Yet Portugal Provides That

I miss feeling alive.
I write this as I stare out my studio windows that overlook the magical Lisbon, Portugal.

Somedays I feel as if my trauma is catching up on me or that I have no idea how “to do the work” because therapists tell me how strong I am rather than providing advice because they are human too. Most days I can’t believe I made it to Portugal after a close to death experience of a relationship with the result of diving right into a visa process that took the fight of my life to win.

Yet I am here. I made it. I opened the studio of my dreams in the country I love most and all I am asking the universe to provide is the discipline to keep it.

Although Portugal isn’t known to be a country that makes us feel alive.
It is a country that is known for keeping us safe.

Portugal is my safe place.

It’s the place where I can walk around by myself at any time of night (or day) and no one will bother me or do anything to me. The men are surprisingly behaved so women are actually safe here. I know, it’s a wild concept in this world to be safe, yet Portugal provides that.

It’s a place with affordable healthcare and real community.

It’s a place of acceptance and deep rest because sleeping, resting, and not working are art forms in Portugal and although at times getting people to do their jobs becomes frustrating, can you blame them? The whole country is on a beach and if I had the choice between the beach and work, we all know which I would choose. Who wouldn’t?

It’s the place where I am always invited to come home to myself, my yoga practice, and a family who makes me light up with joy every time I see them. My family is so vibrant that when I am with them, I truly feel my ancestors rejoicing because we are their biggest most abundant full of love dream.

And that’s why I opened The Yoga Hostel: Home in Portugal.

To teach women and LGTBQ folks that it is safe to come home to themselves through Yoga, in Portugal, surrounded by a family of yogis who are here to be the biggest love this world has ever experienced.

You are human. I am human.

We all have trauma, stories, narratives, and ways of being in this life.

We also have a choice and universal responsibility to heal.

And when you find that healing and cultivate it into your being, I hope you will build your wildest most abundant dreams with it.

Then slowly, softly find your way to the mat so you can come home.