New Beginnings, New Lands, and New Life

Since our last entry about our adventure in the Himalayan mountains, we’ve come a long way, both in travels and in our life. This entry is all about the last 9 months and how our new adventure has become the greatest we have ever faced together and shared.

After surviving our near-deadly trek in the Himalayas and coming down with not only our lives, but an incredible engagement story (Read it here if you missed out!!), we returned to the home of Violante in Florence, Italy to plan for the next phase of our life together. Alongside offering workshops, concerts, and Indian markets around Italy, we developed our vision of sharing our passions with the world by organising our first Yoga Retreat…which led us to the Volcanic Island of Stromboli in the South of Italy.

Stromboli … the island that smokes!

We decided to organise our first Yoga Retreat in one of the most powerful islands in the Mediterranean.

Stromboli is one of the seven islands in the Aeolian archipelago, so called for the devotion to Eolo, the greek God of Winds.

The element of this land is for sure FIRE…. as the island itself is a powerful and magical volcano that has been continuously erupting for the last 20,000 years.. Can you imagine the energy of this place!?  CRAZY!

The sand of the beaches is black from the lava and all the rocks are rounded, porous, and soft. Walking around the island you can be easily surprised by the strong scents of the flowers…. Such a sensorial experience; just a couple of hours are enough to regenerate all the good energy in your body, mind, and soul.

You can click on the above image to visit our Yoga Escape Stromboli Page to browse the photos on your own.

Our debut retreat ‘Yoga Escape Stromboli’ was a great success!!

Please watch this video below to check out all the fun we had together!!

We feel very lucky and are grateful to the great group that joined us on this journey of yoga evolution. You are all awesome!!

Thanks a lot guys! We miss all of you and we hope that this retreat was the first chapter of a long book of adventures together.

On the last day of our Yoga Escape Stromboli we discovered some life changing news…..read on below!!

A little… BIG… miracle!

The beginning of our (Andrew & Violante) story began more than 2 years ago in the Sri Aurobindo & The Mother’s Ashram in New Delhi, India. A chance meeting that tied the first knot of our love story. We must have planted seeds in each other’s hearts and watered them with a special crystal elixir as we quickly wove our passions and paths together faster than we could have even imagined. Together again in Italy, then in Toronto, then back in Italy, and finally to our spiritual homeland of India to dive deeper into our practice and sit to learn at the feet of our Gurus. When we summited the Himalayan Range and committed to spent the rest of our lives together in marriage, we knew that these seeds we were planting were bound to grow into trees! We could have never guessed that just one year from that magical moment another one would be scheduled for us. Our family is growing and a soul has chosen us to come back on this earth as a little one that we will grow and raise together!!  

So…we’ve been busy preparing for this new chapter in our great adventure! The last few months have seen us wrap up our time, work, and travels in Italy… and move to Toronto, Canada to find a new home and prepare for our baby’s arrival.

Our little one now is starting to move like crazy! Every day now we feel kicks, pulses and hiccups. We can feel and see when this little one is rolling around inside the belly, especially when Violante is lying still or trying to fall asleep. It is the weirdest and the most beautiful sensation all at once!! We love to place our hands on Violante’s belly and we breath together, close our eyes and envision what our little family will feel like.

Now we have a little more than 2 month to go before meeting our little angel…

Stay Tuned…

Unlike the last couple times we’ve shared our story through this blog, we will be back shortly with more updates on our Aum Lotus Yoga Retreats, our upcoming Workshops, our soon to be opened Aum Lotus Healing Centre, and of course news of the pregnancy and our little one!!

Thanks for stopping by and reading our story, please come back to read more, share with your friends, and sign up for our mailing list here or on the right hand side of this post. —>

If you’d like to help support us, please send us an email!! We can surely find a way to involve you or offer you something to enrich your life. You can also book us for a workshop or private session of Yoga, Meditation, Ayurvedic Massage, Sound Healing, Sound Bath, Music Class, and more!!  Until then, take care of yourself and your loved ones, and spread LOVE to the world!!!