How To Have a Spiritual Holiday (Without Ashrams & Mala Beads)

I rubbed up against some conflicting moments as I was packing my bags for Japan.

Leaving behind your life, while exhilarating and totally thrilling and most often well deserved, can also bring up unexpected insecurities.

For me, this shows up as a fear that my life will wobble away from the sense of balance I’ve created in my life after meticulous experimentation.

I could already feel that snowboard beneath my feet. I could taste the soba noodles in my mouth. I could see the smiles of the Japanese beaming at Glen and I as we bumbled our way through the words of their language that we’d managed to memorise. And still, I was (that oh, so toxic word): worried.

I know what I’m like when I’m in Holiday Mode. I’m indulgent.

I throw caution to the wind. Oh, fuck it becomes a mantra of mine.

The intricacies of my spiritual practice are what makes my life most sweet to me; they’re what ensure that I feel most supported, and yet I know that when I pack my bags for an adventure, somehow (oh, somehow!) they get left behind.

So there I was. Looking at my oracle cards. My crystals. My alchemical and aromatherapy oils. Getting a little stressed as to whether I should pack them or not. Trying to convince myself that, sure, I can wake up in the morning and do a chakra cleanse before I go snowboarding, and that, sure, I’ll charge my travelling crystals in the alpine night. It was cock and bull, and I knew it, so I continued packing, and my little buddies lay resting, waiting for me to come home.

This trip in Japan has so gently taught me that our spirituality is everywhere, if only we’d keep our eyes open to notice it.

That our worth is not measured in minutes clocked in meditation (though I’m the first to testify that meditation certainly helps us see our worth).

That life will carry on being astoundingly beautiful, particularly when we show up with gusto.

So friends, let’s have a little fun here. I’m about to share with you how my time in Japan has handed Universal Principals to me on a silver platter. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve caught myself laughing out loud while on chair lifts, while trying to speak Japanese, while sharing tender moments with my man. The world has amused me over here, in the most touching and educational of ways, and all I hope is that this list of sorts will bring a little smile to your face.

How do you have a spiritual holiday? Keep your heart open.

Abundance Mindset

In years previous, Glen and I would have remained tight lipped about ‘our’ secret snow spots on the mountain, but on this trip, we’ve gotten a whole different kind of kick out of sharing our favourite ridge lines and pockets of pow with other hungry snow fiends. It’s made us feel generous and useful. The lesson? There’s enough. Of everything. For everyone.

Where Your Awareness Goes, Energy Flows

If you look at a tree, you will crash into a tree. (Oh hey! Who knew?!) If you breathe, keep your gaze up, and pick your sweet as hell line between the trees, you’ll be carving up a line to remember. Nothing feels better. The lesson? Focus on where you’re going, not on the thing that’s going to stop you in your tracks with a giant thud!

Surrender

Every so often on the mountain, particularly when a gully of trees feeds out into the one area (most of the time leading back down to a chair lift or a road to hike out on), a slippery, narrow, super precarious bobsled-type track forms as the only way out. It’s unnerving to say the least. Think: high speeds, no room to turn, branches coming at you from all directions that need to be either ducked or blocked with your arms. Icy, concrete-y, hard snow that seems to want to hurt you, badly.

I’ve learnt so much about surrender on this trip, but my time spent in these bobsled tracks top the list for me. When I got over my fear of feeling as though I needed to control my board and the speed I was travelling at, I was able to feel beneath my feet that snow wasn’t trying to hurt me, it was just carrying me home. My ankles became loose, my knees were able to bend a little more, my shoulders relaxed and I began having the time of my life. I had just transformed a death trap into a theme park. The lesson? Bloody let go. Loosen your grip. Life’s got your back.

Wide Awake Meditation

Watching the snow fall. Watching a 2 year old Japanese boy spill out a gorgeous little language that I can’t understand. Stoking the fire. Watching Glen and I peel off through the trees; crossing each others tracks, and then peeling away again, in the silent powder, with nothing but a few giggles to break up the pristine white noise. The lesson? Let life be meditative.

Observe The Sensations With Detachment

Those are just tingly sensations on my cheeks, it’s not ice burn. (Ahem.) The lesson? Whinging helps nothing.

Let Focus Override Fear

Sometimes epic pow lines call for epic hikes. The snow was hip deep. There was climbing. Clambering. Sweating. The snow was building up around us. The sun was setting. We were lost.  But that moment when we realised we ‘made it’, well, moments like that kinda make you realise how ripe life is. The lesson? You’re probably more safe than you think you are. Take a moment to compose yourself, and then start edging your way forward once again.

Change Your Perspective/ See Life Through a New Lens

This happened each and every time I put my tinted goggles on, literally.

Compassion

There’s a man, probably in his sixties, with an American accent, and he’s pointing his finger at the sweet girl who’s been waiting him all morning, demanding that she find someone in this damn hotel who can speak English. He claps his hands loudly. ‘Let’s go!’ he shrieks, as if she’s some kind of simpleton. Part of me wants to march on over there, twist my face into a scowl, point MY finger at him and suggest that he pull his finger out of his ass and remember what country he’s in. But I don’t. I let my body become hot and angry and finally land on the thought that perhaps he’s just had a terrible morning. I hope that that’s the case. The lesson? Hurt people hurt people.

Body Acceptance / Self Love

Few things will encourage you to front up and embrace all of who you are like the Japanese custom of communal bathing. Dozens of women. Butt naked. The lesson? We’re all beautiful. Which brings me to this…

You Are As Unique As A Snowflake

See photo proof above.

So, I’m coming back to Australia next week tight, stiff, sore. 5kgs heavier. Ultra-dehydrated. I’ll probably have beanie-created dreadlocks.

Am I excited to return to my world of sweaty beach runs and fresh, vibrant, summer food? Of coffee enemas and hours upon hours of writing and long, still meditations?

Am I thrilled to dive head first into a short juice cleanse and a little White Light recalibration?

Do I day dream about rolling out my red yoga mat and getting lost for a wee while?

Yes to all of it. In fact, make that a hell yes.

But for now, I know in my bones that none of these things make me more spiritual, or more worthy. What makes me feel those things is that I’m becoming more and more able to see miraculous gifts and spiritual teachings show up in my life, sometimes profoundly, sometimes exquisitely.

You’re allowed to leave your crystals at home. And your meditation cushion. And your mala beads.

Immerse yourself full tilt in your special time away, my friends. When you do, you’ll undoubtedly have a (perhaps unexpected) spiritual holiday.

Care to share a little inconspicuous spiritual lesson that you’ve learnt lately? I’d love to hear all about it!

All BLISS,

Tara.

PS: Tomorrow Rach and I reveal our B-School bonuses, made especially for creative visionaries :)