‘life is a journey – not a destination’

Everything changes all the time and so does our journey. We enjoy these changes and all the exciting new things along the way. Last time I wrote for this blog we still had our camper.

But in just a few days’ time our plans changed completely. On a Monday morning on our way to Portugal we received an offer to sell the camper. The next day we met the lovely couple who bought the camper. Without the camper and in need of a new plan we sat down to find out what felt good at that moment. And just three days later we arrived on the beautiful island La Palma.

Here we are living in a cozy house at such a remote location that when we arrived in the dark on our first day we almost couldn’t find it. Now we are already here for one month and we got used to finding our way on the steep, curvy, and challenging roads. Every morning after I’ve done some yoga, we’re having breakfast in the garden and enjoying the ocean view. Some days we work: there is always something to do for the yoga retreats, plan our next destinations or film a yoga class. But also those workdays are really enjoyable in these surroundings. And some other days we go out to explore the island, which is basically one huge volcanic mountain in the middle of the ocean.

We love going to the beach and swim in the ocean when the days get very hot. We actually had an intense heatwave with Calima (a sandstorm from the Sahara desert) and at the same time a big forest fire. Those days were a little challenging to be honest. Luckily the fire was not too close, but we woke up at night smelling the smoke and ash rained down in our garden. For several days helicopters and planes were flying by and it felt a bit scary when the wind got stronger. But after a few days even an intense situation like this starts to feel a bit more normal. At first we stayed at home and checked the news about the fire a lot, but after a while we decided to go to the beach again for a swim. That’s when we saw the fire fighting airplanes in action, collecting water at the ocean surface. There were many fire fighters involved from the others islands and even from mainland Spain. Finally they managed to control the fire and the people that had been evacuated returned to there homes.

Now the temperatures are delightful, sunny and warm during the day and cool at night. So, we finally started exploring the hiking routes that the island is so well known for. Just yesterday we drove to a national park at the center of the island, which is one of the main attractions. It was quiet there with just a few people near the viewpoint. Once we started walking the trails we were all by ourselves in this enormous mountain landscape. Hiking in the mountains creates a lot of joy and happiness inside of me. I just love it and I can’t wait for our next hike. Another amazing thing on the island is the night sky. On one of our first evenings I gazed up before going to bed and I was totally blown away by the intensity and the sheer number of stars, even the milky way was visible. And then I learned that this island is actually famous for star observation.

I feel very much at home here in on the island, with the lizards in our garden, the geckos in the house, the wild cat that visits us sometimes and all the sunshine every day. I feel happy to do some work and at the same time be free to explore and relax. And I feel so much more at peace since I stopped consuming the news. For many years in the past I never really read or watched the news at all. But recently I felt the need to be informed and to know what is happening. That was okay for a while but then I started to notice how much anxiety it creates to consume the news on a daily basis. Therefore I took the decision, here on the island during the forest fire, which had become another reason to check even more news, to finally quit the news again. It took a few days of feeling unease, but by now I am feeling so much more free, happy and confident. Of course I trust that Boris will tell me if there is something going on in the world that I need to know.

Today I recorded a new yoga class for you and while moving from one yoga posture to the next I saw two majestic birds of prey sitting on the stone wall of our garden. The new yoga video will be online soon and hope you enjoy practicing yoga with me. And just one more thing for this blog post today: People asked us if we have traveled enough by now. But I can tell you that we absolutely love this way of life and that we are not done yet. We are just thinking about where to go for the winter and Portugal is still on our list.

Sending you much sunshine and lots of love,
Sophie & Boris

La Palma, Canary Islands, September 2020