Friends…. seems like a long time since the Cidade de Deus / Nirvana experience and much has happened since then. The next day, I went for an urban hike in the city of Rio to a waterfall in Jardins Botanico.  Another CouchSurfer from the yoga class came over in the morning and we found or way along the city streets to a park and eventually up and up and up out of the urban ciy and into the jungle of Rio.  It is really like that….the city is placed in the middle of the Mata Atlantico (Atlantic Jungle).  We didn’t know where we were going, but somehow intuited our way to the waterfall!  After about a 30 minutes walking on streets and 10 8 minutes on a trail, we arrived at a really beautiful waterfall…in the jungle…in the middle of Rio de Janeiro!  It was  very cool.  The guy I hiked with was a young fresh out of college American guy and it was good for me to experience his fresh and excited energy and he was very curious about my traveling and life as a yogi.  The walk back was a big dharma talk which was helpful for him as he is searching for answers and I was full of cliches and phrases from my teaching that seemed to fit his curiosities

That afternoon, I took off to a very magical retreat experience in Teresopolis, just outside of Rio.  There were 14 students who came for the weekend and we were welcomed at Vajrabhumi retreat center, which is a Hare Krishna based retreat center.  I had the pleasure of riding up with a student who is just an angel of a woman…we had a very good time with the ride and it felt almost like family for the 2 1/2 hour journey to the mountains.  The retreat was Fri / Sat / Sun / Mon morning (Monday was a holiday in Brazil) and I led classes every morning and afternoon.  As always, there was a HUGE variety of yoga and life experience, from other teachers to the brand new practitioners.  The classes all seemed to have very deep and profound effects on the students and the location provided a natural sanctuary for transformation.  We ate well, connected on heart and soul levels and by the end of the 2nd day it felt like everyone was extended family.

My experience as the leader of the weekend was strong.  With each time I am able to lead retreat and create and hold space for people to transform in body, mind and soul…I receive the effects inherently.  The retreat also took place over the Jewish holiday of Pesach, which is the re-telling of the story of the Jews Exodus form Egypt (as found in the bible).  There were 2 other Jewish students on the retreat as well and I introduced the holiday, told the story and expressed how even though we are not ‘slaves’ per se in the building and manual labor sense of things, but we all are ‘enslaved’ by things in our lives that prevent us from being totally free.  I invited everyone to take some time over the next 2 days and write on a piece of paper what is was in their life that they wanted to ‘free themselves’ of and just like the Jew’s exodus from Egypt, we cold free ourselves of these things at a bonfire Kirtan under the full moon on Sunday night!  I also did the exercise….but will leave my details to the fire 

On the Sunday night we gathered around the fire and were joined by a sweet little local Brazilian Hare Krishna family for the Kirtan.  I started the mantras and the energy started to elevate.  With the hare Krishna family in the house, I took it upon myself to make it a Radha and Krishna night and we sang 4 or 5 mantras all strung together and the energy got super juicy….a little bit into the crescendo, one of the students approached the fire and put her paper in…and we cheered!  And then one by one, those that were there and participating walked up to the fire and ‘freed’ themselves under the light of the full moon and mantras.  It was strong and full on.  Many great photos of the group, the retreat center and the Kirtan on my photos page…

At the close of the retreat….there were lots of hugs and kisses and I was really touched by the acknowledgments of the all the students who shared with me their processes of transformation.  This work I am up to is having a big impact!

And a HUGE thanks to Cristiane at Anahatta Yoga in Barra Point!  It was her idea to organize the retreat and all her efforts that made it possible.  Grande Abracao e Agradacer, Cris…pra tudo!

I got a ride home on Monday night and had organized a CouchSurfing kirtan at Carlos’ house.  I was a little tired, but alas, 7 – 9 people came over and had their first Kirtan!  Carlos and I had practiced some mantras together and we rocked the house.  I felt a strong friendship with him and thank the angels that brought me to his house to stay!  Early the next morning, I was up and on the road again back to Florianopolis where I was for 3 days.

I am now writing/riding on the bus back home after leading a full weekend program at Govardhana Yoga Shala in Curitiba.  It was one of the weekends of teacxher training for my good friend Camila’s teacher training and again was a complete success.  The classes, lectures, mantras and connections with students of yoga of all varieties left all of us opened to the grace of these teachings.  Today, we had a great debate over; Is Yoga a Religion?  There were lots of great points put forth.  My opinion on the matter is that no, Yoga is a science.  There is a specific and outlined path of liberation of Patanjalim\s Ashtanga Yoga that can be applied to any religion.  Body and Mind are fine tuned to awaken the spirit and it is up to the individual to decide what that awakened spirit does.  I have chosen to stay connected to my Jewish roots but have very Hindu branches!  But it is possible for practitioners of yoga to connect to Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha or any other God / Goddess through the path of yoga, but the path is independent of the ultimate result.  The road is not the destination and Yoga is that road to the destination of liberation.

I will spend 1 more day in my second island home of Florianopolis before heading to Sao Paulo on Tuesday and my final weekend in Brazil leading retreat at an Organic Coffee Plantation in the state of Sao Paulo.  The end of this chapter of an extremely opening and personal journey in Brasil  is very near and I already am experiencing Saudade, the Portuguese word for ‘missing a whole lot!!’.  I have arranged my return in January for another 3-4 month stint here….and at the same time, I am very excited to take these lessons learned about teaching yoga, deepened comfort with myself and new language skills out to other parts of the world.  Stay tuned for the next chapters….

Teresopolis Retreat Group:

GovarDhana TT Group in Curitiba: