Your Cup of Yoga

Couldn’t have asked for a better gift for our 3-year anniversary in Canada… getting the keys to our new home. 🏡✨

These past three years have been rich in every sense - not always easy, but full of growth, learning, and so many moments that shaped me. And somehow… I’ve even grown to love the cold and winter here. Never thought that would be me! 😂❄️

I’ve never felt more ready to make Winnipeg my home. And I guess the biggest lesson has been:
no matter the hurdles or the chaos, always hold onto your faith and your vision.
They’ll carry you exactly where you’re meant to be. 💛

Feeling humbled, grateful, and excited for this new chapter.

Hey friends! It’s been a while…

The past year or so has been rich, full of ups and downs, and I feel like many of us are going through transitions.

For me, this past year has been like an intensive course in personal growth: I learned another language, got my permanent residence in Canada, grew professionally (and joined an advertising agency!), and re-discovered myself, learning to live more from love and less from fear.

Another new thing I’ve finally started is writing (not claiming I’m very good 😅). Like many of you, I’ve experienced a lot of grief, and combined with my love for yogic teachings, philosophy, and the Bhagavad Gita, I felt a strong pull to share what I’m learning.

On that note… I’ve just started my Substack! It’s still raw (please be kind 😄), but I’ve discovered how much I love exploring the different types of grief—not just the end-of-life kind, but all the ways we experience it throughout life. Blended with this, the Gita has been a huge teacher on grief and on living a meaningful life.

My aim is simple: to remind people of the tools they already have, and help themselves. I hope you’ll join me and support this journey. Every subscriber counts, and I plan to write twice a month. It’s free btw! 😁, but your subscription encourages me to keep showing up, which, as you know, is often the hardest part.

I’d love for you to read, reflect, and walk this path with me. Thank you for being here 💛

Much Love,

Monica

Link to Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/yourcupofyoga/p/grief-and-joy?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=5wgnxn

P.S. Pic technically unrelated, just wanted to say hi!🥰

The other day I came across this beautiful tree, honoring those that won't be with us this Christmas ( either human or pets).

Had the chance to wish Happy Christmas to my dad and brother too.

Just because it's Christmas grief doesn't go away. Behind the smiles, sadness and missing those gone lies dormant ( or acute!) But that's ok, both joy and grief can co-exist. And those who aren't with us, we know they are in our hearts and minds.

Wishing all those spirits Happy Christmas, and may they be free.

As the year draws to a close, it made sense to encourage some self-reflections.

By a show of hands 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️how many of you said or thought "I don't have time" in the past week? 🙋🏼‍♀️

Our relationship with time is complex and somewhat distorted. We live in the past, worry about the future and forget to stay in the present moment.

Eckart Tolle said:

Time isn't precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed

Time impacts our whole existence.

Something interesting happens when we are more present: Time expands.

I encourage you today that every time you feel your mind wanders to the past or the future, COME BACK! Use mental tools or simply your breath.

It’s a practice, the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Let’s come back to Now.

Much love,
Monica

P.S. yes, love taking pictures with my baby boy 😅

Today marks our 1 year anniversary of being in this new land.🎊

I said it before, the first year it's always the hardest when moving to a new country.

And, boy, hard it's been, but oh! so rewarding as the transition equipped us with the tools needed to carry on.

I know things will still be hard at times but we are more resillient now. And things are finally starting to take proper shape. Feels like home ❤️

Few tips, if you're interested in moving abroad:

● Reasearch, reasearch and reasearch! Don't be complacent.
● Give yourself plenty of time and allow extra time on top.
●Be open-minded to embrace new things. You will learn even more and thank yourself for it
●Self-compassion- it's a tough process. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

Here's to another year🤩

Happy Thanksgiving Day! 🙏🍁🎃

It's my first celebration of the sort here. Feels a bit like novelty.

Yes, we do need to express gratitide daily- that's a huge practice in itself- but with everybody's busy lives, it doesn't hurt to assign a day for it, and remind people gratitude is good for the mind and the heart.

Gratitude is even more important in grief. It provides a support that keeps you afloat when you need most.

I invite you to take 5 min today ( every day if you can) and look around you and appreciate how far you've come and what you have in your life.

P.S. Canada Thanksgiving is different in date than the one in USA, but they celebrate it in a similar way - a time to honour the fall's harvest and spend time with family ( oh! And football too🏈)

Much love,

Monica

It's been a loooong time.

It's hard to come back as the grief has struck again, only 2 and a half years after the loss of my brother, my dad joined him,only a few weeks ago.

Feels very hard to share this but I know at least 1 person out there may need to read this. This is for you. ❤️

Losing a parent, although horribly hard, feels just a tad more natural though than a sibling, especially as my brother took his own life, whereas my dad went through, one may call, more natural, albeit sudden, end of life.

It also feels different.

I'm sharing this to open again the conversation about end of life and grief.

Many people struggle for years with the loss of a loved one and it's ok to take our time in grief. We don't have to rush it, offer fake smiles and pretend we are 'ok'.

In grief, you may have to show up for work. Attend that meeting and when people ask 'how are you', society teaches us to say 'I'm ok', when in fact we are broken and don't want to be there.

I tested my theory the other day. Attending a meeting people asked me how I've been. When I was just about to say 'I'm ok' I stopped myself, and decided I'd rather be honest. If no one talks openly about grief, who will?

So instead I said 'been better, my dad passed away recently'. I was expecting just a couple of polite condoleances, but instead we talked about grief, mental health, and alchohol addiction ( as sadly dad was a victim of). People opened up and shared their stories too, which made me feel less alone.

And you aren't alone either.

Know that each of us grieve in our own way. Don't let anyone tell you 'you should be better by now'.

● It's also ok to feel joy while you grieve. It's not a linear process.
●Eat well and rest. Now more than ever.
●Be compassionate to yourself ●During the days with brain fog where you have to do stuff, little progress, it's progress.

Please take care of yourself.

I find solace in knowing my dad is not alone and he's now continuing his journey. He has a lot of work ahead of him and I keep my faith in the Divine he is at peace.

We have to understand that everything we go through is a process. 🙏

Whether life is abundant or seems that everyhing that could go wrong is going wrong, keep your faith, in whatever you have faith in. Most importantly in yourself that you have all the tools to overcome it.

And when things are tough, we are tempted to withdraw and close off relationships, but that's when we need our loved ones most.

So, I invite you to look around you ( or think) about someone in your life that need you. It may be a simple text, or call or get them out for a walk. A simple check in.

You ca do the same with a stranger. Either smiling to the person at the till or to someone on the street. That may be the only smile they see all day. What do we know...?

Trust your heart. We need to stop being afraid to show our love. In appropriate ways, of course😁

P.S. Haven't been around here in a while. Life is busy but rich with learning and opportunities for growth. Sending you much love.

Be kind to yourself❤️

P.P.S Some pics I wanted share 🤗

What they say about Candians is true!🇨🇦

People are truly nice and they actually give a s**t.

For example you wake up and you notice your next door neighbour is cleaning the snow of your driveway, as there's been heave snowfall overnight. Why? Just because...😍😅

They call it for a reason.❤️

In our journey to 'settling' here, things are..well..settling. We finally got our boxes from UK after so much stress! So, very grateful to have our things back ( being the happiest!)

This whole experience is also part of the spiritual journey. They're not separate. You practice when things are good so that when you hit a rough patch, you have something to support and hold you.

Morale of the story: Do your practice.

P.S. The snow Snoopy was in someone's garden...was very happy to see that, just had to share it with you!

Much love,
Monica

One of my biggest dreams came to life this week! 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

After in 11 years in the UK, in the 11th month.

Some of you know why I have been absent for so long, and what was the 'plan' I talked about before. Well, I can finally say, with a heart full of gratitude that this has manifested itself.🙏🙏

For the past year my partner and I have worked so hard to move to Canada! I visualised this EVERY DAY FOR THE PAST YEAR

The whole process has been painful, a true rollercoaster of emotions, sleepless nights, tears, arguments, anxiety, then joy, excitment, hope, then dispair! The ups and down hit us big time.

But. We. Did. Not. Give.Up.

The past 12 days have been the most excruciating in my life. Moving to a new continent and knowing you have to do everything in 10 days: sell your house, sell your car, research places to stay, ARRANGE TRANSPORT FOR YOUR DOG 🤯🤯🤯 whilist having to deal with the anxiety of moving into a brand new culture..it's been...interesting... ( I mean HORRIFIC😅)

STILL. DID.NOT GIVE.UP.

Through God's grace, we got here, and we're now in Winnipeg!

I'll be sharing my adventure more going forward, and for Aston too, who had to travel without us 🥺🥺( See pic with us reunited❤️)

To all those who supported in making this dream a reality, you are in our hearts and always think of you❤️

Now..onwards to this new chapter.

Much love,
Monica