I'm not afraid of the dark.

“Si la Patria es pequeña, uno grande la sueña!”

Translation: “If Homeland is small, you dream of it big!” These words were said by the most well-known Nicaraguan poet, Felix Ruben Dario.

Nicaragua considered the Land of Poets, Artists, Volcanoes and Lakes. One of the most seismically active parts of the world. Nicaragua, the country I now call home and more importantly feel at home. It's no wonder it feels like home. It has an energetic effect on me, its people and travelers passing through. This is where I became yoga certified and all the Seeking Santosha magic came to fruition. I was seeking Santosha (contentment) and quickly discovered a long-lost dream. Once I had the courage to set my thoughts free they flourished, abundant with growth, like a wild jungle that now cannot be controlled. You see, my dreams and me are free, no longer dormant like a sleeping volcano.

When I feel myself fading

I close my eyes

and remember

my friends are my energy

~Heidi Parker 1998

Yoga is my poetic expression of words that have been buried in my heart like a hidden treasure just waiting to be found. ~Heidi Parker

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"It's not what you call me, but what I answer to. I'm not afraid of the dark because I shine my own light." ~Heidi ♥

Yoga is a lifestyle and has evoked the hidden creativity that has been tucked away in my heart for what feels like centuries. As a teenager I learned to suppress my dreams and passions. Once a true believer in the happiness-inspiring powers of capitalism unknowing that this was the slow death of my soul. As a kid I always considered myself a poet, a painter, a writer but that dream was quickly stomped out like Smokey the Bear puts out a forest fire as soon as I shared the idea of going to University for Fine Arts with my father. You see, it was my dream, I was an aspiring artist but Dad never wanted me to be what he called "a starving Artist."  As an adult I'm finally free from my parents psychological chains that once suffocated my heart. Now I close my eyes gently in meditations and listen to the soft whispers that flow from my heart. Yoga was the key that opened a rusty lock. Your left lung is smaller than your right lung, to make room for your beating heart. Once the energy started spinning in my heart center it connected to and kick started the energy in my right brain only to reveal the deprived artist within, once starved of a dream.

“I am the right brain.  I am creativity, a free spirit.  I am passion. Yearning, sensuality.  I am the sound of roaring laughter.  I am taste, the feeling of sand beneath bare feet.  I am movement. I am vivid colour, the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art, poetry.  I sense.  I feel.  I am everything I wanted to be.”--Author unknown.

In Nicaragua "poet" doubles as a word for friend, brother, buddy. The love of poetry in Nicaragua can be traced back to even before Rubén Darío (1867-1916), but it was this great Nicaraguan poetry master who cemented it as the country's dominant art form and passion giving it roots. "Words should paint the color of sound, the aroma of a star."Rubén Darío.Until attending the Poet Festival in Granada I hadn't realize there is no art form, or any form of expression that rivals poetry for the Nicaraguan people. From the poorest rural child to the internationally educated literary student there is a common thread, poetry. The great poet from Granada, José Coronel Urtecho, once said that "Every Nicaraguan is a poet until proven otherwise.” Few Nicaraguans would argue, but if they did, they would likely do so using poetic verse. Poetry in Nicaragua is an equally important tool and method to express political protest and social criticism, as it is for romance, pictorial and abstract thought. The people of Nicaragua are very poetic.

You could walk through this country with your eyes half closed missing all the beauty because the cloud of poverty and sadness that remains from civil war times is apparent. Come. Please tip toe lightly, with full awareness over the dreams and hope that can be seen deep in the eyes of the people you encounter. Come. To Nicaragua. Open your eyes wide. Allow the sun to penetrate your heart connecting you to the innate oneness and abundance that the Nicaraguan culture and people have to offer. Breathe.

My heart cannot begin to tell

stores that have lived deep within its well

It can only begin to reveal

all of the wounds that have started to heal

what it experiences within the day

are what one may call running away

difficulties of expression

are results of unanswered questions

I used to scream when the sun came up

and now I dance in the glory of my own bright light

Don't blow out my flame

I no longer hold any one to blame

tread lightly over my dreams

For words are more powerful than God

~Heidi 2000, re-edited in 2010

So what is your heart seeking?

Come to Nicaragua and set it free. Seeking Santosha is currently cultivating yoga adventure retreats that encompass the Arts. Let us be your guide to discovering what's been dormant in your heart.

Seeking Santosha will be attending next years Poeta de Mundo 2013 if you are interested in Seeking a cultural adventure in Nicaragua contact: heidi@seekingsantoshanicaragua.com