Let me just start by saying, writing this blog post is giving me all the feels. I want to begin by publicly thanking Fit Queen Irene for every single thing she has done in my life. She has moved mountains for me and opened doors to things I would have never believed were accessible! When she offered me the opportunity to follow her to Mexico last year for a week I was over the moon, and then things just got better when she invited me back again this year, but for two weeks! And there may or may not already be plans for a reunion next year.

Mermaid Pose with Base Yogi Yank

If you follow my social accounts then you’ve probably already put together that this trip was so much more to me than just a work-cation. Yes, I followed these beautiful yogi’s around and photographed their every move, but I also created some of the best friendships I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Going in to this retreat I truly had no idea how it would change me.

Last year when I arrived to Casa Om, I began to learn that yoga was about so much more than flexibility. And yes, you are reading that right. I truly thought that the practice of yoga was purely for a workout, or to improve flexibility, not even realizing the best part of practice was testing the limits of your own body and expanding your mind. It is way more of an experience than a workout. The beautiful people I got to meet while in Mexico were truly the ones who made the experience. Each and every one of them taught me lessons and opened me up to new experiences without even realizing it. Most of the time these lessons were learned while being a fly on the wall or simply by just observing. They each have this way of viewing the world that can completely change everything as you know it. It is truly a beautiful mindset to witness and from what I gathered, it came from what they experienced int heir practice and through their training.

I also realized a lot of the lessons we take from yoga and apply to life run parallel to the lessons we sometimes need to be reminded of when running our own business. But don’t worry, there will be a whole separate blog post on that!

Base Summer Dawn

So what’s next? My biggest goal leaving this retreat is to definitely keep up my yoga practice. When I started my business I took the thing that was my biggest stress reliever, therapy and so on and turned it into a career. And although that is something I would never ever change and I am forever grateful for my business, I have still always craved to find another “hobby,” if you will, that brought me that same peace. Something that was strictly for me and bettering myself and I feel like I am beginning to find that again in yoga.

On another note, there are some pretty big, actually insanely crazy, things in the works with Irene right now for the middle of next year. So big in fact, that I probably won’t share until it is actually happening! In the meantime prepare for many more yoga posts and travel plans. Along with multiple collabs and features with new yogi friends!