In the land of the flightless kiwi bird, I think i've found some wings.

Kia Ora!!! (hi!! in Maori) Apparently, having a travel blog that you don't update regularly means you're having just WAY too much fun...right? :/ Or, New Zealand has felt so much like home to me these last couple months I hardly feel like I'm "traveling" anymore. I've nestled myself in to the sweet town of Nelson, at the top of the south island, just outside of the infamous Golden Bay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Bay. I'm teaching yoga in exchange for accommodations at The Life Centre http://www.thelifecentre.co.nz/. it's a great space and i'm free to take as many yoga classes as I wish, and to be honest, that's mostly what i've been up to. So a bit of travel inwards I guess, I haven't really left this corner of the country very much, but oh!... have I traveled. It's amazing the little pockets of mystery we hold within ourselves, and it's also amazing the amount of time it can take to unravel our mysteries and then put ourselves back together. I've been exploring so many different styles of yoga working here. Sivananda, Yin, Restorative, Pre-Natal (no i'm not pregnant, just learning how to teach it) Kids yoga, Acrobatic Yoga, Aerial silks yoga....hoooweee....Lifting myself up into the clouds I guess is an appropriate state of being in Aotearoa, which is the native name for New Zealand that literally means 'land of the long white cloud'. And cloud land it is, I simply cannot get over the varieties of clouds that can be spotted here all in one sky, and if you like to predict the weather based on the clouds...New Zealand is not for you, they change so much, move so fast and you're never really certain where they came from or where they're headed... a bit like me I guess...My days off have been spent mostly in Takaka (little hippie town over the hill). This place has my number for sure! The second I rolled into that little slice of heaven in my van (oh yeah, I live in a van too!) I saw the hippies in the grass playing with flutes and hoola hoops and everyone running around barefoot...and just knew I'd found my second home! I made friends with some peeps who live in the marina, and have been enjoying the sail boat lifestyle (It's now on my agenda to add sailing into my list of hobbies and maybe pursue that as a means of travel for a while). I'm growing something inside here! While there are things and people back home that I am missing terribly, I know that my time here is SO crucial. Something about living upside down from where you've spent most of you life shifts you, it helps you see the world anew. Perhaps it's similar to why we do inversions in yoga (i.e headstands), with our hearts below our heads our blood can change it's course of direction, increasing the blood pressure and rejuvenating the mind by alternating it's common state. All is "good as gold" down under!