While driving as a passenger in the semi-old and full of character mini convertible of Caribbean Yoga Conference’s Founder Kim Moon on the gorgeous island of Oahu, my eyes had the glory of beholding the most prefect rainbow I had ever seen. Looking at it I was re-filled with love, abundance and hope for the miracle that is my life.
But how did I, a Jamaican woman, end up in Oahu beholding the most perfect rainbow in the first place? It all started at the first ever Caribbean Yoga Conference held in Montego Bay, Jamaica in February of 2012. By the Uni-verse’s unfolding, I ended up at CYC 2012 as a volunteer. I showed up with no expectations but with an open heart and a willingness to learn whatever came my way.
Little did I know what I was in for. Within an hour of my arrival at CYC 2012, I understood that I had just become a part of something unique, ultra special and extremely diverse. For the first time in my yoga practice group / community experience, I was practicing beside the elite, the well known, the celebrities, the stalwart Yogis and the common man.
To my right I looked and smiled warmly at my fellow seasoned Jamaican Yogis, to my left I looked and introduced myself to international Yogis of all shapes, sizes and kinds. In front of me I watched in awe as the CYC Jamaican Scholarship recipients - most of whom had never done Yoga before or been in a fancy pancy hotel like the one we were at – embraced their vulnerabilities and walked with a willingness to try this thing called yoga. Behind me, I constantly turned to the reality that the CYC was acting as the shadow beacon to further growth in my life.
Truly, the spirit and vibe that was the epicenter of CYC 2012 was that of transformation, FUN and the gathering of an open, accepting and diverse international community.
With one presenter at CYC 2012, I bawled tears of emotional release. With another I felt my heart open and my defenses break. With another I laughed, danced and experience pure joy. With the community, I silently gave thanks over and over that the Uni-verse allowed this idea to be born, to be put into manifest and in my own country.
Once CYC 2012 had passed, inspiration propelled me to deepen my practice in Mexico, to dance in America, to offer in great humility and pleasure my skills to the CYC team and a year later to drive in Oahu with Kim Moon against the backdrop of the most perfect Rainbow.
I am so lovingly grateful for the gift of my life and that CYC has become a staple part of it!
###
Shevy Cardoza is the creator of the Holistic Life Gem Program, inRuby. She developed this program after emerging from a two year journey she took in her home country Jamaica in Yoga, Dance, Meditation, deep study of the Tarot, and reconnecting to her root family.
