Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Pure Light Yoga hits the road-Sydney and Melbourne

Pure Light Yoga hits the road for my adventure of a life time. The first stop is Australia, which is a beautiful country. The people are pretty care free which I think stems from the fact that healthcare is taken care of and the government takes care of their people. I have been here a week and a half and it feels like a while. I don't know if that is because I feel really comfortable here, or I am just

eager to travel. I have found the Australians thus far to be very helpful, kind and interested in American culture and

Americans in general.

The picture above is of an Ibis at a beautiful park in Sydney. I was amazed at how different some of the birds were. There were wild cockatoos flying around Sydney and tons of huge bats hanging in the botanical gardens.


Australians do like to make fun of our accent and tell us that we butcher the English language, which I think is hilarious because they shorten everything. Although I do love an Australian accent! The following are examples of the ways in which American lingo is different from Australian. First off we say dinner, they call it tea. To invite someone over for a morning tea means a

morning snack and tea(snacks including fruit and lamingtons (an Australian white cake with chocolate and coconut flakes), or sausage rolls). To invite someone over for coffee just means a coffee. To invite someone for breakfast would be called brekky. The Australians love to end things in y. For instance sunnyies are sunglasses, wellys are Wellingtons (rain boots), brelly is umbrella, Tazzy is Tasmania, cozzy (swim suit-short for swim costume), dingy (boat), nappy (diaper), telly is television, lolly is candy (any kind of candy), football is footy and choky is chocolate bar.

To the left a picture of the cliffs and ocean on my walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach in Sydney. Another rainy day made for a gloomy picture, but the walk was beautiful.


Of course there is the use of the word mate to describe a good friend, or anyone you meet. Cheers mate is a common expression. Cheers can either be a toast or thank you. Ta is also a way to say thank you. How you going, is a way to say how are you. How'd you go would translate to how was it, or how did you do? To the left, my college friend Kelsey (the blonde next to me) and her friends. Fellow friends, or should I say mates I

made along my path!


Clothes in Australia are different from the states. For example a jumper is a sweatshirt, runners are tennis shoes, thongs are flip flops, underwear is jocks and a tank top is a singlet.


The common Australian foods are of course meat pies, which is a lot like a pot pie in the states but contains no vegetables, just meat and sauce. You can find all different types and they are delicious. Americans could be caught at a sporting event eating a hotdog, Australians would be caught eating a meat pie. I tried the best meat pie place which is in the Dandenong Mts. called The Pie in the Sky, my pie is pictured below. I especially loved the heart on the left side of the pie, so much love! I had a Tandoori Chicken pie, it was fabulous! The Australians eat their meat pies with tomato sauce, not ketchup. They put tomato sauce on everything, meat, potatoes all of it. Another condiment that I have come across while being here is Vegemite, which is a horrible

yeasty spread that is black in color. They all love it and put it on toast or crackers (which are biscuits) with butter and sometimes cheese. They call jelly, jam and jello is jelly. A common sandwich here is a toasted tomato and cheese, sometimes with ham. A stubby is a beer. Of course fish and chips is a popular choice here and it is delicious too. Because Australia is so close to Asia, there are a myriad of different Asian restaurants and dishes to choose from. I have enjoyed a lot of that as well.


The yoga scene in Australia is big, but not like I expected. The studios I have checked out are few and far between and the class times they offer are very limited. I see a lot of potential here

for me teaching yoga, if that is what I want to do in the future anyway.



So far some of my favorite places in Sydney are: Manly Beach, the

Botanical Gardens with all of the amazing birds right there in the city and the Chinese Friendship Gardens(to the left) and the Opera House (to the far left on a cloudy day). The city is full of things to do and many amazing beaches to see.


Melbourne has been my

favorite so far, but that could have something to do with the fact that I have been staying with my friend and her family. Kelsey and I were freshman college roommates and we reunited

after almost 8 years at the Melbourne airport. It has been so nice hanging out and having a tour guide. The Dandenong Mountains have been my favorite with the William Ricketts Sanctuary topping my list. His art is absolutely amazing, statues made from clay, and he was a total activist for the aboriginals. The picture to the left and the one below are from his sanctuary. The picture to the left has a wonderful inscription on it from William Ricketts, "To melt and become as the living waters running and singing a flow of life in my dreaming." A lot of this statues, which are all made of clay, depict a very western-looking man holding a gun with all sorts of dead animals at his feet. He explained how the aboriginals had such a deep connection with the earth and that the western man came in and destroyed the land and the people living on it. His work is amazing and if you are ever in the area I highly recommend visiting the sanctuary.

As far as cities go, Melbourne is great. It is really beautiful, with lots of art scattered throughout the city. Many great restaurants, little alley ways that are empty during the day and then come alive at night and many beautiful walking paths. The Victorian Market is great to find anything you need and Federation Square is amazing. It has been a great experience, other than the fact that Australia is very expensive, so I have had to spend wisely, as this is the beginning of my journey and I am unsure how long I will be gone.




I head off to the Outback tomorrow to Uluru, or Ayer's Rock. It is in the middle of Australia and is the third chakra of the world. The aboriginals believed they were birthed from the rock and it is a very spiritual place for them. I am very curious and excited to go there.


I have learned a few things in a short time. As I have said before about traveling alone, and I am a huge advocate for it, it makes you think about what you want in your life and analyze things you might want to

change. It really makes you inquire about who you are and what you want to do with your life. How do you want to leave a mark on the world? How do you want to help others? It makes you ask questions of yourself like, What upsets you? What makes you sparkle? What are your deepest fears?


I happened to spend Valentine's Day-the day of love sitting on Manly Beach in Sydney, Australia. I was really concerned with money for this trip. Seeing that this was the beginning of my journey and Australia is quite expensive I began worrying over money. I used to do that a lot in the past, before I saw that worrying got me no where and only caused me a lot more stress and suffering. I then began with the motto "the money is always there when I need it." That motto has rung true for me every time and in every situation, sometimes down to the penny. It is always there and I truly believe that deep down to my very cells. I now think I need to change that motto to one of "there is always more than enough money" and see how that goes. So as I began worrying about money and how I was going to be able to make my journey last and why I thought at the age of 30 that taking a world tour was a good idea. As I began to watch my thoughts go from happy and carefree to what am I doing, how will I make this last? I began to see how I need to change a longtime bad relationship with money. I began to see on this day of love ways in which I can love myself more, love people I come into contact with more and ways in which I can tap into the ever-present love that is always around more.


There is a beautiful web of life that is always moving, changing and transforming what it comes into contact with. Can we tap into this web of life and know that it takes care of us? Can we know that whatever happens to us, good or bad is for a higher consciousness that is trying to move through us and awaken us to its higher order. Can we trust even more? Trust when we don't have a lot of money coming in that we will get through and still be able to accomplish our dreams, because someone goes out of their way for us, or we meet someone that believes in our ideas and is willing to put forth money for them? Can we trust when the love of our life leaves us and we feel that we will never find another? Can we trust that there was something to be learned from this experience and someone better will come along? Can we trust when we are diagnosed with a horrible disease that we will get the cure we need, or learn to slow down in life and appreciate what is most important? Can we trust this life, this heart, this breath? Traveling does that for me, as well as writing.


So I encourage you to find that area/passion in your life that allows you to stay in the flow, that allows you to trust. Tap into that, into what your heart is telling you. Step away from those thoughts that cause you suffering and step into your passion. Sometimes our biggest passion can come from helping others, especially during those times of deep suffering. When we step away from our own fears, worries and pains, we see that other people suffer just as bad,

if not worse then we do. We begin to see that a homeless woman's shelter where the woman have been beat and forced to live on the street really does not compare to us loosing our job, or breaking up with a lover. It puts things into perspective. Find that area of passion for you. Whatever it is.


The picture to the left, I found on a building right where I was staying in Sydney, I loved the art and you can't see it, but on the angels left arm it says "May there be light, ever-lasting light." I think that is a new Pure Light slogan and a slogan for life really.


So as I am on the start of one of my passions traveling, I hope you can enjoy this journey with me and I would love to hear about yours.


Love and light,

Erin