It took four days of sun, surf, and yoga at Wanderlust O’ahu for our former educator Fallon to experience the true meaning of her tattoo and to redefine her connection with the ocean.
Aloha!
Yogis and yoginis of Wanderlust O'ahu were given a beautiful gift. A gift of experiencing the North Shore and finding the true spirited meaning of "aloha".
Over a year ago, someone shared with me the definition as "to breathe the essence of life with compassion". As a yoga teacher, I felt like I had been presented a seed, a singular expression of what all the work I was doing on and off my mat was about. So, I got a tattoo, "aloha" in morse code on my inner arm as a daily reminder.
Then I came to Wanderlust. I played with Baron, shook with Shiva, and felt all of Eoin's hammock enlightenment on the Kahuku terrace overlooking the breathtaking Pacific. I took surf lesson and rode more waves than ever (kooky as they may have been) and got reconnected with the ocean. Her salty residue in my hair, her beads of sand in my bed and her voice of waves continuously crashing. Class by class, more definitions were shared and then sitting on the floor of Surfer Bar listening to surf legend Gerry Lopez describe the intense relationship between yoga and surfing, my other great love, I redefined my relationship with my own tattoo.
Not only did I want to breathe life in the way I had understood it, but the spirit was in me - I began to truly understand what it means. Wanderlust O'ahu was the pinnacle of my two great loves, yoga and the ocean, and Aloha is more than a greeting. It is a way of life, a spirit of love and open hearts. After 4 days of exploration on and off the mat, I have a new great love, Hawaii, and I can't think of a better threesome to be a part of!
Fallon's experience sounds like complete bliss to us! What adventures are you going on this year to feed your body, mind and soul?
