On August 26th I started a bicycling expedition/pilgrimage/tour from Haines Junction in the Yukon through the Americas to the tip of South America. The finish will be in Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world. Total distance is approximately 25,000 kilometers. It will take about one and a half years to complete the journey.
The main theme will be “Yoga North to South”. I am also hoping part can be a documentary about the trip, the people, the landscapes (urban and rural), the wildlife, the environmental issues, the outward and the inward journey. I will also be posting photos and videos on the website.
This journey will also be a fund raiser – a number of potential benefactors are being explored. Both my parents died prematurely from cancer and so I am definitely looking at ways to raise funding for organizations such as Hopespring Cancer Support Centre. I also see this as an opportunity to raise peoples’ consciousness about the benefits of cycling, yoga, good diet and living simply.
I am going solo, although I already have one person who wants to join me for part of the journey from the Yukon to Mexico and several friends will be joining me along the way. So far Costa Rica, Peru and Argentina.
I hope to visit many yoga centers on the trip – teach and especially spread my views of yoga as an opportunity to become more aware in every area of our lives, to live life fully (hopefully this journey will be an example of that), exchange views, make a little money, perhaps have a warm bed indoors, etc. I hope to become a sutra or thread that ties yogis together. A new paradigm is emerging in the world based on personal freedom and not tied to any ideology or dogma/doctrine. It is my sincere hope that I will be a representative of this world view; or perhaps one could say non-view. I intend to write about the state of yoga in the Americas from this perspective.
I intend to write articles for yoga and bicycling magazines and maybe a book will emerge out of all of this as well. I hope this will be an inspiration, especially to older people to follow their dreams.