Starting Solo Travel in Greece

So what has my life been like these last couple of months since I parted with my beautiful, magical witches in Spain and started my solo travel?

It has been quite magical, and I have to pinch myself because I am writing this from a sailboat in the sea!

It is what I have been cultivating and actively calling into my life - adventure, beauty, community, love, flow, and trust all of that and a little more!

I am proud an that I am aligning with my human design, which is to respond to life, without fear, and with an open heart. So here's a little insight into my adventures.

MAY 12-26

CHAKRAS, Erasmus+

It all started with an invitation from the organization InSpire to co-facilitate an Erasmus+ project in Hopeland, Greece on a topic about Chakras, a topic, mind you, that I was hearty reading about at the time of invitation, so it was just natural to respond to this very aligned calling.

The project was 12 days and opened me up to truly feeling my own purpose. There was a moment that I have carved into my emotional memory and will keep it as a guiding post for my future learnings, which was when I was facilitating a heart-opening exercise and I saw people having a profound experience - that was a moment I felt something within me come to life, like being plugged back into the web of wholeness, like taking a step that just comes forwards to meet you halfway. Beyond that experience, I also had the chance to step into my big girl shoes and lead morning chakra meditations for 40 people, whilst explaining the philosophy behind each, which involved me going over the chapters the night before from a book “Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System As a Path to the Self” by Anodea Judith, which was my bible for the project. And I took it upon myself to also introduce yoga postures according to each chakra. All that plus planning every day according to what the group might need to connect with themselves and others. I learned to listen, watch, observe, inspire, and use my words. I learned that I have a lot to offer and a lot more to learn.

It was truly an experience to shake me into trusting myself and my knowledge, seeing my worth, and illuminating my path to self-actualization a little bit more. To manifest you need to feel it first in the now, so I am cherishing and cultivating the emotional fulfillment I felt during the project to be my guiding light and to call in more of.

Grateful for the opportunity and the community and Hopeland.

MAY 26th - June 2nd

Athens, birthday, island romance, and the first taste of freedom

Turns out I have amazing contacts in Athens and I got to spend some time exploring the city, leaving offerings to Poseidon and Athena, and connecting with the history of Greece with a friend I made through different Erasmus+ project.

And as per my new tradition, I am spending my birthday in someplace new, this time, after careful research and inquiry with locals I chose the destination of my 31st birthday to be an island of Agistri. Located less than 2 hours away from Piraeus, it is a small, green island not known to tourists as much as other Greek islands - it was a perfect destination to welcome my next spin around the sun. As it was the end of May, the local tourists were not many and I felt like I am all alone in my hotel, maybe that is why I was given the room with the sea view which coincidently was room nr 11 (in Athens I stayed in a house nr 11, and eleven has been popping more and more into my life since I have left Latvia). And again, I want to frame that moment I first discovered my balcony and view, that joy, happiness, and gratefulness and freedom I felt is what I am cherishing in my life and what I breathe for.

I can’t tell this story without mentioning a French guy I met on Tinder, who stayed in a hotel next to mine. I allowed myself to be taken on a date, to be driven around the island on a scooter, and to be celebrated. It was exhilarating to share my day with someone I felt very connected to. It was also beautiful to practice saying - I love you, even for just a few days. I feel like I have deprived myself of expressing those words all my life, and aren’t they the very words everyone longs to hear? And it feels like we need to earn them somehow when actually love is nothing to be earned or kept to yourself, love is everywhere, in everything, and by saying I love you to others, you are saying that to yourself. When your heart is open you start see yourself mirrored back at you from the eyes of others, then it becomes easier than living and breathing, then you are whole and all those little cracks of insecurity, armor from fear, and the illusion of separateness melt away.

So I was practicing the art of seeing, feeling, and allowing on my birthday and had an experience worth an island romance novel or at least a poem. ;)

Arriving back to Athens I had 2 friends picking me up and by beautiful coincidence or design, I had a ride to Kalamata, which is where I needed to get to for my first workaway experience. I had to be there on 4th so I had two nights to try and find a location to stay, so I decided to give couchsurfing another go, after my not-so-successful previous attempts. And voila - I contacted Nikos on the same day I was supposed to arrive and he and his partner graciously took me in. Turns out they met in Hopeland years ago, another coincidence - don’t think so, if anything this trip is showing me how connected we all are and how magical life really is. The next day they took me to a local Greek festival, up in the mountains, where I got to experience Greek music and dancing and local art and produce and olive oil with chocolate (!) and staying in a tent with full moon graciously shining over me and sound of Greek ballads to lull me to sleep. The next day I wrote a sign trying to find someone to drive me to Petalidi, the location of my first workaway experience. And I did - an old man who spoke only Greek and German. Life provides if you are brave enough to ask!

June 4th - July 2nd

My first Workaway Experience

You know how sometimes you find people who are amazing, but you have that spiritual part of yourself that you don’t fully reveal for fear of being judged and misunderstood? Well, this was NOT the case! From the get-go, we discussed religions, spirituality, the meaning of life, environment, humanity, past lives, human design, magical signs and eastern philosophies and practices. I felt instantly welcomed, seen, and heard in this family. Einav and Ariel are a couple from Israel who, with help of volunteers, have built and keep building an eco farm called - Mazi, which in Greek means ’together’. They produce their own certified organic olive oil and make other beauty products from it, like soap and cream. Their farm includes chicken, goose, rabbit, two cats, and a huge, fluffy white dog as well as a young mare - Mika. I got to sleep in my own bamboo (looks like bamboo but is actually a type of reed) hut with a staggering view down to the Kalamata, Messinian bay, and the highest mountain in Peleponeese - Taygetus - the oldest recorded name in Europe appearing in Oddysey, with that perfectly triangular mountain peak that has been a topic of conspiracies itself.

Workaway is a type of volunteering - it is a website where you can find offers all around the world, and in exchange for your work you are fed and given accommodation. Here I learned to find beauty and satisfaction in manual labor whilst the days grew increasingly hotter and more humid by the hour. So I dug trenches, gathered horse manure, cleaned, sanded, and painted planks, and did a lot of weeding. I got some blisters on my arms and sunburns and learned to tolerate when salty sweat drips in my eyes and to look out for snakes and scorpions hiding under the rocks. I learned local herbs and wildlife and tricks of maintaining a garden. I went on beautiful walks surrounded by 1000-year-old Kalamata olive trees and figs. I found seashells on top of the mountain, I danced and meditated and did QiGong. I went to find waterfalls and down to the sea. I showered underneath the stars and moon and celebrated the solstice by the fire. This was truly everything I could wish for from my first Workaway experience. Somehow it was a time warp there and a month went by unnoticed. There was a lot more that I wanted to do, but I will have to leave that for the next time. I also learned how to accept failure, for I tried to organize a yoga, ecstatic dance and gong meditation journey called - Soul Oddysay, but despite my best efforts to communicate the event, it did not reach the right audiences so we had to cancel. Although I was really looking forwards to creating this journey and building up my own portfolio experience in these topics, I had to learn to not take it personally and let it go, knowing that I did the best I could to make it happen. Maybe it wasn’t the right time or date and I am here to humbly accept it and work towards finding other opportunities to expand my learning and practice.

I truly am beyond grateful for attracting experiences I need at the time and for people that share my values and by example show how to embody love toward one another, nature and the work they are doing.

If you are ever around Kalamata, be sure to pay Mazi a visit, here is their facebook page!

July 2nd - now

Strawberry Fields on the sea

I am on a sailboat - a catamaran, to be precise named - Strawberry Fields, with 5 other people, going around Pelopeneese as my second workaway experience. And here I am in awe and gratitude every day for I got to wake up on the water and go to sleep with the gentle rocking of the boat. Words fall short to describe the beauty of it all, of the tranquility, community, and blueness of the water.

But I will leave this story for the next entry when I will have the wisdom of retrospect.

This is what has been happening in my life, this is the magick I am working with, and this is where my leap of faith, curiosity, and my adventurous spirit has led me. If there is anything I can leave you with it is this - trust that everything is here to support your growth and realize the power you have to create your own magical life, if you only dare! I have no idea how my journey will look from here on, but I know it will be beautiful!

Thank you for your support.

And let the adventure continue!