Here we are at the last days of 2022 and I am looking back on this year and feeling, “WOW!” - What an amazing year! 2022 was my first year spent entirely in India and it was a fabulous year of growth for myself and for the Beautiful Souls Academy.
At the start of January I was 2 months into using the Yoga for Pain Relief techniques I learned from Lee Albert and was already seeing the benefits. It was like a miracle, after 6 months of excruciating low back and sciatic nerve pain, I was finally free. I recently shared this very accessible and effective technique in a video offered in Yoga Club so that others can also find freedom from pain as I have.
In February, with the pandemic starting to settle down, Luv and I finally got to enjoy our delayed honeymoon. We celebrated with a beach vacation in Kerela. It was a double celebration because I also turned FIFTY this year! Can you believe it!? Life is so awesome. As beautiful as Kerela was, the highlight of our trip was when Luv surprised me with a candlelit dinner where he brought his guitar and sang, “What a Wonderful World” to me, a song that he had been secretly practicing for weeks prior.
In March we celebrated Luv’s birthday (who still has a very long way to go before he turns 50!) and the one year anniversary of my move to India.
In April Luv began planning a big travel adventure for us.
In May we left for a 3 week journey that began with a brief stop in Delhi, then onto an ashram in Haridwar, with a day trip from there to Rishikesh which is considered the Yoga capital of the world. Next was one night in Mohali in Punjab to visit friends, (where we also made new friends who were owners of the wonderful Airbnb where we stayed) and then on to Dharamsala where I was most fortunate to see the Dalai Lama. Throughout this adventure we took Yoga Club and the Inspired Souls Club along with us for yoga classes and meditation offered via Zoom from our different locations. Members got a tour of the temple within the Ashram at Haridwar after one of our meditation sessions too. Click Here for a view of Rishikesh including a large Hanuman statue and the Ganges River. From Dharamsala we took a long bus ride back to Delhi for one night where we held our Yoga Class from the rooftop of the hotel, and then a 15 hour train ride back to Nagpur. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again now - Traveling in India is an extreme sport!
June was spent recovering from our travels - haha - and preparing for our upcoming gig. At the end of June we attended a photo shoot with the other musicians who were also playing at the event in July. I had never done a professional photo shoot before. It was fun.
July 9th was the concert/event at a local club. Luv and I performed together singing songs in English and in Hindi and performing original songs as well. It was a super fun night but due to some unexpected technological glitches with the band ahead of us, we ended up performing much earlier than expected, so the friends and family we had invited all missed our set. Therefore, since no one was there filming on our behalf, we didn’t get a video of our full set but only some very short clips that were kindly given to me by random audience members I met that evening. We shared those clips in Yoga Club. I made the video public so that all members of the Beautiful Souls Academy could see it. Click Here to view it if you haven’t seen it yet. I was very happy to be performing side by side with Luv. We have always shared a great love for music, and for those who know our story, it was music that brought us together in the first place.
In August I decided to come out of the Tarot closet - haha - after reading Tarot cards for myself and close friends since 2017, I knew it was time to share this beneficial tool with others. You can Click Here to book a reading with me.
In September I launched Tarot Club on the Beautiful Souls Academy. September also saw a lot of Tarot content being added to my YouTube channel and to my web page. There are many misconceptions surrounding Tarot so I posted several videos sharing my view of Tarot and the benefits I have experienced by using the tool of Tarot.
In October we had the very first gathering of the Inspired Souls Club. We met on Zoom to introduce ourselves to fellow members and to share our goals and feel the support of other folks on a similar path of self-actualization.
November was a very exciting month beginning with our weekend trip for a safari through the Pench Jungle. You can view a brief glimpse from the safari jeep here. On November 24th I released my single, “Only Love”. You can see it Here on YouTube. That video has become the 2nd most watched video of all my videos posted in 2022 - the Safari video made first place! And of the most watched videos on my channel for all time my new song has already taken 5th place. I hope you like it. I sure had fun writing it and making the video for it.
During the last week of November we attended 3 back to back weddings in one week! I made a video montage covering 4 days of wedding celebrations and shared it in Yoga Club under the section of “Glimpses of India”. Indian weddings are VERY different from weddings in the USA.
December was filled with preparations for Christmas. I was determined to give Luv’s family the best version of a typical American Christmas that I could. It was an interesting endeavor for a Buddhist like myself to offer Christmas celebrations to a family of Hindus, but in the end the smiles and fun that we had on Christmas weekend will be memories for a lifetime. On Christmas Eve Santa brought everyone Christmas pajamas and we wore them while watching the 1970 musical version of A Christmas Carol entitled, Scrooge. After the movie we sang Silent Night together. On Christmas Day we made a gingerbread house, drank hot cocoa and/or homemade eggnog, ate Christmas cookies, played “pin the carrot nose on the Snowman” and opened more presents.
And guess what??? Now that Winter has arrived, that means the Winter Bonus Challenge Videos have returned to the 30 Day Plank Challenge! If you weren't able to conquer them last year, or if you are looking to enjoy those challenges again, you can click here to go to the 30 Day Plank Challenge and get started. There is no enrollment fee. Consider it a free gift from me to you and to your fitness goals.
Phew! What a year! And these were only the highlights - there were so many more wonderful moments all along the way, of smiles and laughter, good food and drinks, flowers and birds, butterflies and dragonflies, music and dancing, trees and skies, sunrises and sunsets - it was a wonderful year and I know that so many more adventures are waiting for us in 2023.
THANK YOU for sharing the journey of 2022 with me. Luv and I wish you and your family a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
Love and light,
Jennifer