Lago de Albufeira, Portugal

This is the location of Sundari Integral Yoga School, where I would be for 21 days, living among five other students and two teachers.
I had googled this location before coming, of course but no photo or description could have prepared me for how beautiful and inspiring this place felt.

The school is a giant home made of marble steps, stained glass windows blackout crushed velvet curtains and the most gorgeous garden I have ever seen. The moment I got in, one of my instructors, Eugene welcome to me in and help me settle my bags into my room that I would be sharing with Elena, from Italy. I knew that I'd be sharing a room with another student and did have some nerves about that but as soon as I met her I knew that I was going to enjoy sharing space and the experience with her. Minutes after meeting we decided to walk to the beach together since we had one hour until the welcoming session.

I shared this yoga training with four other women and one man all from different European countries - England, Belgium, Italy, Spain & Germany. This melting pot of a living situation was one of my very favorite parts of the trip. We shared all of our meals together and every single day was chock full of conversation regarding all kinds of things from how every culture/country handled healthcare, poverty, religion, travel, health and wellness not to mention all the other topics that would come up within our strenuous training- both physical and spiritual. I never knew I could go grow so closely with people in 3 weeks, we shared many trials and joys.

The only way to sum up all the knowledge I took in is to begin weaving it into my life. Carmen, our teacher (rather guru) has her master's in psychology, used to be a lawyer, is also certified in acupuncture and herbalism into of her 30yrs in yoga practice. She's worked with inmates, children, elderly, families, battered women and homeless. She made sure that we looked beyond the poses and into the ancient wisdom beneath the poses to truly bring change to ourselves and the world. Her partner Eugene, used to work in the corporate world in some form of large scale marketing and is now decades deep in multiple Eastern energetic arts like qigong. He taught us meditation and concentration practices backed by studies every single night and was the continuous spark for philosophical ideas and discussions.
The group spirit animal of this time was their cat, Shanti, who we all adored. I can't speak highly enough of all these people, this space and this school. My mind, body & soul feel as if they've found their center and it came from remembering who I was by way of a little knowledge, great discipline and a renewed faith in Love as source.Read more