Live Your Dream.

___

When I speak of my travels, I can expect the same list of inquiries: "Aren't you afraid?”; "Was it amazing?”; and "What were you traveling for?". Perhaps due to constant repetition, my answers to these questions have grown vague and routine: "Never”; "It was amazing”; and “Just to travel." But lately I got to thinking about that last question… What was I traveling for? Why travel at all?

I realized I was searching. Searching for meaning, for raw experience, for beauty, for love, for courage, for home, for presence, and for myself. 

___

Settling back in my hometown for a spell has spurred an epiphany: That all those things I have been searching for have been within me all along. Ralph Waldo Emerson says it best, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not."

I am both plagued and blessed with a gypsy soul and that thing they call wanderlust, in its truest form. I have climbed jagged peaks, I have spent weeks at a time living on bare necessities in the wild, I have hitchhiked across foreign countries, and I have faced deep loneliness amongst dense crowds. But when it comes right down to it, the hardest part for this restless girl is to live a profound, meaningful life in a small, familiar town called home. 

I am beginning to reassess and revalue my ideas of adventure, aimless wandering, and excitement of new sights. I am now focused on expanding my ability to bring adventure into my everyday life; to wander down roads and trails I have seen trod countless times and still find something new to appreciate every trip; to experience excitement in all the simple pleasures of life.

___

So I stand before you, stripped bare of all stories and badges earned on my exciting travels, just me. Your everyday human, daring you to join me in making our lives a story worth telling. Let’s try it - simply by living presently, lovingly, and inspiringly every single day. I challenge you to find the beauty within; and I promise, as within, so without. 

Dream your life…live your dream.

True West.

There's nothing more invigorating and more intimidating than a blank white page. 

I am sitting on top of my sticker-covered bear canister, looking out the windows of BYV at the amazing mountain ranges surrounding me. This is my sacred space. This is where I come to clear my mind, to just be. Cody, Wyoming has once again stolen my heart and left me in awe of this being my hometown, where I grew up, and where I live now. Wyoming is EPIC.

Even the coffee tastes better here. 

Life lately…just wow. 

I welcomed the end of 2014 with all my heart. It was an amazing year for sure, but definitely one of great struggle, great change, and great times I was ready to leave behind. It's almost as if life had to continually slap me in the face to remind me of the path I should be on. A path of pursuing my passions with no resistance. It took an entire year of being lost to find myself right back at the starting point, this time exactly where I need to be, not only physically but mentally. 

In January, I left Wyoming in a whirlwind of mixed emotions. Anxiety, excitement, stress, joy, fear, resistance and openness in all forms.  

I flew to Asheville, North Carolina and started my first yoga teacher training immersion. The three weeks spent there are beyond words. I was immersed in yoga from 8am-5pm six days a week, immersed with 23 fellow students and various teachers, immersed in a lifestyle that I have been in desperate need of for quite some time. 

I learned more in those three weeks than I ever imagined. And not just about what I thought yoga was, but what it really is, and mostly about my self. I learned that I need to allow time to be present for all the things I truly love to do. Seems so simple!

This has already opened up so many amazing opportunities to teach yoga. I am helping host a Kundalini yoga and life-coaching workshop in March with Virginia and my new teacher, Prakash. And will also be teaching at The Healing Space in Cody starting in a couple weeks. It is a visionary space, looking to heal people through many different holistic methods. I am humbled to be a part of this team. 

I am once again living in BYV, realizing that this is actually a huge part of my identity now. To live simply, humbly, and close to the earth, that's what I want. To sleep under the stars in a different spot each night, that's what I love. To have few possessions and so much space, that's what we all need. 

Van life for life. 

Virginia and I are also in the process of developing our personal brand to represent Yoga -- True West. The idea behind this is to just live and portray our beliefs in how life should be lived: sustainably, with love, and with presence. Stay tuned for more about True West! 

I have figured out what I am meant to do, now all that's left is to do it. Be it. And be it NOW.

-with light