A Little Something....

Hi Friends -

I know, it has been way too long since we have connected. For some it has been years. Others just a few months. 2020 was, well, a bit of an adjustment for most of us and I think I’m just getting my bearings again. To be honest, it offered both isolating depression and an intimate pause for reflection. But here I am. Here we are. Approaching the other side of it.

I kept my $h!t together during this pandemic, the quarantine, everything. I was trucking right along living my best life, being productive, enjoying “me” time, playing with my kids and fur babies and then boom! My dear friend and co-retreat leader, Brandon Arthur, passed away from cancer and his death hit me like a ton of bricks. I finally allowed myself to fall apart recently. I’ve ebbed and flowed between contentment and utter despair over how fleeting life is. I’ve gotten way too introspective. I’ve zoomed out even further. I’m grateful for the life I’ve built but something has been missing. I thought long and hard about travel and what it means to me and how one place in particular connected me to my dear friend. And my own roots as well.

Costa Rica has been calling. It has had a piece of my heart as the birthplace of my younger brother, fond memories of Catholic elementary school, my first horseback riding lessons in Spanish, sweet pastries and the sound of a torrential downpour in rainy season. Throughout my adult life I’ve traveled extensively throughout Latin America but had a resistance to going back to my childhood home. Brandon pushed and prodded me to explore those feelings of disconnection and I finally agreed to do a Pura Vida retreat in 2020 with him. His pancreatic cancer diagnosis came, shortly followed by the world being on lockdown in early 2020. The world paused. I had to as well.

But Costa Rica kept calling. And I finally answered the call to find a little peace and focus on work at the same time. I didn’t want to share my trip publicly because I feared judgment. My podcast co-host, Talle, pushed me to do a yoga teacher’s social responsibility episode for our pod and hearing her comments made me defensive and cut me to my core. But, I’m proud of her and us for opening a dialog about what my responsibilities are as a yoga teacher in this global situation right now. I’m still a human and mama first and have to show up for myself and my family. Sometimes that means stepping back. So all this is a round about way to say, I found myself at the airport with a glass of rosé in my hand as I was about to board a flight I had planned be on with my dear friend. I needed to sit with my feelings and continue to do so.

These last 12 pandemic months have allowed me to deep dive into my practice both physically, emotionally and intellectually. I’ve had the opportunity to study with some of my favorite teachers and mentors around the globe from the comfort of my home studio. It’s been liberating and stifling for this conflicted homebody with a wanderlust.

I’ve missed you! So many of us have missed the collective movement in the yoga studio, the dharma talks on distant beaches and the Ham Sa of the inhale and exhale we take together as a kula. So, with borders opening, vaccines being issued and the hibernation finally coming to an end, I wanted to share some love with you.

This week, my hope for us is to embody the connection we all long for and feel as we rebuild our community in this online format.

Pura Vida,

Sarah TV Russell