As I sat outside at the open-air cafe chomping on jerk chicken salad and staring past the bust of Buddha in the middle of the bougainvillaea-filled entrance, I couldn't stop thinking about the power of choice. Not just because the custom salad I chose was chock full of savory chicken breast and within the parameters of my new weight loss plan to "get my dancer's body back". But staring back at me was a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses; a huge symbol of my past.
I’d already lived on this picturesque, private hotel resort island for a whole month before even dipping my body into ocean. Crazy, I know! I even taught Pilates classes on the beach every Friday, instructing guests to roll up through their spines, gaze across the ocean and absorb the sea breeze before rolling back to the grounding support of the sand.
Reading Ambika Wauters' "Life Changes With the Energy of the Chakras" was like a prolonged look into an unforgiving three-way mirror. I was forced to see all the stuff I didn't love about myself; stuff that weighted me with either embarrassment, shame or frustration. It reflected how I truly feel about myself and its direct effect on how I navigate through life, career and relationships. It also forced me to recognize how it's my own choices and reactions to life changes that have shaped who and where I am today.
