Reset Button

Many Croatian architects seem to have skipped the class on curb appeal. The small city center, with all its charms and adorned facades quickly gives way to the utilitarian, industrial grey buildings surrounding it. But the stark cement outers belie their wondrous interiors.
In a squat, grey cement rectangle I find a bright, charming café, home to the lightest and most delicious cheese-filled croissant I have ever devoured. Down a dimly lit alley I find a world class bookstore whose voluminous stacks envelope me for hours. And on a side street, not far from the Centro, is a non-descript building with a frosted glass door, and inside that door lies the heart of yoga, at least for me.
In Bali I had three teachers, Katiza Satya, the Columbia born yogi firecracker, and Marco and Sandra Bianco my beautiful hosts here in Croatia. When I finished teacher training I gave them each a mala (prayer beads) adorned with one more than the requisite 108 beads. The additional bead was colored to represent each of them.

Katiza’s was pink and green – the color of the heart chakra, since to me she simply embodies love and joy. Sandra’s was red, the root chakra, for me she is the graceful ideal of rooted spirituality and practice. And Marco’s was gold – the crown chakra, someone so intangibly evolved that aspiring to be like him seems all too lofty of a goal.
So it is here in Zagreb that I have come to practice with the two ends of the chakra spectrum and to inadvertently, or perhaps not, hit the reset button on my yogic journey. Lately I have become more traveler/yogi, than yogi/traveler and without clearly defining that issue beforehand, I find that I have reestablished the balance I had in Bali, and hope to maintain from now on.

So funny how you end up with or where you need when you need it. I never planned on skiing in Italy on this trip, so I never planned to be a country away from my teachers. The old Rachel never dreamed of visiting Eastern Europe or India, but here I am and in a month there I will be.

Life continues to amaze me. Go out and live it!

Zagreb, Craotia

Comments

Popular Posts