Technically this is my second blog, and if you followed me through the first one you would have got a bit of an insight into how it feels to train for and participate in the Blenheim triathlon. If you kept reading after that – you would have got some further insight into how it feels to train for and participate in the London Marathon.
Novice-takes-on-ridiculous-challenge…becoming a bit of a theme.
My latest blog – The Escape, is about taking all the wonderful things I learnt through those previous experiences, and putting them to use when everything in my life, as I knew it, fell apart.
Somewhere along the line I picked up a bit of a hunger for yoga. Initially, the physicality of it, and then through injury, and all sorts of other mishaps and emotional struggles…it suddenly became something much much more than that.
Two months in Bali, practicing mysore style Ashtanga yoga with Radha and Prem, followed by a month-long intensive in Thailand with the remarkable Matthew Sweeney, I think I’ve become an eternal novice….
The path to enlightenment is not an understanding of our own lives and deaths, but the lives and deaths of the stars
– Brian Cox, “Star Dust”, The Wonders of the Universe
How humbling it was, to discover that we are all such a ridiculously tiny part of something so massive. How amazing it was to physically experience that within my own body in the Vipassana meditation course at the end of my trip.
I was meant to stop writing then – as if getting on the plane in Bangkok was the end of it. But that’s not what it’s all about. It’s how we incorporate what we’ve learnt on our great escapes into our everyday lives and how we change.
Since returning to the UK I have retrained as an Ayurvedic Massage Therapist and am in the process of turning my life around and following what feels natural to me.
My website: http://www.ayurvedacorner.co.uk/
Useful Links:
Matthew Sweeney’s Website: http://www.yogatemple.com/
Radha and Prem’s Website: http://www.ashtangaworld.com/
Vipassana Meditation: http://www.dhamma.org/
The Escape 
Be inspired!
Beautiful blog Laura. I can’t believe how far you’ve travelled (physically, and emotionally) since we last met. Wish you could come to Japan and teach me Yoga.
Gareth, by the by
Hey Gareth! Great to hear from you…and thank you so much! Such kind words. How are you?? Am planning a trip to Bali next year so maybe I could tag on a Japan. Would be great to see you again : ) L x
Dear Laura!! I have just come across your brilliant, inspirational and thoroughly thought provoking blog!! I am hoping to go to Bali next year for some ashtanga immersion!! I am somewhat in a dilemma as due to dates I could either do a month with Mathew Sweeney or a month with Prem and Radha! I know a may seem like and impossible question to answer but could I possibly ask your advice?
hi Laura,
i am glad to have come across your blog. i am nurturing my love of yoga and helps seeing other engaging so fully with it. i look forward to exploring your blog.
esse