How Yoga took me to Nepal

Pretty amazing looking back at how it came together and that it came together at all. Probably one of the biggest projects I have attempted and yoga helped to make it happen…

We experienced a global first… there are not a lot of those around to experience. My band and I giving a sunrise concert at 10,000ft on Nepal’s New Year’s Day 2070.

How it began

It all began, when we started rehearsing all the new songs for my new album “It’s All a Beautiful Noise” (Which if you don’t own I suggest you get on my mailing list and I will let you know when the next batch will be available as we recently sold out!), and our drummer Jake had just returned from trekking the Annapurna Circuit which I had also trekked back in 1992.

Jake and I started talking about how amazing Poon Hill is a couple of days into deconstructing my new songs with the guys, and it suddenly just made sense to play the vast epic musical landscapes of ‘It’s All a Beautiful Noise’ at sunrise on Poon Hill.

Poon Hill is a famous place on the Annapurna Circuit. People from all over the world travel there to watch the sunrise surrounded by the top of Himalayan ranges. I thought it would be a perfect way to debut a new album music that is expansive and vast and futuristic! When I broke this to the band and to my husband I was met with rather bemused looks and comments of… “…err… yeah, that WOULD be great…”

Although the real process of what it would take to make this happen was beyond our brain capacity at that moment in time, a real deep desire to make it a reality was seeded into my heart center. So after our first round of shows which featured music from ‘It’s All a Beautiful Noise’ for the first time, Mik and I went to Bali for almost two months to take stock of our lives.

Hanging out in Ubud confirmed for me my desire to start devising and teaching a very different type of yoga experience. The inspiration rose inside me like an early morning sunrise, I began to fantasize about teaching an early morning class at the Yoga Barn, and calling it Rise and Shine Because You’re Beautiful.

Shortly after arriving in Ubud, I was approached by an Australian Yogi on Facebook who asked if i would be interested in having my band perform at their Yoga retreat in Kathmandu and Pokhara. In that moment, I knew we had the anchor point we needed to make playing on Poon Hill at 10,000 ft a reality.

Although history will tell you that the retreat in Nepal actually never came about – regardless, it propelled us on our way to the tops of the Himalayas.  I feel the reflective nature of universe hearing my heart’s desire set the wheels in motion to reveal windows of opportunity to make the impossible and improbable a reality! This is what makes life magical and I absolutely love about being in a body!!

Mik and I in front of the Fishtail mountain of the Anapurna in Potthana at the end of our trek – Day 10!!

36 hours after we left Nepal, the first of two devastating earthquakes struck. We could not in good consciousness debut the new album, instead we focused on raising money for Nepal over the coming months. Go to www.rebuildnepal.com.au to learn more about our annual Rebuild Nepal Benefit Concert and a Rebuild Nepal Photo Book with CD/DVD you can purchase for $55. 100% the money raised from the sale of this book for the exception of the Book’s Underwriter Campaign goes to the people of Nepal. We are printing 2000 to start, making it possible for us to raise an additional $100,000 for the people of Nepal.

The people of Nepal need our help and they will for many years… they are having a really bad run. Right after the two earthquakes they had to endure an embargo with nothing getting into the country for over 6 months… its been an absolute impossible time for the people of Nepal. Just so maddening!!!