2014 = Magic.

When I think of 2014, I think of magic. I think of exciting adventures, amazing people and oodles of self-growth. I think of about watching the sunrise from my balcony on Haad Yuan Bay. I think about my beautiful niece giggling. I think about bike riding through the forest preserve on my commute to school. I think about yoga in the park, smiling students, home-cooked meals, fresh vegetables, delicious teas and incredible company. I think about new relationships. I think about love.

I can hardly believe a year has passed since my reflections on 2013, when I encouraged any and all practice yoga, and I looked-back on what that practice means to me. As 2014 progressed, I started to see yoga in every feeling, person, situation; everything. How humbling it is to share part of this journey with others.

When I hit a couple of bumps in the road, I tried to use Yoga as an escape, only to realize that Yoga is not an escape, but a tool to work through life's problems, an approach to living that removes the need to "escape" and provides the strength to work through difficult times. A little piece of light, a sprinkle of magic that leads the way.

Life's bumps will never cease. 

Nothing, including a Yogic lifestyle, can prevent challenge and pain. But Yoga holds my hand as I work through it. Yoga shows me the light and opens the space to find love and peace in both the easy, and more challenging times. 

So many beautiful things happened in 2014. The lessons I learned are probably best presented in my post-Thailand post, Top 5 Lessons from a Foreign Land. My heart is so full of gratitude and love for the places I went, people I met and experiences I had. But I am most grateful for the love I have cultivated deep within my own soul. This inner love has allowed me to share my love more fully with others and to really fall in love. The cultivation and expression of pure, unconditional love is also a never-ending journey full of a mixture of ease and challenge. And while it may not always seem to be true, Love is always full of beauty. It can make you feel as though the world has been sprinkled with glitter, a magical sea of light. You may have to dig a bit to find it, but press on, it's always there.

I am in awe of the magic I experienced in 2014--both abroad and here at home. That magic surrounds us-- whether we choose to see it or not, is entirely up to us. 

So, in 2015, I implore you to find the magic all around you.

     Look for the sparkle. 

               Seek out the light. 

                         Find the space.                                                                                                                  And love.