Nomades are entire groups of people that have no permanent home, travelling according to season or tradition. It origins from the Greek word "nomás" that means pasturing flocks. Historically it brings a bit of negativity vibe as it implies that an entire people is moving as to be able to eat or hunt food, thereby also giving the impression that there is no security.
The English have a saying "My home is my castle", giving the impression that it is a fortress, you feel safe there - and I was thinking maybe to keep The Others out!?
That is all true and we tend to gather things around us to feel safer, more at home and secure in our houses. We nest, build a life around appliances and things we think are really, really important to have to feel "at home". Things to make our lives easier because it saves time.... what we don't realise is that the more time we try to save, we actually lose!! We tend to get caught in this world that Michael Endes "Momo" showed us! The original German title is directly translated: "Momo, or the strange story of the time-thieves and the child who brought the stolen time back to the people"
I have always felt different. I don't necessarily need stuff..... yeah, it's nice to have a car, a phone, plates and cutlery, glasses and cups, internet and TV....... but I can really go without. If a friend needs money I'd gladly go with less even I don't have that much to spare. My husband says I would give the last shirt from my back if needed...... and that is true!
I've always lived simple (maybe the Danish simple living concept?), been known to move everything I own in a small trailer because I really like starting a new, fresh life with out stuff (and at almost 50 some people would consider it a loss!) And I need to shave my house for things every once in a while - to the big annoyance of my husband - because I do feel as if things clutter my mind and thinking. In some way it becomes polluted and messy, and I tend to become depressive and sad, not able to feel my self anymore. As if I am numbed by the share amount of things I need to relate to in my life! I like decluttering!
The other day I did a yoga class in EMBA, a yoga school in Saarland, and a friend of mine said "Oh, but where did you get to do yoga there? I mean I didn't even know you knew of that place! You're a Yoga Nomad!"
And I thought is that what I am? Someone who travels to see other pastures, a wanderer in the world sharing the gift of yoga and receiving new influences, ideas and knowledge to remind me I am but a humble seeker in my life?
This month is quite a busy time for me; every Monday I have my own classes in my little, lovely town. Tuesdays I go to Luxembourg to a completely new and fantastic studio, Studio B, to have classes. Wednesdays and Thursdays I do private clients in Trier. Fridays I am doing a class in St. Wendel at Robinson Wellfit, one that I am especially happy about because of the lovely people attending! On top of that I have workshops, therapeutic sessions and intensive yoga classes where I travel for my clients. That means that I'll be travelling to the secondary school of Ecole Européenne in Luxembourg and to Denmark this month. And I consider myself lucky!
So yes, I AM a Yoga Nomad. I choose to travel to get the yoga to the people. I choose to gather knowledge and information for me to enhance my own practice. I want to learn as much as I can from as many as I can. The more I see, the more I can use in my practice, both as a teacher and as a yoga student.
Why I travel you ask? Because I want to bring yoga to the places where the people are; if I do a yoga class specifically for a company I need to go there to see what kind of problems they have before I can make a program for them - and by using their "space" I know what works in a daily routine and what doesn't! And when I have a yoga therapy client I ask them if they would prefer coming to me or if there is a possibility of staying at home; the activation of the Nadi points can make you very tired and my own experience is that I get very tired and it can be a struggle to travel home.
And where is home then? A question I've asked myself many times. Being Danish, living 1000 kilometres from my family and dear friends in Denmark, married to an Englishman and living in Germany?
I'd like to think that I am at home where I am! I am HOME in ME! It has taken many a year to settle in this understanding that I am not a nomad because I don't belong anywhere, but because I belong EVERYWHERE! I AM AT HOME!