A Delicate Transition

Well this is exciting.  When I was in my early 20s I watched a TED talk describing how most of us will never retire at 60, that we’ll likely continue working into our later years and for that reason, we should be factoring in periods in our 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s where we take large chunks of time off to redefine who we are and where we are going.  Most of us do not get this luxury.  If stepping away from the Yoga Lab never happened, I would have never been faced with this opportunity.  

But life happened the way it did, and I was without a job on June 29th 2021.  

I didn’t know who I was without my yoga studio, the teachers, the students, and the daily routines that had become hardwired into my being.  At first, I grieved and mourned the loss of something so profound and meaningful for my life.  I directed all my attention and energy towards my family, likely smothering them at times.  ‘What am I doing with my life’ kept inching its way into my peripheral?  How do I make this the best thing that ever happened to me?  I didn’t know where to turn, except to sit in the extreme discomfort of my new world.  I sat with my fluttering thoughts, my citta vrita.  And I continued to sit with myself until I wondered if I was depressed or if what I was experiencing was the precipice of something bigger than I ever thought possible.  I continued to trust in myself, not looking outwards for answers as google would invariably diagnose me with a terminal disease!  Luckily, I kept a journal and I wrote almost daily on the knowledge that lay dormant in my heart, all the years of teachings, all the passion that still called me to my mat.  I was impatient, but I kept sitting.  On March 1st, the first seed started to break through the soil, and I woke up with an insatiable need to grow again.  Instead of worrying if I was having a mental breakdown, I felt hope in my heart that this time I had taken away to practice all that I had taught over the years was for a greater purpose.  And suddenly the words, ideas, concepts and strategies started pouring out of me the way a damn breaks and floods the lands.  And in two months I took a years worth of deep thinking and daydreaming and translated everything I had pondered into what is now Amitié.  If you are reading this, welcome to my failing forward.  If you haven’t had a chance to peruse my website, please take some time to check it out.  Otherwise, read on.  

Let my awakening be the inspiration that you too can do great things with your life, if only you are willing to be impatient, still and in love with yourself during your darkest moments.  Treat your dark moments as the fuel needed to build the healthiest friendship – first with you, and then outwards into the world.  

I don’t believe spiritual journeys are one of ease and romantic memes of exciting change.  For me, the meaningful spiritual journeys are messy and unforgiving; raw, and even painful at times.  But the person birthed in those moments is somebody we can all be incredibly proud of.  Maybe you can recall a time in your life where you too went through extreme loss, overwhelm or you just kept waking up each day hearing a whisper in your heart, ‘something needs to change’.  We fear discomfort the same way we held on to fear during the pandemic.  But as we all look back over the last two years we can see that, yes it was ridiculously painful, and even traumatizing at times – but we made it through, and we can now see the world experiencing childlike wonder again.  And with that drive to create and foster connection, we are whole again.  

With so much love

Darci

Founder, Amitié