A year ago, I was a new instructor weeks away from a one-month stint of teaching yoga at Bahay Kalipay in Palawan.
Now, I’m sitting at a coffee shop smiling to myself because I get to type this beautiful sentence out — I am teaching yoga in Bali! ♥
For the whole month of April, I will be a resident yoga instructor and meditation guide at Bali Silent Retreat.
It’s exciting and scary and I’m getting nervous!!!
But mostly, it’s exciting 🙂
I’m sharing this wonderful news because I feel like celebrating this wonderful blessing with and also because, I believe it’s proof once again that when you’re crystal clear about what you desire, the Law of Attraction will work for you. (READ: 5 simple steps to harness the Law of Attraction everyday)
Let’s take this Bali gig as a case study 🙂
After I came back from Bahay Kalipay, I knew that I wanted to teach in a place like that again. Teaching in studios, teaching private classes, meeting lots of people – all of it is absolutely wonderful. At the same time, teaching in a setting designed to be a sanctuary is a different thing entirely – the energy, the impact, and the demands & returns to the teacher can be miles away from what happens in the city setting. Since everyone knows that they’re there to heal and turn inward, the practice hits straight to the heart of transformation and each moment that change comes along is visible. After Palawan, I also knew that I had the capability to do the same thing outside of the country and that I wanted to do it. The seed was planted and I was definitely daydreaming about it with intention.
With clear intention comes strong assistance from the Source, from the universe, from the universal energy – however which way you may want to call it. But even with strong assistance, you still have to lift your own weight. Taking action doesn’t just show that you’re clear about what you want, it also shows how powerfully you want it. And it doesn’t even have to be big actions. All I did was ask around (particularly to Daniw of Bahay Kalipay), send an email to the retreat center she suggested, and hope for the best.
Months passed, I got busy, I let this particular dream float to the background, and the end of the year came. With the end of the year came uncertainty. At this point in time, I was sure that I was being called to do something beyond what I was doing already but I had no idea what it was (Update: the call was towards life coaching and meditation 😉 ). Sarah, my fellow teacher, Reiki master and friend advised me to make a vision board.
We’ve all made vision boards before but to do it mindfully and with the conscious thought that absolutely everything on that board will happen makes a vision board sort of like a set of predictions you make for yourself. Here’s how I made my vision board – specifically the things I did to make it powerful.
- Be quiet. You’re about to list down all the things you desire to bring into your life in an ultra-detailed way. It seems easy to just rattle off all the little things you want but shifting your mind to thinking about it on purpose as something that will actually happen and something that will all come together actually takes a lot of brainpower. When making a vision board, you don’t want to get confused between things you want just because you and others think you should have them, with the things your heart actually yearns for. To cut through all that, be quiet. Sit. Take 10 deep breaths. If you have a meditation practice, meditate. If you have a Reiki practice, channel Reiki. (LISTEN: Guided meditations)
- First, organize and categorize. Since you’re making a vision board anyway, why not dream expansively. The first thing I did was list down all the areas of my life where I wanted major changes to happen. Examples are: career, lifestyle, relationships, personal growth, finances, etc. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of clarity and having categories just makes it that much easier to be clear.
- Specificity, specificity, specificity. How you do your vision board is really up to you. Just ask yourself, what will help make things more clear to me. You can do a compilation of pictures either on a computer, or like in a scrapbook. You can draw, paint. You can do video recordings or sound recordings on a device. You can write. Whatever works for you. For me it was a combination of writing and drawing. For each category, I had one piece of paper where I wrote absolutely everything that I wanted in as specific a way as possible – put months, places, numbers, people, a specific sequence of events, emotions, etc etc etc. After the words, I drew symbols that were relevant to me. Here are some examples from my own vision board.
- Category: Career — I will teach yoga in Bali in April.
- Category: Personal growth — Signs will come to me very early on in the year of which I should pursue studying first: life coaching, counseling, or yoga therapy.
- Category: Lifestyle — This year will set me up towards living in an environment and a setting that is more freeing, close to nature, without the hassles of traffic and the like.
- Read what you wrote down. This is your opportunity to charge your vision board with love and good energy. Before you read what you wrote down, put yourself in the confident mindset that everything you will read will happen – or even better things will happen. It could help to think as if you’re speaking to someone and telling them the story of the awesome year you had. It would be even better if you read it out loud, with full feeling, hand gestures and all. When you’re ready, read 🙂
- Find a special place for it. After charging it and all, put it in a special container with other things you feel will help you keep the positive mood and place it somewhere where you can see it daily. I put mine in a box I found covered in hearts, and put some of my crystals in the box 🙂 I have it in my room, next to some books. Of course, it could be just as simple as putting it in a pouch and putting it in your wallet or the bag you use everyday. Decide for yourself how you want to keep it in mind.
I don’t have any scientific backing here, only experience – and it seems to be an experience others share as well, in my circle and around the world. (READ on Huffington Post: The Reason Vision Boards Work and How to Make One)
I truly believe that this crazy opportunity to become an international yoga teacher this early in the game was a combination of work, clarity, trust, and help from the universe – which I asked for via my vision board.
I’m so excited!
And I’m excited for you guys as well – for all the things your own vision boards will bring you.