Learning impermanence but also, my yoga mat
things are good while they last
I took a 4 hour shuttle that began in the cobble stone, Spanish roofed town to the tiny little village of San Marcos. It has no traffic lights and one main paved road. From there, a tuktuk, or a motorcycle with a cart attached, took me as far as that paved road would go, to the outskirts of town. I told the driver “el cemetario de barrio dos”. He tells me he’s 15 years old, but he doesn’t look a day over 12. Here, I hop out of the tuktuk, take my 16kg backpack out, and carry my duffle bag with yoga mat on my shoulder the 1km ascent up the mountain to Arco Isis, where the 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training I’m participating in is being held.
I didn’t have to bring my yoga mat— a 3mm, 4lb Lululemon mat I’ve had since 2020. Of course, there are plenty of yoga mats for me to choose from here, but the facilitator of my teacher training told us that we should bring our own if we could.
I knew what journey would be ahead of me to get here. It’s why I packed my 55L backpack to the brim instead of bringing a suitcase. I knew that I could easily make due with using whatever mats were here at Arco Isis, but after some thought, I decided I’d commit to bringing my very nice, very clunky, yoga mat alongside me.
It came with me to Pearson International Airport in Toronto, was carried onto the plane to El Salvador, sat beside me while I ate pupusas during my layover, and followed me through Guatemala to make it all the way here.
So, when I rolled it out for the first time during my 2 hours of yoga practice in the morning, I couldn’t help but feel gratitude and happiness that my mat was here with me.
I got it during peak COVID lockdowns in 2020. I wanted to start doing my own yoga at home and felt like I was due for an upgrade from the Amazon Basics mat I had been using. At its surface, the mat is just plain black with a Lululemon logo in one corner. It’s the right thickness and the right length for me, which isn’t difficult considering I’m 5’3.
When I started dating my now ex-boyfriend several months later, he brought a little American Bully puppy into the relationship, Trunks.
While my ex-boyfriend would leave every day at 5:30 AM and return at 4 PM from his construction job, Trunks and I would keep each other while I worked from home and he worked out his puppy frustrations. When it came time for me to do my home workouts, I’d roll out my yoga mat, step away to fill up my water bottle, and come back to Trunks digging into my mat, trying to find a comfy spot for him to snooze. It was always right in the middle of it.
And almost two years after that, when my ex and I broke up, the mat followed me again to my bachelorette, loft apartment. It supported my body in all of the phases, poses, and postures of my life.
It only feels right that it continues to do so while I learn about yoga and how to be a great yoga teacher.
I’ve finished the first week of my 200-hour yoga teacher training and write this during one of two rest days I have during my month here. We begin every day by being woken up by 3 blows through a conch from Melissa, one of our facilitators. In silence, myself and 27 other students make our way to the yoga shala, where we meditate, practice pranayama or a breath practice, and then practice yoga for 2 hours. The only person speaking is the facilitator for the day.
We only break silence once we leave the yoga shala and enter the breakfast space. After a vegetarian breakfast with no caffiene, we head back to the shala for 3 hours of yoga theory, sitting in a circle with a view of Lake Atitlan to keep us company. We take lunch, typically get some traditional Mayan Cacao drink from the lovely Indigenous ladies who work in the kitchen, and head back to the shala for 3 hours of yoga teaching practice.
Dinner comes and the group starts to dissolve depending on the energy levels of each individual person. I personally eat, socialize a bit, and then rush to the shared showers before anyone else thinks to do so. I head to my A-Frame cabin and chat with my boyfriend until I take another 12 hours of silence that begins at 9PM. This has been my life here, and it has been absolutely perfect.
This takes me right back to a yoga retreat I did about six years ago in Spain. A beautifully written piece, I can’t wait to hear more revelations that arise while you’re on the mat!