Happy New Year to each and every living being! Be healthy and happy in 2017!
I've been busy with studying and traveling. I'm back to the regular routine now after a lovely mini-holiday in Gokarna.

For Hindus Gokarna is a destination for pilgrimage. It's the Varanasi of South India maybe.. The beautiful beaches have attracted Western tourists in the past few years though. Most of the visitors are still Indians anyway. I consider my trip there as a sort of a pilgrimage too since I have quite a religious relationship with the Ocean:)





India is such a beautiful country. It's pretty magical to just sit on a train enjoying the scenery. Green, lush nature (coconut palm trees everywhere here in the south) and gorgeous beaches, so much shore line!
And I just love Indian temples and the fact that the gods are everywhere. Religion really is an interwoven part of life here.

I'm getting excited about the new year, new beginnings, new energy! It's time to say thanks and goodbye to the past year and warmly welcome the new one! I feel happy and grateful being able to begin the year here, at a place that is so meaningful to me, doing something I am so passionate about. Bring it on 2017 - I know you'll be good! 

Love+shanti!

And just like that I'm in a whole different reality, completely different world. 

In the tropical heat+humidity of South India.

On my way here I stopped by in Rome sweet Rome to visit my lovely friends Linda e Tommaso. I had the best time in cittá eterna -thanks to my generous hosts. Love you guys!

The morning I left, a strong earthquake shook the city. I took it as a sign to leave Europe;) Seriously though we were amongst the lucky ones since many people lost their homes that morning. Pray for Roma...

It feels good to be back to India although I'm down with a flu, so still slowly adjusting and getting used to the yoga reality. Getting back to the routine here: asana practice before dawn, yoga philosophy and chanting, puja at the temple etc. I've been also just resting, sleeping and reading Bhagavad Gita as the traveling and the flu have taken their toll on my body+mind. My teacher and his family are some of the kindest people I know so us students are being taken care of very well (e.g. we're getting the most delicious nurturing home made South Indian food). 

Gotta love the unique way in which India inspires and nourishes one's spirituality. Not exactly sure why, but it's just somehow easier here to turn your gaze within and focus on what's really important... Obviously this sattvic environment, teacher's guidance and conversations with fellow yogis help too.. Feeling grateful about being here! 

So it is happening!
I am going 'away to Asia' again:) This time it's probably only India and very much just yoga, the sweet love of my life. Needless to say I'm beyond excited! And I thought I'd be happy to share my journey again with anyone interested!

Since my farewell to Sydney, I've been living in Andalucia, Southern part of Spain. Ending up here after Asia+Australia as opposed to Finland was worth it!

Living by the sea in warm climate has been beautiful. There's something so magical, special and amazing to the sea. I just lovelovelove sea, ocean, water... I feel like that's where my heart+soul belong to.

"But in a way you can say that after leaving the sea, after all those millions of years of living inside of the sea, we took the ocean with us.
When a woman makes a baby, she gives it water, inside her body, to grow in. That water inside her body is almost exactly the same as the water of the sea. It is salty, by just the same amount. She makes a little ocean, in her body.
And not only this. Our blood and our sweating, they are both salty, almost exactly like water from the sea is salty. We carry oceans inside of us, in our blood and our sweat. And we are crying the oceans, in our tears."
-Gregory David Roberts: Shantaram

The past 2,5 years have been full of ups and downs, (long) working hours at a call center, studying Spanish, seeing beautiful places, meeting lovely people, eating delicious food, dancing (well trying to learn) sevillanas, surfing whenever there are waves (many trips to Portugal), hiking when there are no waves. I've grown to love mountains nearly as much as I love the sea.

I've been putting a lot of effort on my daily asana practice. Only to realize once again (through trial and error) that yoga is an internal practice...
I have also had the honor to assist my teacher in mysore classes and to teach some lovely yogis. It's been a privilege to share this beautiful tradition with others.

'The real' yoga however has again obviously taken place off the mat...  My job as well as countless other valuable life lessons here in Spain have humbled me so much and reminded me on a daily basis that I'm many lives away from enlightenment:)
Excited to see now where this journey called life takes me next!