Welcome to the Small World, Big Hearts Guest Posting Series! Some of the amazing people I've met along the way will be showing up here to do guest posts on life, love, food, inspiration and all things good. I'm so excited to introduce my beautiful friend, Anne to you! Anne is part of my team at lacyyoung.com. She is among my favorite people! I know you'll love her too. XO Lacy
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“The magic that I feel driving along Highway One is indescribable, it is a root connection that must be from a prior life. A feeling of bliss. A feeling that I belong here. Esalen takes this feeling to a whole new level. I had an immediate feeling of never wanting to leave here and wondering how I could arrange to stay forever… I feel like there are any paths that I could go down in my life, that I could become one person or I could become another. Figuring out which path feels the most true to my heart is the challenge that I want to face right now.”
These are words I wrote in my journal two years ago, on the first day that I arrived at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California for a yoga and kirtan workshop. Esalen is a magical utopia nestled in the cliffs between the Pacific Ocean and a vast wilderness that feels straight out of a fairy tale. It was here that Lacy and I met and a beautiful friendship began. There was a group of at the retreat who bonded immediately, we were at crossroads in our lives, and seemed to be on the search for some deeper meaning to our lives. We all fell in love with each other and deep, life-long bonds were formed. Seeds were planted during that week long workshop that allowed all of us to come closer to our hearts and our life-callings. Rolf told us that our job is the “what” and the universes job is the “how,” and we learned to have faith in that.
I returned to Esalen earlier this year with a few of the people from the group while Lacy was in Hawaii. I reflected on how much my life had changed in two years, how much the lives of my friends had changed. Many of the seeds had blossomed to fruition. I opened my heart up to love and a new relationship. I found the courage to quit my secure, well-paying job to return to school. I started a holistic healing practice for women using the ancient tools of yoga and Ayurveda, Lunar Shakti Healing. You just never know who you'll meet, where you'll go next and how powerful it is to keep moving forward with an open heart!
To yoga magic, to friendship and Esalen (definitely put it on your list of must see/experience places).
Anne
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You can see my post from that trip here. -Lacy
