From the Boardroom to the Yoga Shala!

Hi and welcome to the Diamond Blog!

I’m Rachel Bonkink, Dutch name, Dutch nationality, but I have been living in Belgium for about 25 years or so. I’m based in Antwerp, a super nice city, actually more like a village but we (the Antwerp people) like to think of it as the smaller version of New York…

To introduce myself I probably have to mention my past job, as it was the most important thing in the world for me for a while. For the past 7 years I worked very hard as an operational director for a medical market research company and I loved it! Learned a lot, made a lot of mistakes 🙂 , hired and fired, managed a wonderful team, travelled the world and…, mainly worked a lot.

Eh, this blog is on a website for yoga retreats? Guess where the story is heading…

Yes, I quit but no, I didn’t have the burn out. Main reason for not having the burn out was probably my schizophrenic approach to life back then, and incredible stamina.

I would smoke like a chimney, drink too much alcohol, work 24/7 and live on lasagna BUT I also went on yoga retreats in the meanwhile. At least 2 or 3 per year.

From the boardroom to the yoga Shala! – This phrase can be taken very literally by the way. After those retreats, I always felt rejuvenated, I quit smoking every time and I was dead serious to keep up my yoga practice, to work less and to improve my eating habits. And this usually lasted for three months or so…

Up until the last retreat I did in Jordan, after 6 days in silence, it finally hit me that there could be more in life and that it could be possible, how- no idea back then, but it could be possible to go out there and start doing what I had always wanted to do. On every retreat I did, I wouldn’t nag about the things I didn’t like but I would say the magical words; “I would do it differently”. It never hit me that I actually said this, and it even took me 4 months to figure everything out. How could I possibly combine coaching, travelling, managing, yoga and working with people, preferably people from all over the world?

I’ll spare you the life story but along the way I created my own version of Eat Pray Love…

My Indian yoga teachers during the teacher course

Seriously, I went to India and fell in love; went to Bali to do yoga- let’s take that for the praying part?

Yoga is not religious but I did pray sometimes to get me out of a class in one piece…- and, in Italy, I indulged in eating way too much. Also never drank coffee in my life; after Italy, cappuccino’s have become one of my weak spots. Bali and Italy weren’t planned at all even when I bought my ticket for India but I had the time of my life!

Dropped my coin in the Trevi fountain the first time I saw it, and let me tell you, it works! Have been back to Rome 3 times already!

What I will share is that I’ve always been passionate about people. What drives us? Why do we buy the things we buy? I love to inspire, to lead and to guide people into change. And there you have the meaning behind Vajra, diamond in Sanskrit, revealing the diamond within everyone I meet,is what drives me .

Why this blog? Recently I changed my Revealing Vajra Facebook page. Up until then, I mainly used it to share pictures of past retreats and promote the upcoming ones. But ever since I started adding stuff that I personally like, and things that I think can be useful for others, I see that not only the ‘likes’ increased but more importantly, people are also started sharing the links, sharing their thoughts. And that’s exactly what I like, as we can all learn so much from each other. So, what better way is there to transform these little things and links in blog posts, where we can share more of our thoughts? Et voilà, the reason for my blogging.

I’ll be blogging about topics that interest me, that I come across in my coachings (when not leading a retreat, I’m a personal coach), that I read about or that people ask me during yoga classes. Oh yes, I loooove yoga and I teach classes in Antwerp and Bergen Op Zoom (a Dutch town with an unpronounceable name in English).

Love teaching at home, small groups, mostly private lessons.

Some posts will relate to specific asanas, interesting recipes, yoga, retreats, travel tips, meditation, stress relief, inspirational thoughts or quotations, and some will probably be whatever is on my mind when I’m writing.

As said, the main reason for starting this blog is to inspire you, help you and above all hear your opinion, your experiences and criticisms, so I would like to encourage you to leave comments, as many as you like. Especially when you don’t agree.

As a teaser to end this first blog post, let’s chat about yoga?

Yoga can mean many things. For me, it means finding and using the on/off button for my brain. Finding balance and a way of life even. What does ‘yoga’mean to you?

Just drop your comment here below, share the blog if you like it and let’s start this exciting journey together!

Namaste,

Rachel