There’s nothing quite like travel to get you outside of your comfort zone, turn your typical routine inside out and shake you from complacency. That feeling of being out of your element, without grounding, can be uncomfortable at first, but it often opens the door to unexpected discoveries and even bliss. I was in an adorable yoga studio in Tamarindo, Costa Rica last week called Mermaids and Sailors owned by a woman from New York who married a Tica man (see, travel can even lead to lasting love) when I came across this quote:
Now, I’m not usually one for inspirational quotes (they can come across too heavy-handed or needy), but occasionally these little messages strike the right chord with me. And I’m especially susceptible to them when I’m on my mat in a foreign land by myself feeling rather blissful. This one got to me because typically I identify with being a big dreamer. I’ve made many of my travel dreams a reality, I think my career is pretty dreamy and I have a habit of formulating a plan and going after my dreams. I love this quote because it gently coaxes you to “dream a little bigger.”
It made me think of what lies along the perimeter of my dreams. I visualized a luminescent bubble (yoga will do this to you) with a soft grey abyss the color of twilight surrounding it, representing the unknown or simply the unimagined territory beyond my wildest dreams, perhaps that’s where they get wild. It’s the area that’s a little too scary or uncomfortable to delve into, and so we often avoid examining it, content to let it linger just outside the safe bubble of dreams we’re pretty sure we can accomplish. It’s easy to find that twilight zone intimidating, but there’s also an intriguing beauty to it.
I thought about the unexamined edges of my dreams during my practice (a far more vigorous class than I expected, yoga sculpt, which combines vinyasa with Pilates and weight training), and my thoughts went first to my physical body. I was in Tamarindo to learn to surf. I was pushing the limits of my body every day in the waves, surprising myself with what I was able to do (stand up, ride a wave), and facing the fear of crashing waves and an entity that was far vaster than little ol’ me (the ocean). Every paddle in and pop up was facing fear head on, and the pay off was enormous. Surfing brings such an all encompassing physical rush. You learn that the more you let go of fear and the less you hesitate, the more successful you are in the water. A playfulness, joy and confidence takes over that’s absolutely intoxicating. Talk about a life lesson.
The same applies to my yoga practice. Throughout the week, I was constantly amazed at the strong link between surfing and yoga. I’ve been practicing for over a decade, and every class pushes you to be a little more aware and test your boundaries. However, it’s still easy to hide inside your own shortcuts, laziness and fear. It looks and feels like you’re practicing to the best of your abilities, but you’re still holding back. For me, this comes with not really trying to learn new inversions, like handstands and forearm balance, and being afraid to do headstand in the middle of the room. It’s purely fear. When I’m at the beach with friends playing around with headstands, that fear disappears. When you get more playful and realize that falling down really isn’t that bad, it frees up your mental space to try and succeed.
Practicing headstands on South Beach with Betsy (left)
These revelations led me to think about other areas where my desires and ambitions were hiding in the shadows. I was traveling through a Spanish-speaking country and I’ve traveled through many Spanish-speaking countries in the last year and a half, not to mention, I live in Miami. My Spanish is okay, it’s not bad, it’s not great. I enjoy practicing it and I’d like to get better. Yet oftentimes, I go silent for fear of sounding stupid and not being able to keep up. Before my week in Tamarindo, I was in Nicaragua for a week, and the day I crossed the border, Spanish was the only option. I may not have sounded brilliant, but I got by. I spoke, I listened and I carried on conversations all in Spanish. It was scary and it was also exciting. I’m confident that with a little effort (lessons and practice), I can become a better Spanish speaker and I think it would bring me lots of joy.
And my thoughts continued to linger to even greater dreams, like the kind of writing I want to do, the travel experiences I want to have, the love I’d like to find and the friendships I’d like to foster. Basically, the kind of beautiful life I want to live. It’s amazing how these dreams can manifest your destiny. Traveling to an unknown place (especially by yourself) has an amazing way of shaking the cobwebs from your eyes to see yourself and the people around you more clearly. It’s an opportunity to get out of your head and let go of all the little insecurities that weigh you down, keeping you from meeting your full potential. Meeting people on the road and hearing their stories is an incredible way to make the world feel like a small and inviting place. There’s nothing like it to breed compassion and open you up to vulnerability. And really, aren’t those the two places where the magic happens?
I plan to continue to study the edge of my dreams and push their boundaries. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll be able to do a headstand on a surfboard. And speak Spanish. So why not dream a little bigger, my dear? There’s really nothing to be afraid of.
