Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

My family has always been pretty traditional around the holidays. My Christmas memories are filled with large, chaotic gatherings of aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and neighbours, always with lots of food and lots of fun. Put it this way: if you’re around my family at Christmas time, it's hard to feel lonely. Between the games of musical chairs, basketball, karaoke, bonfires, music, and dancing, there’s never a dull moment.

I couldn’t imagine spending the holidays any other way, until I got accepted to return to study with my Ashtanga Yoga teacher, Paramaguru Sharath Jois. My period of study was to be during the month of December, which meant Christmas in India; halfway around the world, oceans apart from the warmth of my family and friends and anything that felt familiar.

But it was a chance to spend time with my teacher, so off I went. I felt homesick and a pang in my heart that ached to be near my friends. I was sad to miss out on Mom and Dad’s Christmas dinner, and the annual holiday show I looked forward to playing every year with my pals. The FOMO was real.

But before I knew it, I was all wrapped up in my studies and my new life in India. December crept on, and something magical began to happen. My fellow yoga students, who too had made the pilgrimage from various places all around the globe, quickly became family, and together we found new ways to honour the holidays.

We put on a Christmas carol sing-a-long concert at a local cafe and sold Santa hats to raise funds to support a local orphanage. We visited a “snow park” to play around in man-made snow. Instead of buying gifts, I got a new tattoo to honour my grandmother. And instead of a traditional Christmas dinner, a couple dozen of us crammed into a little living room and feasted Indian style; sitting on the floor, eating with our hands and filling our bellies with various permutations of dhal and rice.