement. 3 weeks in India. Someone pinch me. Am I really doing this? I leave mid-February, so I’ll be sharing more travel plans in the months ahead. Top priority right now: figure out what food I’m going to bring with me. Haha ya… I said it. When’s the last time you followed your heart and made a big leap, despite the fears that come along with it?

This entry was tagged: india