[Sweet encounters. Part one]
In the last few years, I have found myself quite often speaking about Love. It was something that felt more like a healing process – the pronouncing of the word āloveā out loud, writing about it, talking to people about it.
However, the peak of this healing journey was the moment I realised, and it was not too long ago, that… I, in fact, am Love. Actually, each one of us is Love. Everything good that happens to us is because of this essential state of being, that we, in our own time & pace, learn to accommodate into our lives.
Whatās an even more beautiful feeling is that of finding, along the way, people who dance around this idea the same way that I do. People that inspire me to embrace my truth and encourage me to keep at it.
Anna Loveridge is that kind of a human. She is a yoga teacher, originary from United Kingdom, whom Iāve met at Akasha, an amazing yoga retreat in the beautiful mountains of Transylvania, Romania. She shined her light upon everyone in the room, she filled everybodyās soul with laughter and kindness, forgiveness and patience in every yoga session she was teaching.
I want to be part of making a change in the world today.
Anna Loveridge
After the retreat, I invited Anna to share her perspective on some ideas about conscious living, yoga and meditation, about sustainability in our daily lives. Anna was very kind to let us have a sense of her life philosophy and have her share a small part of her story with us, telling us a few things about herself, like who she is and what she loves.
Anna: āCurrently I am a traveling yoga teacher with a passion to share the healing properties of this ancient practice with the world.ā As a way of coping with the stress and the agitative state of the modern world, more and more people start looking into these world-old practices, like yoga and meditation, in order to create a safer space for their minds and, furthermore, for a healthier and more balanced life.
āI believe that if we heal individuals, we can create a more loving and cohesive community with greater purpose and meaning.ā, Anna beautifully points out. Finding a higher purpose than oneself helps us, humans, to become better individuals, on one side, and better members of our communities, on the other. āOnce you heal society, society can heal the planet. We only have one planet, and we only have one nowā¦ I want to be part of making a change in the world today.ā, Anna highlights.
āA life of / with meaningā – what beautiful the sound of it. Surely, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – that could ever replace the feeling of fulfilment and pure love that being conscious and mindful of having a meaning can give you. Sometimes, this āmeaningā can be found in the smallest of things or in the people we meet, but most often it comes to surface after the times of hardship make their way out, leaving only the good, most valuable life lessons. Then is when most revelations about oneās life occurs. Just like the meaning may come in the quest for something else, as we are to discover about Anna herself.
Creative Humans: What drew you to becoming a yoga teacher?
Anna: I’ve been practicing yoga for years. It started as a fitness activity, then turned into a stress release, and then it became a way of life and I learnt so many lessons about life and myself from simply surrendering to my breath on the mat.
Surrendering. What a powerfully vulnerable thing to experience! Trusting the process that builds up from letting one thing after another flow away for a while, that is something you learn in time, with practice and patience. Letting yourself get to a point where you start discovering parts of you that were so unknown before… it can be scary at first, but that only means youāre on the road back home to yourself. As Anna herself experienced, āI untapped a deeper part of myself that feels more grounded, intuitive and connected to the world.ā Back to the higher meaning of life, Anna says that āI want to share all the life changing lessons I’ve learnt so others can also experience a more fulfilled sense of well-being and purpose too.ā
Do you ever ask yourself āthe big life questionsā? Like āwhy are we hereā, āwhere do we goā, āwhatās our deepest meaningā? Well, I have. Many times in the past few years, especially since I started Creative Humans. My first and most meaningful dream about this project was to find people in this world that have made of life a beautiful & creative work of art. I hoped I could be one who would tell their stories further to the world.
āYour spirit is a part of you that feels like hope.ā
American author, Caroline Myss
Our conversation with Anna continues around the subject of lifeās spirit – what drives us as humans in our lives, what makes us special, what is our inner fire like?
On lifeās spirit
I recently listened to an episode on Oprahās Super Soul Sunday Podcast, that hosted the American author, Caroline Myss. The discussion was immensely engaging and full of beautiful insights on how people behave in certain ways, inspiring me to tap more into the human spirit and our intuitive force. One of the many things that stuck with me after listening to these amazing ladies was something that Caroline said: āYour spirit is a part of you that feels like hope.ā and that āevery single choice we make is going to enhance the spirit or drain itā.
It stuck with me precisely because I was never completely able to define the āspiritā of humans. So I was always searching for meaning in every person I met. Which is described in the way one speaks, smiles, behaves, responds to good and bad situations etcetera, etcetera. Thus, I was curious to tap into the basics of ālifeās spiritā with my dear friend, Anna, starting with something thatās been hot in the public digital forum lately. Authenticity.
Creative Humans: How would you describe authenticity in these times & days?
Anna: I think authenticity is just being true to who you are, not trying to be anyone else and just going with your intuition.
Creative Humans: You have this glowing, this sunny figure and vibe every time I see you around. Where do you charge from and what inspires you to reflect this on other people too?
Anna: I think I’ve been very lucky with having a wonderful family who have charged me with so much love and acceptance. I also have a beautiful friendship group who are always there for me.
Nature has been the biggest teacher for me, working in a permaculture garden I learnt so much about love, patience, nurturing, life, death and living in the moment. Being in nature reminds me of these lessons and grounds me.
Meditation and yoga are what ultimately keeps me grounded and energised, even 10 minutes can change my mood.
Creative Humans: How do you cope with negative people and negative feelings (theirs and maybe your own too)?
Anna: I was reading a book by Lama Yeshe and he says how negative people are the kindest teacher. They teach you to have patience and help you confront negative responses such as anger. There’s also the idea in Buddhism that everything is impermanent, so when it comes to my own negative thought, I know that everything will change so I try to think about this, so I don’t dwell too long in unhelpful thoughts.
Creative Humans: How would you phrase your āvision of livingā?
Anna: Stride into life and breathe into every moment. Welcome everyone with open arms and share love and light wherever you go. What you share always comes back to you, that’s the law of attraction and karma š¤
Creative Humans: Give us your stance on living a more exciting, more creative and fulfilling life.
Anna: I think it is relevant to the person. For me, I like to challenge myself and spend time with people I wouldn’t normally hang out with. It helps you get out your familiar bubble and see a new perspective. It’s exciting knowing that so many people have amazing experiences and thoughts to share.
In the next article, Sweet Encounters. Part two, youāll be invited into Annaās world of yoga, philosophy and meditation, where youāll learn how this thousands-of-years-old practice can turn an everyday life into a blessing that one canāt stop being grateful for. Also, weāll approach the idea of sustainable living and owning responsibility for our actions and thoughts that we project out into the world. Stay tuned!
Until then, donāt forget to subscribe to LAUREL periodic newsletter below, where we will let you know when something new is published and will – very mindfully – get in touch with you from time to time.
Love, Ralu
Special thanks to Rebecca Brincker, for the beautiful photographs. See more of her work here.
1 comment
It seems like she really inspired you and you were able to inspire us back through your writing <3
I can't wait for the second part of this beautiful story. We should be reading much, much more about people like Anna and find the courage to grow into the lives we want to live <3
Love, G