“Lean into love in the midst of madness.” This is the instructor’s message as I finish my yoga class. I am on my mat on a grassed, beachfront area in the beautiful hamlet of Palm Cove, Far North Queensland (about a half hour drive north of Cairns). The grassy area sits under a canopy of palm trees. On my right is the landscaped, tropical gardens of the luxury Alamanda resort. On my left is the Coral Sea. The waves whoosh rhythmically on to the shore as we practise our yoga poses, the palm fronds flap a little in the sea breeze and the birds overhead sing. If I open my eyes, I look out to an expanse of smooth, yellow sand and the rainforest coastline towards Cairns. If there is a more beautiful spot to practise yoga, I don’t know where it could be.
I join the yoga classes operated by Hartig Yoga as part of my morning holiday routine – wake, yoga, breakfast. Where else but this beautiful part of the World would I gladly get up on holidays for 7.30am yoga?! One morning, I even attend a 6.30am class!
My 22 year old daughter comes to Palm Cove for a week and we go to yoga together, sharing this unique experience of blissful, beachfront morning yoga.
“Surrender,” I am told during one practice, “Life happens for you; not to you.” Monday morning class is all about a gentle reset to the week – “Do not rush into your week… reset before you start running into your week.” Then there’s a message that particularly resonates with me, “Empty the noise from your mind.”
I have done yoga only a few times in my life but, with the instructors’ kind, encouraging words, I soon learn the difference between poses such as: “Downward Dog”, “Child’s Pose” (a personal favourite!) and Cobra. The founder of Hartig Yoga, Beth Hartig, started yoga herself with a video she was given at age 16. She maintains that it is never too late to start yoga and never too late to retrain muscles and to become more flexible. A few classes in and I already feel more supple.
The classes reaffirm body positivity – continuous messaging about only doing what is comfortable for your body, that yoga is not about suffering, not to do anything that hurts. A message I particularly like is that our bodies will never again be what they are today. There is no judgement here.
I am in Palm Cove in October and the skies are endlessly blue, the sun perpetually shining with the temperature hovering around 30 degrees. If you feel like a dip in the Coral Sea after yoga, the water temperature is 26 degrees. Divine!
I have taken a zillion photos – many from my yoga mat looking up at the lattice of palm trees. The verdant green of the palm fronds against the sapphire blue of the sky is breathtaking. The wave noise - somewhere between lapping and crashing – adds a soothing, regular, background beat. I imprint it all to memory for when I go home to Melbourne (almost 3,000 kilometres away).
When I am home and stressed about the myriad of things that cause stress in normal, everyday life, I will evoke the mental picture of this beautiful spot. I will chant to myself, “Empty the noise from your mind.”
“Lean into love in the midst of madness.” Is there a more beautiful message? I think not.
Is there a more beautiful spot to practise yoga? I think not.
Avid traveller Leonie Jarrett lives in Melbourne, Australia with her Husband of more than 3 decades, her 4 adult children and her 2 Golden Retrievers. Follow Leonie at: https://twodriftersandourgoldens.blogspot.com/
