manifestation yoga retreats Archives

Guest Posts

Be Moved. Right Here. Right Now.

June 26, 2013

Wanted to share this email from my editor Melissa Shattuck who was meant to come on my Italy retreat but couldn’t.

“Italy. These were my first thoughts today as I woke up and saw my calendar. Italy is still written there. Originally this was the day I was going to leave so I could have a couple of days to walk the streets of cities I dream of being in!!

And so I know I will never totally be a part of the group that is going as that is such an intimate space……but I already feel like I am on my way there:):)

You are going to be great Miss Jennifer Pastiloff. I know it. And you will message me and tell me it’s the best group you’ve ever had! And I will be so happy for you. Sending you lots of love and energy as you change lives….as you inspire….as you empower people to live life to the fullest. Love. I didn’t write this for you to share necessarily if you were not called to…instead I wrote it for me to go to that space in my mind of courage I experienced in Maui.

To those in Italy.

Less than a month ago I was laying in bed one night pondering what would happen if the call came that a deadly cancer had spread further than they could remove in my body. And though I didn’t reside there for very long as I have discovered many times over nothing good has ever come to me from swimming in fear, I am grateful for the thoughts that arose in that space. Being reminded of how precious each moment really is. And though I hid much of it well from my children, the truth is we all know that they knew and they felt what I was experiencing. And I know the idea that something could happen to me took it’s toll on all of us. And the idea that they need me to be here for them right now played into my decision to stay home with them this time.

With that said, part of me is right there in Italy with you. I close my eyes and feel myself in a room of bravery, courage and love. A room of people who are about to embark on an incredible journey.

Some of you have been on such an experience with Jen before, but some of you have not. And you have no idea what is about to happen for you. Everyone has a unique experience to be sure, but there is no way you will leave the same person you were when you came. And I already have tears of joy for all of your transformations, all of your growth, all of your courage, all of the love you can open to in your hearts.

There is no grade given. But if it were possible to fail at such an event, why could that be. I know for me before daring to open to all that is possible at such an event I can tend to fall into old patterns and habits of thought. I can sometimes believe that perhaps I made a mistake. Maybe this is meant for everyone else but not for me. Or maybe I fall into some idea that I already know it all and so I’m ready to find a little bit of fault. Maybe I walk into the room the first day and start comparing and judging myself to and against everyone else. I sometimes might try to gauge where I fit….or if I even fit at all. And most of the time I don’t feel that I do. Not right away. My fears begin to show up and the walls start to build a little around me.

If this sounds like anything you might do, do it different this time. Take the invitation. Accept the opportunity to let the walls crumble to the ground. Look around and see the faces and know now versus later in the week that these are your sisters and brothers. Trust yourself to open in whatever way that presents itself to you. Release any need to put on any mask. Feel the layers of past masks melting away. Be open to touching that space within you that holds the truth to who you really are beneath all the stories and conditioning and expectations and judgments and all the things we should or shouldn’t have done.

Breathe. Always breathe.
Hug. Don’t forget to hug.
Be real and Authentic. If you forget, Jen will call you on it. Oh yes she will.
And if you are tempted to hide in the corner like I was, that is when you most need to come forth and let yourself shine in the center of a room filled with acceptance. The most acceptance maybe you have ever known in your entire life.

Who are you in the midst of complete acceptance and being seen? Are you willing to take that in and find out?

I close my eyes as I begin my morning meditation…..And I send you love for who you are and who you will become.

PS I have not been able to run or do much yoga since my surgery to remove melanoma on my thigh that now looks as though someone or something took a large bite:) And so I ask you one thing. Please run through a field in Italy for me……a dream of mine to do one day.”

ps leave Melissa a comment below and she will reply. She is our editor and we love her.

Inspiration, loss, Manifestation Retreats, Things I Have Lost Along The Way

I Have Not Died.

December 1, 2012

I don’t remember much of China.

To not be cold, Please let me get warm, I remember this. To stay in my hotel room and watch the ice skaters on the Houhai Lake from 16 floors up, Please I promise I will eat if I don’t die from frostbite. Am I dying? I remember that.

That’s really all I wanted at the time: to not be cold. (I was always so cold.) To dream of what I would eat. More white rice than I had ever allowed myself to have in the past . I didn’t trust any of the food, (not just there but anywhere during that period of my life, and especially in China where I had no idea what I was eating except it was in a brown sauce). I will just have white rice I would ask someone who looked like they spoke English to translate for me. More white rice. So much white rice. It’s all I saw when we rode in the backs of buses in search of temples and people living on houseboats in Suzhou. All I wanted was to be warm like it was a life or death situation, which is how it felt to me during all those years I was starving myself, and, which in actuality, it probably was. All I can remember about those years is that I was always freezing, nails purple, lips blue, hands cold. China in Janary was brutal. I was freezing and hungry and my eyes were closed during most of the trip because if I opened them I would have to see.

I think about that trip a lot, and my years living in NYC. If only I had been awake! How different my life would be. If only I had paid attenion. Where was I?

I don’t know where I was. Somewhere beween living and dead. Closer to dead.

But I haven’t died.

I am still here.

I am now closer to the living.

In 11 days, I am turning the age my father was when he died in. I was 8 years old and I knew for sure this is when people die. Yet here I am. Here I am in my pajamas and a glass of wine, listening to the muted rain competing with the ringing in my ears and wondering if other adults stay in their pajamas at 6:30 on a Saturday night and how could I be an adult when I don’t know how to do so many things?

And then I come back. Come back, Jen. Come back. To the land of the living, come back.

Here I am. I have not died.

I kept hearing that line in my head and I wanted to write it as we took off from Taipei to Los Angeles but I thought that if we crashed I would have caused it. See, if Jen had never said that, if she had never assumed that we would be safe, we would be fine. It is her fault. So I didn’t write it then. But now here I am in my pajamas that belonged to my grandmother who died less than a year ago. I didn’t have any feelings for my grandmother, (hold off on judging please), so when my mom gave me the pajamas: Jen, take these, they’re new. Never been worn, I had no issue. I needed some pj’s. I have no sentimental I miss my gramma so much every time I wear them. They are my pajamas and if I didn’t know they had been hers I wouldn’t know. There aren’t any ghosts or messages within the fabric or any secret keys to forgiveness in the little flowers. They are kind of tacky and I love them for that. I write well in them.

So I am in a dead woman’s pajamas on a Saturday evening but I did not die.

I am here.

I am having a hard time being back from Bali. I taught two classes this morning then came home, put on said pajamas and curled back in bed. I hit decline every time the phone rang. I don’t want to talk to anyone. I don’t want the trip to end, I want to stay in the safety of being away from responsibility, from fear, from I have to’s.

When we went to China we stopped in Alaska on the way. It was dark and looking out the windows of the airport were fields of snow or at least that is how I like to remember it. I wrote postcards and leaned against the glass as we waited for the flight to China. Flying to Bali made me remember these things as if I tucked them away and forgot where I put them. Oh, there you are, years of my life! Ah! Age 20-30, there you are. I thought I had lost you.

Maybe it all comes rushing back at you like they say in the movies. Maybe your life comes rushing at you whether you are dying or not. Maybe this birthday is like a re-birth. I mean, I survived it. All those years I planned on being gone by 38. No, not consciously, but in the deep recesses of my sadness and the place where my poems are born, where I drowned myself in yoga, in those kinds of places.

Maybe your life comes rushing at you and you better be prepared or you will miss it again. I think the second chance is really the last chance. If you survive. I mean, if you make it past your due date, (which I have, so to speak), and you miss your life again because your eyes are closed. Well, that’s your fault, Kiddo.

But hey, who’s missing anything?

I am here.

The flight from Bali was much better than the flight from China from what I remember although, again, I don’t trust my memory. I could have flown first class for all I recall (I didn’t) but I was so checked out, so hungry, so tired and old at 21 that I wouldn’t have realized it.

Each place you go, you take a piece of that place with you to the next.

Whether the place is literal or not. Whether it is pain or joy or a child or darkness or heartbreak or love or your 20’s. You take a piece of it with you whether you realize it or not. In China, I saw women who would not be broken by the cold. Women who lived on dingy boats on a freezing river. Eventually, when I stopped being cold and started eating I realized I had taken a piece of their tenacity with me. And from Bali a sense of commitment to their offerings, how seriously they take what they give. And how I do the same.

I have not died yet. I am here to share with you my journey which is about to start. I have crossed over to the other side and I am taking with me all the things I want to which include the places I have been and the people and the cold and the places I think I went but can’t remember. They are mine to not remember. I am taking all of it because I realize at this threshold of life and death that what makes us is not just blood and bone but what we have seen, where we have been, who we have loved, who we have hurt, where we are going and what we know we can do.

I know I can do this. I can go beyond where I thought I would ever go with grace and dignity and when I finally get there, wherever my dad is, if I ever get there, I will have earned it. And it will be my time. And I will tell him all about my adventures and how 38 is not really the age all people die. How young it really is and how although I am sure he is happy, wherever he is, he missed out on so much.

But that’s neither here nor there.

For now, I am here.

I am among the living.

~Bali

China

Guest Posts, Manifestation Retreats, Travels

Why Bali?

December 1, 2012

Why Bali?

by Bianca Martorella, life coach.

When I first learned about the trip, I was so excited to go. My friend (in order to protect the innocent, let’s just call her …) Sonia, initially told me about the Yoga retreat, led by Jennifer Pastiloff. We had just finished our coaching certification program with IPEC (Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching) and the timing couldn’t be more perfect. With some initial supportive coaching and a minimal down-payment a day later, I committed. The more I talked about it, one week soon turned into a month away from work and loved ones, as a sabbatical of sorts. In addition to the yoga, I also decided to volunteer at an orphanage. Also referred through friends and with much additional research, I signed up with Volunteering Solutions for a 2 week program in Bali. Fortunately, the timing coincided nicely with the retreat. Planning was easy and therefore meant to be.

As I started to talk more and more about my adventure, I was often asked why I was going. To be clear about my intentions, just in case you’re curious, I thought I would share them here …

To immerse. One thing has become clear to me over the past few years, is that I love immersion experiences. Experiences that will challenge me to grow and learn. Experiences that are so far out of my comfort zone, that I have no choice but to embrace them. Although it may have always been the case for me, it first became clear through my experience at Landmark Education. For better or worse, the experience transformed my life and my way of being. Among many other things, I found a sense of courage and confidence – that again, may have always been there – but wasn’t realized until that time. Next, came running the NYC marathon which took months of focus and training to run 26.2 miles through my beloved city. With that, I realized my humility and ability to commit. And most recently, IPEC, a coaching certification program. Throughout the course, I learned to embrace people fully, love openly and to be vulnerable. A tall order for this type-A, tough and feisty New York’er. Regardless of the experience, there are always lessons to learn when you immerse yourself in something new and different. You never know what it will be …

To give back. This is an obvious one. Life in the big city can get pretty selfish sometimes. I have done some volunteering in the past, but not like this. I always thought about it, but never really had the courage until now. This would be an opportunity to give my full time, attention and focus on to others. Time to not care about myself, what I am wearing, how my hair looks, or if my toes are perfectly pedicured. This would be an opportunity to embrace, support and love others selflessly.

To love and nurture. If there is one that I’ve learned over the years is that there are many sources of love that can be experienced and expressed … first and foremost the love that comes from within. I was never really sure if having children was in the cards for me. I have always wanted a family and children to love on, but I’m 36 – rounding the corner to 37 – and up until recently, very single. I do of course believe it’s still possible and I will never give up on wanting a family of my own, however, this is an opportunity to explore the lover and nurturer from within. A chance to embrace that side of me that seldom gets to be expressed in this ‘cut-throat world’.

To embrace spirituality. I’m no expert … but from what I know … Bali is dominantly Hindu, and being home to thousands of temples and holy shrines, is a spiritual place. The Balinese embrace tradition, are constantly praying, believe in karma and focus their whole existence on worshiping their ancestors through rituals and offerings. Families stick together through thick and thin – love, support and accept each other. Although I believe in God, I never truly embraced my religion and I want to define for myself what spirituality means to me. I want to embrace the act of prayer and really get what it’s like to give of yourself in blind faith.

To heal. There is nothing like a good stretch and some meditation to heal the mind, body and soul. After a few years of some hard running, I realized I needed to take a break. I need a form a exercise that has less impact on the body. Additionally, it’s great to be a able to take time everyday to focus on your health to kick off some new good habits into your daily routine back home.

So, there they are … without judgement and without needing to prove anything, those are my reasons.

Namaste,

xoxo B

by Madison Rosner

photo by Madison Rosner

thank you Simplereminders.com

To book a coaching session with Bianca please email binxmarto@yahoo.com. To read her blog click here.

Jen’s next week long retreat is in Maui with The Travel Yogi feb 16-22. Assisted by Sommer Dyer, daughter of Wayne Dyer. Click here to book.

Inspiration, Manifestation Retreats, Steve Bridges, Travels

The Unearthing of Things

November 27, 2012

photo by Madison Rosner

Sitting outside our private villa in Ulutwatu, the breeze just enough to be deemed perfect, and I wonder if I am really here. I must be. Awan, one of the staff here at Uluwatu Surf Villas, just brought us out our morning eggs (yes, he comes into the villa every morning and prepares us breakfast to our liking.) My eggs a little less runny, Robert gets the toast and the weird flourescent jam. We both drink the coffee, me always going for the second and third cup, my husband always the moderate one, taking one cup and sipping it slowly. I must be here. I can see the ants crawling all over the table. (They don’t bother me.) I see the ocean just past our private little pool (a private pool!). I hear the sound of the waves crashing, one of the rare occasions the ringing in my ears is lessened. I must be here. I must be.

So it’s established. Here I am.

Is it the being here or the memory of being here that I am after?

Is it the having had it happen or the ability to write about it in such a way that I can make you feel as if it happened for you too?

I am not sure.

From Wikipedia:

Memory is the processes by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved.

I am equally in love with floating in the pool naked, a light rain falling and an almost full moon above as I am with the drinking of a Bintang and the being able to tell you about it in words that will (I hope) last forever, longer than the sea, longer even than me. I know there are different types of people. I get that. The types of people that are so present, who wouldn’t dream of the moment meaning anything than what it was.

You’d think I would be that way, being a yoga teacher and everything. I am here. I am. I strive to be present but there is something in me that screams Hey! This is your dharma. You were meant to share this. Who are you to keep this locked in your mind? Go! Go now and write!

So I am here, indeed. I am here with every intention to send my experiences out in capsules for you to open and discover what it is you want to share. What it is you want to feel. Where it is you want to go.

People often ask me how I have such a steel trap memory. My sister and I both. (Although as I have aged my memory has become less steel-like and more sponge-like.) Here’s the thing: when you lose a parent so young, all you have are your memories of him bringing you home chocolate covered marshmallows and carving magic wands out of sticks and seesaws by the Cooper River Park in the rain. That is all you have so you preserve them and seal them so they can never disintigrate into I don’t remembers. You become an expert memory maker. You have no choice really, because how else could you survive?

Your imagination must have someplace to call home.

My imagination is calling this home: The rain clicking its heels on the swimming pool here in Bali. The nothing to do-ness that comes with being on vacation and just how inspiring that nothing to do-ness can be. Floating on a surfboard in the Indian Ocean, the red sun a character in your life like an ex-lover or a grandfather with its legendary personality. The twin girls dancing a traditional Balinese dance, moving their fingers precisely, elegantly, in a way my stubby hands could never coordinate themselves to do on their own. Their eyes darting left and right, each sharp movement a story with a beginning, middle and end. The sky opening up and letting in color that no camera can talk about. Not even on a good day. Secret colors and gestures that fall apart when an iPhone tries to lock them in. The happiness here. The happiness here is where I am calling home. It is getting placed next to: my father eating his nightly chocolate ice cream in between two waffles with powdered sugar on top and my summer at Bucknell University churning out poems before bed like they were sleeping pills. I will place it next to my retreat last February in Mexico, the last time I saw my dear friend Steve Bridges before he died and how close our eyes were there, for that long moment above the beach there in Puerta Vallarta as he told me he could never leave the earth before having a family and how we became that family because he did leave the earth. Too suddenly and too soon not a month later and that moment we shared was the best conversation and the most treasured I have ever had with anyone so as I sit here in the rain in Bali I am placing this pool and this palm tree and these offerings for the gods right there next to Steve.

My imagination is that large. It can hold it all.

That line above makes me feel Walk Whitman-esque: Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.

Who can explain why the value of something increases, decreases. Or what we choose to store as memories? Why we fall in love with someone, as quick as the pressing of your face into their shoulder blade as you ride on the back of their motorcycle, the wind slapping you with confirmation- Yes! This is love! Or a moment like the one when you watch them sleep and a surge of protectiveness knocks you awake. You want to make sure they take the next breath, and the next.

You want to watch them forever.

We never know where we will find our history, where we will discover what has formed us, what we will find in the rice paddies. Exhuming beauty from the soil, excavating remains.

The unearthing of things long forgotten.

Part of the way memory works is by being able to locate it and return it to our consciousness. How can we do that if we haven’t saved it? What are your ways of saving it? What are you saving?

This is an important question. Think hard before you respond. What are you storing up in there? I hope it isn’t traffic jams and being pissed off and upset and gossip although, hey, I am not perfect and I have some of that up there. I am making room though. I am pushing it aside and making room for this watermelon and these flowers and my husband at Padang Padang Beach in Bali and what it feels like to have achieved a dream like this.

And what does it feel like?

It feels like a sigh. It feels like a dropping the shoulders down away from the ears and returning as well as a departure. It feels like a bumpy car ride along Balinese country-side and it also feels like my sofa at home with a glass of wine in my hand. It feels like all of me and also a part I have yet to know. Or rather, yet to remember.

Because it has always been there, hasn’t it?

It has always been there next to my father and my grandmother and my little 3 year old nephew showing me how he “drops in” on the skateboard ramp and all the other memories I have sought out to bring back into consciousness, it has always been there but like the red sun I had just thought it was a myth.

I did not believe it until I saw it and felt it and reached up into the sky to call it mine before sending it back into the world.

by Madison Rosner

Steve Bridges and I. www.stevebridges.com

Delight, Manifestation Retreats

Falling In Love.

February 10, 2012

I fell in love last week.

I was surrounded by palm trees and magnificent ocean views and hammocks. Part jungle, part fantasy, my heart burst open and cracked in half with wild love. I was giddy with it.

Yes, I have been married for two years and no, it was not with my husband.

I love my husband deeply,

Although it may not be him I am speaking of directly, he is, in fact, directly affected by this falling in love of mine, as it were.

How can he not be?

When you embody love, anyone you come in contact with gets a little of it, whether they wanted to or not. You will walk out of a room and they will stand there in awe, replaying your face in their mind, trying to memorize what it was that made them feel so good.

My husband reaps the benefits, you can be sure. I am more inspired, more full of life, happier, funnier (debatable), more patient, and more awake than I have felt in a long time.

One of the girls on my Mexico retreat last week just added a comment to Facebook, under a photograph of us which read Just told my friends all about our magical trip: ” you sound like you are in love” ~almost the same feeling. How strange to be home and not surrounded by you.

Although I jokingly said this in Mexico: I fall in love daily! It didn’t hit me until I read that comment that I had indeed actually fallen in love.

I had fallen hard.

Britta, the girl who wrote said comment was one of the people on my retreat who I didn’t know a lick about. Except that she was coming from Amsterdam.

I too thought WTF?

All the way to Mexico from Amsterdam? Hmm.

I have experienced some interesting moments with people on my retreat who I hadn’t known prior, or very well, and, as much as I hated to admit it, it had tainted me. For the worse.

Naturally, I was a bit scared of Britta, as well as the couple from NJ and the girl from San Francisco.

And yes I am from New Jersey.

It seems out of character for me, I know this. Me who always says Expect to be delighted! and other such quips more often than not.

So, imagine my delight upon returning home at the realization that the people on my retreat were hand picked by the Universe just for me!

The people from New Jersey? Possibly my two favorite people on the planet.
It’s sinking in, as I sit here feeling a bit melancholy about the Mexico retreat, missing it so dearly today, how I am getting closer to the person I always dreamed I’d be. How else can I explain how the people on my retreat showed up? It was like a divine hand was at play. I am truly attracting the people into my life that are on my vision board, and in my dreams. The law of Attraction is fierce and unyielding.

I thought the couple from New Jersey were newlyweds. They had been married 32 years it turns out. That should say just enough about them.

You see, I fell in love with everyone there. I fell in love with what we created together, there on the beach and in the palapas. And with the feeling I had when I was in their presence. I am pretty sure they all felt the same.

My sister came.

I brought her for her birthday. There were many times throughout the week where I would ask Who is that? in reference to her. What an amazing thing: for someone to break so far out of their predictability that they become unrecognizable. Her smile was what got me the most. I truly do not know if i have ever seen someone smile so much, let alone her. I have known her 34 years.

Here is her post about the trip.

I have never felt so safe in my life, so free, so unjudged. So full of belly aching laughter and inspiration and familiarity. How could it be that some of these folks just “showed up” as it were?

Because there are no accidents.

So yes, my husband feels the effects because I came home fully recharged and emanating love. Falling in love does not have to be romantic or sexual, and, furthermore, when you are in love, you are love.

Love is transferrable and like the ocean, it doesn’t lessen if you remove a few drops and share it with someone else. In fact, it doesn’t even notice.

Much like being in love and leaving your beloved, my return home was bittersweet. The day after I got back I was still high but my Monday I was missing everyone and there was an ache and a resistance to going back to my “real life.”

What I realized today is that I can be in love, I can be love, full of all of it’s cracks and holes and laughter and quirks and inside jokes and not necessarily have to own it. I do not have to have each and every body who was with me last week here in my apartment every day (as much as I would like that) to allow myself to feel what I felt last week.

What a wake-up this last retreat was. I have led 10 retreats in 2 years ( and I have been teaching yoga only 3 years) so I have been a busy girl. This retreat reminded me that I do not indeed know everything, that I can still be surprised, that there are no strangers, that mad love is possible even after and especially after 32 years of marriage, that just because you have known someone 34 years does not mean anything. That, in order to truly be happy, we must let go of our personal history, which, I do believe, we all did in Mexico.

I was just Jen. Britta was just Britta. Steve was Steve and so on. We were, in no way, identified by our pasts or our stories and thus we were able to fall in love with each other, deeply in love, based on exactly what we got there in Mexico.

There was also no jealousy or fear amongst the group. It was as love wished it were all the time, pure unadulterated bliss. It was as love wished it were without our old patterns and beliefs getting in the way to eff it up for us.

I don’t know if I will ever have an experience like this again. Maybe. Maybe not. It most certainly will not be the same, but I am open to experiencing life in this way as long as I am alive. I will keep on attracting these people into my world and inviting them to stay.

As I have gotten older, I have come to realize how powerful I am (as you are too) and that I did this. I attracted these people to Mexico. It wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t a random act of awesomeness. It was exactly what I needed and exactly what they needed.

Just like falling in love.

I am allowing myself to feel a little sad with want for them. It’s ok. I am a human being and I rather enjoy that fact.

I am alive.

I will leave you with a little note from Greg, one half of the couple from NJ. He is someone I will know for the rest of my life.

Dear Friends,

(How different and wonderful to write that from the heart, and not as a meaningless salutation!)

I just sat down at my desk at work, about to dive in to all of the busy-ness and problems of the day. Before I do that, though, I wanted to write a note of thanks to all of you. “Gratitude” is fading on my arm, but not in my heart.

I have had many good experiences with groups over the years – scientific workshops, management retreats, vacations with friends, etc. None them even comes close to this past week with all of you. It’s not just that we harmonized so well as a group; it’s that I feel a connection to each one of you, and I suspect that that is true for all of us. What a gift!

Thank you all so much for bringing your unique light and sharing it with such openness. This is and will continue to be a great source of joy for me. May it continue to light the path forward for each of you. Thanks also for so much fun and laughter, which brings a smile to my face as I write this.

And, as has been said several times already, thank you Jen not only for creating the space for the light to shine, but for joining us in it.

So here’s my secret plan: Part 1: When the world gets heavy, I’m going to stand up, close my eyes, and breathe with all of you in the jungle facing the sea. Part 2: I’m setting the intention to do this again next year, and hope to see you there!

Finally, if any of you are ever on the East Coast, come visit us! We have plenty of room and would love to see you again.

Thanks again, with all my heart.

PS, Yes it is true that they all played a practical joke on me and mooned me the last night of the retreat. Now, if that does not say that I have indeed attracted my tribe, what does? Those that recall my father, who died when I was young, will remember that my dad made it a practice to moon at every party. Horrifying for an 8 year old. Well, let’s just say when my retreat pulled the prank on me, I got a little warm and fuzzy. And yes, I have a video.

Another Letter:

Jen,

I don’t know where to begin. When I packed last week to go on your Manifestation Yoga retreat in Mexico, I thought I would have a good time. But, I never expected it to turn into one of the most life-changing events of my life. You have this incredible gift of bringing amazing people together, and nurturing a safe place where judgement and fear is released, creating what may otherwise be known as heaven – a most natural high.

This past week was medicine for my heart and soul, and words can’t describe how grateful I am to you, your practice, and your gift.

Thank you for showing me what happens when I am “willing to be attentive.”

I love you more than you could know!

With all my heart,

Brandi

I manifested love on this retreat.

I fell again in love with life as I always knew was possible.

And with myself, with the help of the people who were by my side.

So I ask you this? Can you allow yourself to be vulnerable and fall in love? Can you fall in love with people you may have never met unless they were sitting next to you, in a boat staring out at whales in the middle of Mexico somewhere? Can you allow yourself to forget what you thought you knew about the nature of love, the nature of men and women and what it means to give yourself to someone 100%?

If so, meet me there.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q29YR5-t3gg]

Manifestation Tattoos by Conscious Ink