Life inevitably calls you home, brave traveler. It could be money, family, or maybe you are just weary from the road. Sometimes it’s a welcomed break—a pause. For awhile, your country or city comes alive with the fresh eyes of your rejuvenated spirit. You revel in the process of absorbing the lessons of your recent journey.
But the gypsy soul can only stay still for so long. The itch to move, experience, explore, connect, and expand will rise up from the very depths of your being.
As the unavoidable urge to launch yourself into the unknown begins to simmer under the surface, you may or may not have the time or resources to embark on a full-scale expedition.
But don’t despair kindred spirit, adventure exists everywhere.
Over the coming weeks we’ll explore how you can feed your appetite for exploration and culture without leaving home. As we move through each layer of the journey, opening and expanding along the way, I invite you to try one or more these suggestions each week. Be inspired. Share your experience. Inspire others.
MOVE YOUR BODY
The most outer layer of exploration is found physically with your body. It’s your vehicle—your tool. Get re-acquainted with your own body in a new way. Move it. Shake up the routine. Place your body in new situations, unique movements, and different activities.
- Dance—Move your body to rhythms from around the world. Check out local dance classes. Choose something fresh to your eyes and new to your body. Tango, anyone? If you want to be more spontaneous than classes, simply show up for salsa night at a club. Be insecure. Feel the music. See what happens.
- Try a new activity—Random ideas coming to mind: fencing, cricket, scuba diving, kite boarding, skydiving, petanque, broomball, snowboarding, paddleboarding, or even a different style of yoga. The possibilities are endless. It doesn’t have to be something wild, but learn an activity, sport or game unfamiliar to you. Learning something new engages the restless body and mind.
- Take a new mode of transportation—Go on a mini adventure in your own city. If you always drive, take the bus instead. It’s a whole new perspective. Or rent a bike. Take the ferry. Walk. Use the time to notice all the detail in a simple walk. No one ever said the space between point A and point B had to be routine and mundane.
- Go somewhere close, but different—Possibilities include staying at a hotel on another side of town. Or perhaps you rent a cabin just outside the city for the weekend. You could simply take a different way home from work or drive down an unfamiliar street. Sometimes in a busy day, it’s easy to feel like time is a luxury. But take a moment while waiting at a red light to hear that little voice within that asks, “I wonder what’s down that road?” Today, choose to answer the question.
Avoid stagnation and give attention and movement to your Wanderlust spirit. It’s part of your soul, after all.
The journey has only just begun. After all that movement you will want to stay tuned for what’s next on the home-style adventure docket as we absorb the experience of Treating Yourself.
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Outer truth-seeking journalist turned inner truth-seeking yogi, Nicole Harris now writes freelance and teaches yoga. Her practice on the mat began in Minnesota in 2011 and eventually led her to teaching in Florida. Her true passion is to cultivate awareness and live from that honest, real space as much as possible. She finds her quickest ways to get there are through nature, adventure, and travel. The deepest way is through a meditative yoga practice.