AMY LUNDERVILLE

I have come a long way from that girl taking Hatha yoga classes at the town community center close to two decades ago. Very soon after my discovery of Hatha, the Vinyasa boom hit our market. My Hatha teacher invited me to her ‘practical’ exam for her teacher training at a place called Open Doors Power Yoga. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but went anyways as I found so much value in the yoga education and experience I was getting.

Open Doors was THE PLACE. Hot. Steamy. Mats nose to toes. An antique building where a dance studio previously resided. The vibe was eclectic and this thing called Vinyasa felt amazing in my body. I took to it like a fish to water.

Open Doors has multiple studios, driving distance from my house, so I kept showing up to sweat out all the things that needed to be sweat out. I got strong, even though I was still a hot mess at the core of my being. I felt so much value in the transformation that was happening that I saved my pretty little pennies and joined the Open Doors 200HR Yoga Teacher Training to simply ‘deepen my practice’.

At that time I had no frikkin’ idea that yoga was an ancient practice. I did not know that there were books upon volumes of books on the subject. Some ancient texts, some modern. I was blown away by the rich history and philosophy behind what I was doing. I have been a yoga nerd ever since.

WHERE AM I?

I am still teaching. I am still practicing. I am still learning. I will never stop. What yoga brings to my life is more than a physical practice. It is community. It is connection. It is spirit. It physically enhances my being. It stabilizes my mind, body and spirit. It is amazing.

I have been teaching for almost 15 years and practicing for much longer than that. I have studied with some of the most inspiring leaders from the local community. I have also had the wonderful opportunity of studying with some the great teachers from our national market. I won’t go into a laundry list of the who’s and the what’s. Just know that my life has been enriched at quite a profound level by simply stumbling upon the practice of yoga in the basement of the community center because I was looking for something to fill up the empty space in my life. It has been a continuous practice of persevering and embracing all things yogic with an open mind. Trust the process.

I lost my big girl job due to the pandemic on April 1st, 2020…Happy April Fool’s Day! Accept, it wasn’t a joke. I promised myself from that day forward that I would not fall into an abyss of depression, fear, worry. I chose a positive pandemic. I have spent the last several months finding a groove with freedom. I have taken a bunch of professional development courses. I took off for twenty days in my car with my dog during the first height of the pandemic. I spent lots of time at beaches, at pandemic safe outdoor concerts and BBQs with friends and on my SUP and with my PUP.

Eight months…honestly, the greatest time of my life! There I said it. The loss of my 23 year career due to a worldwide pandemic some how has ended up being the exact thing that I needed.

After several years of culminating and overwhelming stress that led to illness. Buying and selling a home, the passing of my father, resigning and then re-signing up for Corporate America. My body, mind and spirit just couldn’t keep up. A Covid-19 layoff was the most productive thing that has happened to me. EVER. I literally feel like I have come back to the core of my being. I am relaxed, calm and at peace.

At the onset of sheltering in place and the consequent loss of my daily grind, I made a choice. A choice to not let fear and the unknown settle into my daily thoughts. For the love of God, I have had enough of that in my life. I chose to not let the negative backlash of the world seep into my being.

Thankfully, just before Corporate America released me into a summer of freedom, I ordered a Peloton. I did not cancel that order, as I knew, the second that damn thing arrived, it was going to be my savior and it has been EVER since. With top notch instruction and coaches that know how to motivate and inspire, my mindset is solid, strong and positive.

I AM. I CAN. I WILL. I DO.
~ Christine D’Entremont ~ Peloton Coach

A love for the great outdoors has become an invaluable asset during a time when indoor activities are simply not a good idea. I have spent countless mornings walking along the shoreline that is my ‘backyard’ settling into moving meditation and allowing my thoughts to ebb and flow. Discovering off-the-beaten-path places has also been a major bonus of living in a world of isolation. I may wander…but I am not lost.

The summer came in like a lion, nearly an entire month earlier than normal, temps soared into bikini and beach weather. The first thing I did was get those surf racks on the car to get my butt in gear for as much SUP as humanly possible. Just yet another advantage of living ocean side…connecting to the spirit of Blue Mind daily has changed my life.

SETTLING IN TO BEING FREE

Settling into being free is not easy. I am industrious by nature and idle time generally gets put to good use. I took about eight weeks of crash courses in digital marketing to keep my mind occupied and productive, even learning a little bit about entrepreneurship along the way. I am that person who enjoys working towards a goal or a cause. I chose active body and active mind for peace and health.

HELLS YEAH!!!

I got an offer to stay with a friend in Folly Beach. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. My course work had just ended, I was struggling to find employment at the height of the first wave of the pandemic. I was in the middle of seeking out yet another level of education to bury my nose in, yet my gut came through with a resounding HELLS YEAH!!! Get on that Folly Beach bus and GO!!! So I did : )

It happened quick and there was not a ton of planning involved besides figuring out what would fit in my car and coordinating tandem driving with my friend. I knew I didn’t want to come back anytime soon, so I penciled in a date on my calendar that was a little over two weeks out for a return date home. As my new reality settled in, I soon discovered my journey was about friendships that got lost track of and a museum dedicated to my favorite band of all time. So it went something like this:

Folly Beach, SC > Macon, GA > Newnan, GA > Folly Beach, SC > Fuquay Varina, NC, Toms River, NJ

It was quite the adventure. I got to see things I never seen. Visit and bond with friends that feel like family who have since relocated from Massachusetts, I even met a lot of cool people along the way. Lots and lots of miles and photographs, a sore back and a very contracted psoas muscle.

It all seems like a distant memory. Not much has changed. The job market is oversaturated with folks in the same boat as me. While there seems to be plenty of opportunities for roles that fit the shape of what my career looked like prior to the pandemic, the abundance of applicants must be overwhelming, as I have barely got any callbacks besides a few scams and one place that didn’t see value in hiring someone with over two decades of experience and low-balled a salary offer that I just could not succumb to.

Covid is still a thing and it feels like it is here to stay. My entire adult life I have dreamed of having an entire summer to myself to travel and explore and decompress and get back to the core of who I am. It took a pandemic to stop the world pretty much dead in its tracks for peace and calm and freedom to bubble up.

“YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING.”
~ Jay Shetty ~ Think Like A Monk

I believe who you are when no one is watching is exactly how you show up in this world. Choosing between fear and depression or actively rising above the media, the loss, the panic, worry and fear of the pandemic was a bold maneuver and also a blessing. I now see things very differently and am focusing on what truly brings me joy. I am teaching yoga, packing and delivery the best organic produce in our marketplace, all while working on a product/service offering to launch into the New Year with. Stay tuned on that!