It's January 6th and already this is promising to be an amazing year of change. After an interesting sequence of events, I find myself sitting here in a coffee house in San Francisco contemplating an exciting journey upon which I am about to embark. A beautiful man named Patrick, who is fast-becoming as valuable to me as my right arm, is sitting next to me. On Tuesday we leave for Thailand, where we will spend 3 amazing, adventurous months together. The first several weeks of our visit will be spent on the island of Koh Samui, just off the coast of Thailand. There we will stay in a bungalow on the beach while we fast - consuming nothing more than herbs, coconut water and broth as we cleanse our bodies on a deep, cellular level. Check out www.darmahealingintl.com.
Patrick, wellness coach and experienced faster, tells me that after the first 3 days of detoxing from sugar, caffeine and other processed foods, you start to feel phenomenal as your body becomes more and more efficient. You mind clears, your skin glows and your energy expands. With all of the teaching and writing I do about Emotional Intelligence and Empowerment, I am most curious about the kind of emotional release this must provide. My intention is to do exactly what I encourage my clients to do when they are processing life - holding myself gently throughout the process, practicing yoga, walking on the beach, journaling and meditating. I can’t think of a purer way to peel away the layers of the onion and get back to just….me.
We also intend to make a visit to Bali while there. I am especially excited about this after having read Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling book, Eat, Pray, Love, in which she shares in detail her life-altering experience in Bali, and how there is an unmistakably powerful energy in the air that you feel the moment you arrive. By the time we are through, Patrick and I will have yoga and/or fasting retreats scheduled in both Thailand and Bali, as we both move toward taking our work to an international level.
And the universe is already showing its support. During our first day here in San Francisco, we ate at an amazing raw food restaurant. It’s called Café Gratitude, and the walls are covered with inspirational messages reminding us to choose love. All of the menu items are called things like, "I am inspired", "I am precious", and "I am abundant". You get the idea. You can’t spend time in this place and not feel your energy lighten. I noticed their small store which was filled with inspirational books, posters and more…but no yoga videos. I thought to myself, I can see my yoga video Yoga to Open the Heart here. Then Patrick struck up a conversation with two women sitting at the table with us, one of which just happened to be the manager. Coincidence? I told her about my video, and she loved the name, instantly seeing how it fit in with what they were trying to do there. She has asked me to bring her the video, and if she likes it (which she will), they will start carrying them in all of their stores (there are currently 5 throughout California and half a dozen more on the way). This happened by lunch time on our first day here! This has only served to increase my excitement about this journey. I know that when our intentions are pure and our energy is clear from fear and doubt, we attract all of the right people, places and experiences into our lives. This experience feels like a nod from the universe, telling me that I am on the right track.
Which is a good thing, because one of my other intentions for this journey is to finish creating a yoga teacher certification program I have already begun developing. It’s called Empath Yoga, and fulfills my dream to educate and empower other yoga teachers to create a safe, unconditionally loving space for their students, so they can experience an energetic release not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. It’s intricately intertwined with my Search for the Authentic Self personal empowerment program, and feels like a perfect way to bring together everything about which I am passionate. I couldn’t be more excited, or feel more on purpose than I do right now!
Please know that I love and appreciate all of you that make Orlando home for me. I ask you, my friends and family, to please support me in my journey by seeing me happy, healthy and safe.
This is the first of many blogs to come. If you are interesting in following me on my journey, please subscribe to my blog by clicking on this link: www.ericaboucher.typepad.com.
With much love and appreciation,
Erica Bouchér
