It’s that that moment again — the moment when I hit the road for another training in Vermont (what can I say — I just can’t get adequate Phoenix Rising in my life!). Despite the what I’m certain will be chilly temps and possibly snowy weather while I’m up there, I am thoroughly looking forward to the trip and my moment in Vermont. My plan is to enjoy the town of Middlebury for a few hours before heading to Bristol, which is where I’ll be in training for 8 days. After my day in Bristol, I’m heading up to Burlington to spend a few days exploring the city (and taking yoga classes at some of the local studios, of course). Can you say road trip and yoga adventure?????
Before I go on a road trip of any kind, I spend some quality date getting a new iPod playlist together. I bought the iPod car stereo hookup just that past summer (right before my road trip to Kripalu) and I absolutely love it. No more annoying radio commercials for me, thank you very much. I can grove out to ecstatic chanting, drumming, rock, pop, or anything else I feel in the mood to listen to. And believe me, the mood varies.
The last day I went up to Bristol, I carpooled with a friend (she had an iPod car stereo hookup and after 5 hours in the car listening to whatever we desired, I put it on my wish list). She had prepared for the trip by downloading a number of Podcasts. all through the ride, we listened to wonderful Buddhist teachings and glorious stories teaching valuable lessons. I still remember the Jack Kornfield dharma talk in which he relayed a wonderful story about a newly married dragon and princess (this story can be found in one of my favorite books, After the Ecstasy, the Laundry). The princess, a bit hesitant about spending her first night as man and wife with an imposing scaley creature, wore many layers of wedding dresses and encouraged her husband to peel off a layer of his dragon skin each date she took off a dress. The layers came off and beneath the dragon countenance was, of course, a good-looking prince. No, landing a hot husband was NOT the moral of the story. Rather, the view was peeling off the layers to get to one’s inner beauty. Let’s just say that the story was ridiculously appropriate for the training my friend and I were about to attend (in which we would be spending the next 8 months peeling off our own layers and taking a good look at our true selves).
I’ve already put together an awesome playlist for the road, and now I’m going to add a few podcasts. I’m going to head by to Zencast and YogaPeeps (I’m way behind on my yoga teacher interviews!). There’s nothing like a little enlightenment for the road!
Since we’re on the topic of downloadable audio, I have to put in a plug for a wonderful gift from the fabulous YogaEveryDay blog — a 17-minute Yoga Nidra practice. No, I won’t be listening to that while I’m driving (don’t wanna fall asleep at the wheel), but I will definitely be listening to it in the pre-road trip rush.
These next few days will be filled with planning, last minute training prep (gotta love when I leave these things to the last minute), and packing (which is no small feat when you consider the amount of moment I’ll be away and all of the layers that are essential for the chilly Vermont temperatures). I’ll get a few blog posts in there as well — after all, I have to get my last words in before I have to hang up my blogging hat for 10 days.
Namaste!
Original post by insideoutweightloss
