Sacral Chakra - Expat Life in Kuwait (My Memories)

When I was twenty three, I graduated from my Bachelor of Education in Canada. There were no jobs in Canada at the time, so the faculty education was encouraging us to go overseas to get teaching jobs. And to make a long story short, this is how I found myself a few months later living in Mahboula, Kuwait.

Kuwait is smaller than the city of Toronto and it neighbors Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It was a culture and history and society so unbelievably different to all I’d known before. Despite the culture shock and challenges, during my time there I fell in love with the Middle East. I fell in love with the dates, the palm trees, the sunrises and sunsets… the warm ocean air smell… and how Thursdays will always be special. The halloumi cheese, the word inshallah, and how walking outside in the summer is like walking through a hairdryer.

I lived in the Middle East for seven years total… and I still think of it as my home. ❤️As much as I fell in love with the region I also faced huge challenges whilst there. My mental health fell apart. I couldn’t handle the culture shock, the stress of my job, having my heart broken… drinking homemade alcohol every night 🤣… being surrounded by 200 other teachers in my apartment building yet feeling so alone.

I think of it as the most difficult and the greatest two years of my life. And I’d never take it back because it is the reason I am who I am and how I ended up here, in Bali, today.I’m excited to share my new book, Sober Yoga Girl, which is largely centered around my time in the Middle East, including the Kuwait & Abu Dhabi years, and what I learned while I was there. ❤️ Head to www.soberyogagirl.com and drop your email to be the first to know when the book is coming out! ✨In my new book, Sober Yoga Girl, I follow the seven chakras as a book outline to organize the different sections of the book. (If you want to sign up to be the first to know when the book is released, head to www.soberyogagirl.com and register your email!)

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The sacral chakra, according to yoga philosophy, is located in the abdomen, lower back and sexual organs. The Sanskrit term for it is svadhisthana, which means ‘one’s own place’. It’s related to emotions, sexuality, and it is connected to the element of water. This energy center connects to our ability to live fluidly, experience depth of feelings, and embrace change (Judith 34).

In the sacral chakra section of the book, I write about my experience moving across the world to live in Kuwait, and my first year overseas there. I learned to embrace a culture very different than my own, adapt to cultural differences, and learn to go with the flow. Here are some of the photos I want to share with you that show my experience during that time!

I lived for two years in the neighborhood Mahboula, which means "Crazy Lady" in Arabic. You can read a bit about the neighborhood here!

This is a photo I took one morning at sunrise at the view outside of my apartment. Here you can see the mosque across the road from my apartment, and a school across the road. This was in the neighborhood Mahoula.

I was really, really excited to have my first classroom ever when I moved to Kuwait. This was what the room looked like! It was tiny and had no storage...but it was mine.

I got a job teaching yoga at the Hilton Resort Kuwait not long after I moved there. Most of the classes were taught inside in the gym, but this class was part of an event we would do every fall.

In the book Sober Yoga Girl, one of the stories I share is about a Palestinian/Kuwaiti wedding I attended, and the things I learned about their culture, regional history, and community at that event. This photo is not from that particular wedding, but it is from one wedding I attended whilst living in Kuwait.

Being a first year teacher was absolutely exhausting. This picture is from a friend's classroom, where I lay down and lifted my legs up the wall at the end of a hectic week.

This picture is the first time I ever wore Hijab and Abaya, when visiting a mosque in Bahrain. It became normal for me after that over the years, but I remember at that time it felt really strange.

I lived for the weekends away in Kuwait. On this weekend I visited the Manama Fort in Bahrain. Kuwait is a short flight away from the rest of the GCC countries.

In the book, I write about how I was afraid to offend by wearing the local dress on Kuwait National Day, but many of the parents at the school were thrilled to see me dressing in their cultural dress. It was in this moment I began to learn the difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation.

Something I am ashamed that I did in Kuwait was try to get the children to stop speaking Arabic. It was a school rule that I was enforcing. In hindsight, I think speaking your mother tounge should be celebrated, and I strove to encourage it in my job in Abu Dhabi.

Something I was SO excited about when I moved to the Middle East was to visit the Pyramids of Egypt, which I got to travel to in February of 2016, thanks to a very generous gift from a student of mine.

We had a tour guide at the Pyramids of Giza that was instructing all of these silly but fun photos, like this one I took with the Sphinx.

Shortly after my trip to Egypt, I had to have an infected cyst removed. My taxi driver, Raghu, famously said "Only white people cry over things like this." I thought I'd spare you all the cyst pics, but here's the lovely bandage I wore on my face for a month.

My mom came to visit me in Kuwait in March of 2016! This is a photo of us together in downtown Kuwait. My mom has come to visit me everywhere where I've lived for the past ten years.

When we travelled to Jordan, my mom and I spent time with the Sheikh in Wadi Rum. Here's a picture of us together.

My mom and I also hiked through Petra during our time in Jordan. In this picture I am sitting with one of the children who helped us find this view of the Treasury from the top.

I lived for the weekends away - mostly for when I landed in a hotel and could crack open a beer. This is when I landed in Oman and had a beer immediately upon arriving in the hotel room.

In the book, I write about some pretty scary things that happened to me whilst travelling alone in Spain. I'll spare you the gory pictures, and just share a picture of myself smiling outside the Sagrada Famillia, hours before it all happened!

I am so excited to share with you all that the book, Sober Yoga Girl, will be available this August! If you want to read about my adventures living in Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Bali, and what I learned about myself, yoga, and sobriety during this time - check it out. You can sign up to be informed when the book becomes available at this link.

Sacral Chakra Merchandise:

We also have some sacral chakra related merchandise in the shop! Check it out here:

RELEASE (Sacral Chakra) Long Sleeve Tee

Buy Now

Sacral Chakra Yoga Series:

As human beings, it is our tendency to want to hold on - to relationships, people, places. But when we finally let go, what we receive can be beautiful - if we take the risk and are open to it.

Release is eight classes of a flow and let go practice - half vinyasa, half yin. We’ll release the tension stored in our bodies - especially the shoulders and the hips - and discover what we need to let go of to find freedom.

Join me for Release - finally let go - and receive. 

You can sign up for a membership with The Mindful Life Practice on demand and try the class here!