I had been looking forward to WWOOFing at Yoga in Daily Life in Brisbane since I left the organization’s retreat in Dungog, NSW over five months ago. Something shook me on that retreat, something I can’t quite explain, but I wanted to explore more.

I was gripping onto that something as my travels took me on a whirlwind journey around Australia. I did some incredible things in the past few months and wouldn’t change any of it, but all the while, returning to the organization to explore a yoga lifestyle stuck in the back of my head.

It’s a lifestyle that’s not the easiest to maintain in society I’ve lived in (I don’t want to say western or modern, because it may be different for everyone). One that requires a bit more discipline than I would say most people are accustomed to, but one where the health and spiritual benefits are incredible.

Living a yoga lifestyle is much more than what I was used to at home. My experience with yoga at home mainly consisted of classes at the gym or small centre near me. But the practice of yoga in class is just scratching the surface.

My duties at Yoga in Daily Life in Brisbane include preparing the studio for daily classes (cleaning, setting up mats, etc.), cooking lunch for volunteers at the centre and helping with some office work.

My favorite part of daily duties is cooking. Only vegetarian food is to be prepared at the centre. It’s great to learn about vegetarian cooking as well as all the herbs, nuts and other food sources that are used a lot in Indian and vegetarian recipes. I’m learning a lot about the benefits of certain herbs and other food sources as well as learning how yummy cooking healthy can be.

Black bean Soup and baked stuffed capsicums is a delicious veggie lunch option. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Daily duties only take up about five hours of my day, the rest is spent in class or exploring the city. I’ve taken advantage of all the classes the centre offers, ranging from level one to level five of the Yoga in Daily Life System. After just a few days of classes, I felt great, but as I’ve continued I’ve noticed a difference in muscles and body parts I never really thought about.

It’s amazing how forgiving the body is. I arrived at Yoga in Daily Life Brisbane about two weeks ago mentally and physically exhausted. Two months of working a lot, not eating well and not maintaining my usual healthy living habits seemed to have caught up with me.

The day I arrived, I hadn’t slept in two days, mainly because my flight was so early that morning I didn’t  want to waste money on a room the night before, so opted to stay awake instead. Plus I was coming off a pretty high bakery high. I hit up the 24-hour alley way shop one last time before leaving Port Douglas to savor my favorite veggie pizzas. I arrived at the centre around 10 a.m., jumped right into a class and spent the rest of the day trying to stay awake. I didn’t make it to the second class of the day, falling asleep at 6 p.m. and waking up the next day at 6:45 a.m. to an alarm, which means I could have gone longer.

Ana, another WWOOFer there at the time, said to me a few day after my arrival, “You have a new face from the day you got here.” I can’t think of a better way to put it.

I usually keep a healthy existence between food, exercise and mental rest, but every now and then I slip out of it and sometimes veer pretty far off the best route for me. Never anything extreme, but little things that I know will add to a healthier and happier me that I’m just too lazy to do.

I get annoyed when I fall out of good habits, but remember that I’m only human and I can always fall back into them with a bit of focus.

However, my next step in yoga is requiring a lot more than a bit of focus to learn and practice.

Meditation.

It always seemed so simple and easy. For the longest time I never even considered trying it. Looking back, I don’t think it was that I didn’t consider trying it, but I couldn’t imagine trying it. It was not until Dungog that I actually started to think about meditating, but I couldn’t bring myself to try there or anywhere else since visiting there.

I decided I would try at Brisbane though and luckily the centre started a 4-week meditation course a weeks after I arrived. In classes before the course started I put  a lot more effort into meditating at the end of my yoga classes.

Classes at Yoga in Daily Life in Brisbane are held in a massive room that looks like it was once a basketball or netball court. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Once I started to try to meditate in class I noticed when my thoughts started drifting and tried to bring them back to focus. One of the teachers at the centre said this is one of the the first steps in meditation and a big one. Still, I can’t stop it and it’s really frustrating. I don’t know what triggers the distraction, but a minute after losing focus I’ll notice that I’m thinking about something extremely random like what groceries I need to buy or a memory that doesn’t even mean anything. I’ve found that it’s easy for me to sit still, but impossible to think still.

The best I’ve felt meditating at the centre yet was when a teacher led the class through a meditation advising us to focus on a time when we felt most loved. I started to think of memories of friends and boyfriends, then finally found the right one. It was me at about four years old swinging from the arms of my mom and dad as we walked to the Friendly’s near my house.

The teacher went deeper into it, but advising us to think about every little thing about the moment, from the color of our clothing to the feelings we felt.

The goal of yoga is self-relization, but I’m still unsure what the goal is with each meditation practice. I don’t know exactly what people are suppose to see or feel. Some people have told me they’ve seen colors or felt warmth.

I don’t know about any of that, but I know after that one meditation, I came back to the room and felt like I had just arrived from somewhere else. I felt a bit groggy and like my body was falling asleep but my mind was still awake.

It felt like I had reached something I never had before in my meditation attempts and I thought I could build on that in the following practices. No luck. Even during the course, where my only focus for an hour was meditation, I couldn’t do it.

It’s hard and it makes me hungry after each attempt, but I’m glad I have the chance to do it in such a peaceful environment.

I only have another week left at Yoga in Daily Life in Brisbane, so I plan to make the most of all the great things offered there. It would be great to stay longer, but my upcoming plans are too exciting to be upset about leaving. In a week I get to see my absolute favorite person in the world, my daddy, as well as my Uncle Paul, Aunt Peggy and my dad’s girlfriend Mary, all in Fiji. It will be my first trip to Asia and the first time I’ve seen my dad in eight months.

I’ve been pretty good at not getting homesick this whole trip, but for some reason whenever I say that statement, “the first time I’ve seen him in eight months,” I get choked up. Needless to say, there will be tears shed at the Nadi airport.

Every sight at Yoga in Daily Life retreat in Dungog, NSW is incredible. Even the view from the compost toilets is beautiful. People can watch the sunrise from their caravan or tent and look out to the Blue Mountains from the kitchen window throughout the day. But the best view on the property is a little more difficult to access, the sunset. A view of the sunset requires guests walk up the mountain and down through an uncleared bush area. But reaching this lookout point is worth it. Plus it’s an ideal place to meditate.

Lakshmana, Veronica, Lise and I trekked to the lookout point at Yoga in Daily Life in Dungog on the perfect day for a sunset. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

From the moment I arrived at Yoga in Daily Life in Dungog, I was obsessed with the kitchen. It featured a tin roof, rustic wood decor, heaps of spices and fun equipment. One of my favorite things in the kitchen is this old stove hooked up to a propane tank. It’s just a normal stove, but has these neat iron dishes on it.

Lise, who visited India before, told me the dishes were used to make chapatis. Similar to naan, this flat, soft-baked dough item is sold on the street all around the country. While its common in India, it’s quite hard to find and hard to make everywhere else.

First, people need a chapati plate to make chapatis. The plates are not easy to find outside India and not easy to carry around for those who want to take them home from the country. Further, the recipe also calls for Atta, a specific kind of flour, which can be found with a bit of searching. Finally, chapati-making is an art. People who try the recipe may not get it the first time, or the second, or even the third. It takes practice to figure out the proper measurements, consistency and timing.

Luckily, Suphduvmuni, a yogi that lived near to retreat, was somewhat of an expert. Living in India for nine years, he picked up the craft steadily. He let me and the other WWOOFers try making chapatis, but it was more fun to watch him.

Veronica cooking chapatis the Yoga in Daily Life retreat in Dungog, NSW. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

These are directions I picked up from watching him. Everything is give or take, so those that have a chapati plate floating around, try it out and have fun, but don’t get too discouraged. This is ancient baking usually performed by professionals.

Ingredients

Atta wheat flour (as much as you need according how many people)

salt (add according to taste, but don’t overdue it)

water at room temperature (add slowly according to dough consistency)

Directions

Mix dry ingredients. Add a little water. Knead dough while slowly adding water as needed until dough is moist without sticking to your fingers.

Suphduvmuni pours water slowly while making dough for chapatis. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Once dough is of proper consistency, let it sit for 20 minutes. Pour flour onto a plate, a rolling board or table and rolling pin. Roll a piece of dough into a palm-sized ball.

Roll dough ball in the plate of flour then use the rolling pin to roll the into a circle.

Suphduvmuni rolls out a but of dough before cooking it on chapati plates. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Place the rolled dough onto the chapati plate and leave cook until is starts to bubble. Flip it and leave cook until it turns brown. Remove chapati plate and place chapati directly on fire (traditionally done on wood fire, but can be done on gas). The chapati will start to blow up like a ballon (look at video). Lightly tap, then flip it until it releases steam.

Place under a towel to keep warm and continue.

(Post was written on Friday.)

Just boarded a train from Newcastle back to Sydney, where it all began. The last time I boarded a train was about a month ago from Melbourne to Myrtleford, the start of an interesting adventure.

Unlike my plane ride to Sydney or bus to Melbourne, I had no expectations nor idea as to what my time in Myrtleford would be like. It felt long. It felt short. It had ups. It had downs. I met friends. I met foes. It took me beyond the tiny town to Albury, then Maitland, then Dungog and finally Newcastle.

Moving hastily around, yet staying put, I entered this 29-day adventure with no expectations, and leave now with no regrets, other than having to part ways with people who have become so dear to me.

Walking from photographing trees grown in water at the Hume Dam on the way from Kancoona to Dungog. Photo provided by Anna-Lise Rouquier

I felt something special on the way to Myrtleford that at the time was hard to describe. I now realize it was my first unplanned experience to a place I knew nothing about. My past travels were always to cities or tourist destinations, because those are the safest and most easily-accessed places. This time I was really traveling to the heart of a country other than my own, meeting people outside the big city.

Going to Kancoona Valley Wines, I wasn’t even expecting to find another WWOOFer, let alone one I would get along with so well and befriend so quickly. For people who have followed my dispatches, I think it’s pretty obvious that the thing I will miss most from this past month’s journey is my new good friend Lise.

Separated by age, country, language and practicality, Lise and I are very different. None of that mattered though. It felt as though we were instantly comfortable with one another. We talked about politics, religion, our lives at home, current lives, music and giggled quite a bit. I sometimes struggle with spending long periods of time with the same person, especially when traveling, but that was not the case with Lise.

Only a month ago we were strangers. Now I’ve experienced and seen things with her that I’ve never even done with people I’ve known all my life. There’s people I’ve been friends with for 23 years that I haven’t even traveled outside of New Jersey with, but with someone I knew 29 days I spent time across the world with. For some reason that just amazes me, but reaffirms how wonderful travel is.

Stopped to photograph a gorgeous sky on the way to pick up Karl in Myrtleford with Lise. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Life at Kancoona was very different from the way I live at home. I don’t mean anything drastic, just day-to-day routine. Living quietly with only my father for the majority of the past ten years, entering a house of five with children ranging from four to 14, was quite a change. I’m not around kids often, so I wasn’t sure how to interact with Konrad, Maedy and Karl. I think with their experience having WWOOFers come and go, they were a bit more outgoing than other kids their age. Regardless, I really fell in love with those kids. It was like instant-family.

Then there was Lena, who I don’t think will ever realize how special she was to me. Most of my life I’ve been shifted around “mother-figures.” I’ve met some incredible women, but since my upbringing was mainly by men, my dad and brother, I often find it harder to relate with women. Lena was different. I really liked talking to her and learning about her family. She was joyful. Although I only spent 19 days in Kancoona, she impacted me greatly.

Lena and I posing with mustaches on my last night at Kancoona. Photo provided by Anna-Lise Rouquier

Leaving the family early morning on March 2nd, was a strange experience. Unlike leaving NJ, I’m not sure whether I will see them ever again, yet I only spent 19 days with them so it was a strange sort of goodbye. Nonetheless, goodbyes are never easy. Luckily, I didn’t leave alone as Lise and I left together for our next country-destination, the Yoga in Daily Life retreat in Dungog.

I was completely in the blue when it came to Dungog. Through emails from Yoga in Daily Life, I knew that development at their retreat in Dungog was minimal and that I had to go through three gates on someone else’s cow farm to enter the property. I didn’t know who or how many people would be there, the climate on the mountain (Blue Mountains) I’d be staying nor the work I would do there.

Arriving was definitely a shock. I’m not needy and I’m definitely not a girly-girl, but I wouldn’t exactly call myself outdoorsy. So when I saw compost toilets, a few generators to power the place and a mouse in the kitchen, I didn’t think, “I can’t do this,” but I definitely wasn’t prepared for it.

Looking back, none of that stuff mattered and actually was really easy to get used too. The things that really matter are the people I met there and things I learned.

Lakshmana, a Yoga monk, was the only person living on the 640-hecter property other than Lise, Veronica, another WWOOFer from Italy and I. Poodinun, the project manager who was in charge of us would come up only for the day. Looking back now as I sit on my computer, listening to my iPod, I feel like this is the type of place I would get bored at after maybe three hours. But I wasn’t bored there once. In fact, I was rushing around before I left trying to finish Ramayanna, a Sanskrit epic Lakshmana let me borrow.

Lakshmana was there to meditate and put more time into his spirituality. While the other two WWOOFers and I were interested in Yoga, some more than others, we are not nearly as advanced or invested at this point. So I wasn’t sure how that dynamic would work out, but we all got on fine.

In fact, Lakshmana was was more than happy to answer all my questions about Yoga and…life. Trust me when I say that it was a lot. I sounded like a four-year-old (“But why is this and what about that?). He is very wise and I have never really thought that about someone. Not that I don’t know wise people, it was just never a characteristic that came to mind to describe someone, until I met Lakshmana. Further, he has this deep laugh that just makes people smile.

Then there was Veronica, who I’m not sure there are any words to describe. Haling from Tuscany, she exudes Italia, but her personality is only Veronica. Our job at the Yoga in Daily Life retreat in Dungog was to weed lantana, which really means weeding trees from the Bush. It was a job that called for axes and poison, yet Veronica somehow made it wonderful.

Lise, Veronica and I posing on a brick wall in Maitland as Veronica says, "I feel like Jesus and you are thieves." Photo provided by Anna-Lise Rouquier

The first day we thought the weed was named, “plantana.” The way Veronica said “plantana” with a deep tone to the middle a, described the experience and plant so perfectly. It sounded especially hysterical when she screamed the name followed by “vafanculo,” from deep within the bush.

Weeding trees for 10 days, it was normal to say things like, “Can I borrow your ax?” or scream, “POISON,” which is translated the same in every language.

Lise with ax in hand while weeding lantana in Dungog. Photo provided by Anna-Lise Rouquier

The work and activities on the property were just daily routine. Sharing meals and tea is what was my favorite part of the experience. The kitchen at the retreat was large and had all these fun stoves, spices and tools. It was open in the front by screens and a beaded doorway, nothing to block people from the outdoor elements. There was no TV and we didn’t listen to music much, so sharing meals and talking around the table was the thing to do at night and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

We all talked about things I would never talk about at home and we laughed so much together. I so much looked forward to sitting down with them every night.

Lakshmana, Veronica, I and Lise posing after our last dinner together in Dungog. Photo provided by Veronica Gazzei

Leaving Lakshmana and Veronica was hard, and finally parting ways with Lise in Newcastle was sad as well. But for some reason I didn’t cry. Maybe this sounds foolish, but I just think our paths will cross again and even if they don’t I can only smile when I think of them.

Things may be different when this train stops in Sydney Central and I return to the same hostel I started at in Australia, alone again. It’s going to strange not saying “bonne nuit” to Lise tonight after doing it for 29-days or not sharing a tea with Veronica tomorrow morning after doing it for ten days. But this trip is not near finished and I know there are plenty  more great people to meet and times to have along the way.

In fact this Monday, Julia, my good friend from New Jersey will arrive for a 12-day holiday. I can’t wait to share this country and stories of all the great people I’ve met with her.