Yoga Travel Storytime: Spiritual Community, California Road Trip

Endings aren’t really endings, but new beginnings... 🌒 Over the past seven years, I’ve experienced profound transformation — from living at the Mount Madonna Yoga Retreat Center in Santa Cruz, California, to spontaneous road trips to Sedona, Arizona and Bhakti Fest in Joshua Tree. Along the way, I discovered how Yoga, my own queer identity, and Saturn's seven-year cycles can guide us toward freedom, belonging, and self-acceptance. In this episode, we’re diving deep into my personal lore… ✨ What it was like for me to live in a queer-friendly yoga + spiritual community in California for a year ✨ Why road trips can become a spiritual practice of freedom, aparigraha (non-attachment), and queer resilience ✨ How Saturn’s 7-year cycles invite us to reflect on endings, beginnings, personal growth, and collective awakening I’ll also guide you through a short breath + visualization practice, and offer a journal prompt to help you reflect on what cycles are ending — and beginning — in your own life. Links + Things: 📩 Email me your story at ⁠[email protected]⁠ — I may share it (with your consent) in a future episode! 🌿 Download my free self-care guide → ⁠www.youareloved.one/pod ⛰️ The Mount Madonna Center is a gorgeous Yoga retreat center nestled in the mountains overlooking California's Monterey Bay. In addition to hosting retreats, this 380-acre oasis is hOMe to an intentional Yoga community, an institute of Yoga + Ayurveda, a K-12 school, Hanuman + Ganesh Vedic Temples, and trails to explore the redwood forest. I lived and worked there for a year, and then I completed my advanced Yoga teacher training with the Mount Madonna Institute online. → http://mountmadonna.org/ 🍋‍🟩 Kitchari (traditional Ayurvedic dish) recipe → https://youareloved.one/resources/kitchari-recipe 🧘🏽‍♀️ Join us for the Wild Witchy Womxn’s Yoga Retreat, Oct. 3–5 in North East Ohio. It’s going to be a magical space of embodiment, ritual, and community. A few seats are left! → https://youareloved.one/fall-yoga-retreat 💜 If this episode resonated with you, please share it with a queer or spiritual friend, and leave a 5-star review wherever you listen! Thank you so much. Stay witchy, and Blessed Be. With all my love, Lee Devi ✨ -- What is up, my witches? Welcome to the Queer Soul Alchemy podcast, a supportive community helping queer folx to embrace their authentic selves by exploring Yoga, Astrology, and Spirituality. I’m your host, Lee Devi. Queer Soul Alchemy explores Yoga, Ayurveda, Astrology, Sexuality, and Spirituality as tools for healing, self care, and personal transformation. Rooted in queerness and the LGBTQ+ community, this space celebrates queer identity, uplifts transgender voices, and inspires you to embrace your authentic self. A sanctuary for seekers, allies, and the queer community, this is where magic and soul evolution meet. 🌈 About Your Host: Lee Devi 🌈 When I was growing up, I didn’t have any LGBTQ+ role models, and I didn’t know it was okay to be myself. I’m Lee Devi, a queer and nonbinary teacher, healer, and guide (they/them). Through over a decade of Yoga practice, Ayurvedic study, and living a Yogic lifestyle, I’ve unraveled — and continue to unravel — layers of mental and spiritual conditioning. And somewhere along the way, I became the role model of my own dreams. Today, I’m a 500-hour Registered Yoga Instructor, a 600-hour Ayurvedic Health Counselor, a Transformational Retreat Facilitator, and an Intuitive Astrologer. My work integrates Yoga, Ayurveda, Astrology, Spirituality, Queerness, and Self Care to support personal transformation and healing within the LGBTQ+ community and beyond. I believe that every person deserves the space to embrace their authentic self and connect with the divine energy within.