I’m sitting in Amsterdam Schipol Airport, awaiting my flight back home to Barcelona, and revelling in the “empty” space of non-doing that departure lounges provide. It almost seems to be a paradox to say that I can find time out within a place of such busy-ness as the airport, yet I have always found it a welcome break: a time to take a step back from the carousel of life. The whole concept of travel by air is quite surreal, the transition from A to B, often “suspended” in time as you move from one time zone to another: the before place you leave, the middle place where you transition, and the after place where you land. Absurd and amazing.
Once again I have been fortunate enough to enjoy a few days away, and take time off work to study, do more training and simultaneously partake in a little “yoga tourism”. Amsterdam like Barcelona is an incredibly vibrant and very fertile yoga destination. There are numerous studios dotted all over the city, and it is a fabulous opportunity to visit different areas with the parallel aim of dropping in on a class and sharing some yoga energy Amsterdam-style.
For years I’ve been a passionate yoga tourist and as I now get ready to board my Vueling I’m already excited imagining the same feeling for those who will travel to Barcelona in July for this year’s Barcelona Yoga Conference.
A journey to a beautiful, cosmopolitan and rich cultural destination for five days of yoga and the chance to discover another face to Barcelona, a versatile, friendly and forever-changing city.
As I store my yoga mat in the overhead lockers, it brings a smile to my face to think of the air miles it has already clocked up – maybe we could get our mats stamped like passports! The different studios it has been unrolled in, the friends I have met, the places I have explored with my Manduka (I’m also grateful to have invested in the travel version of the mat – the “lite” mat is extremely appreciated when hiking around a city!)
Following a wonderful week of yoga training with fellow yogis from around Europe my mind is stimulated with new, fresh concepts and ideas, inspiration and a revived enthusiasm to enrich my own practice and classes.
When we step away from our usual practice and lifestyle it offers us a unique opportunity for reflection and observation. Some of my best “aha!” moments have happened to me on these yoga travels, and all the trainings, workshops I am fortunate enough to attend are also mini-retreats. Time to myself, with myself and for myself.
The Barcelona Yoga Conference can be all of these and more – training, practice, a retreat and a holiday. I can’t wait to do it all again on home soil! Hope you can join us!
