From a Quarantine Room in Taipei to the Sacred Valley, Peru — How I Found My Way Back to Myself"

My journey about going within, keeping a promise to yourself, and discovering the life that exists just beyond the edge of what you know.

Part One - Early 2021

The room where everything stopped

I would never imagine — myself — that I will ever spend $14,000 just to be in a room, can't see anyone for 21 days. $10,000 is about the amount for five air tickets from St. Louis to Taipei, but then they got cancelled one by one, so four of them got cancelled and turned into travel credit before I luckily get on the fifth one. Plus pre-pay $4,000 right after I successfully booked a quarantine hotel in Taipei — that connected perfectly from the moment I land in Taipei, to a designated driver that is waiting for me, straight to the lobby of the hotel. That is the beginning of my story.

When I landed in Taipei on January 15th, 2021, I had three pieces of paper with me to prove that I am safe for 48 hours. The next thing they ask me to do is take out my American SIM card and get a Taiwan phone number so they would use to call me and check on me for the next three weeks.

And I remember — there is so much awareness around me. Everyone treat me very kindly, but with a high alertness. I completely understand. Taiwan is one of the few places in the world that stay remarkably safe without lockdown after 1 year. So I know — even though I feel like I am coming home — on a certain level, I am a threat for the entire country. And that is an internal shift I need to accept. I love Taiwan and so I’m happily locked myself in.

I try to give myself a 21 days routine to keep myself in balance. Yoga is perfect for my stiff and stressed body. Meditation is exactly what I need. And when the emotions rise, which a lot, I pull all my thoughts and feelings out onto paper and they hold my tear perfectly. The room becomes a perfect middle place for me to finally process everything that has been happening since March, 2020.

There was about a week I sleep till the afternoon and wake up at 2 a.m. everyday. When I couldn’t go back to sleep, I would standing by the window, looking out at the dark empty street of Taipei. I felt like I am in a lonely planet. It was such a strange feeling. And it goes on for a while.

I keep thinking — what is this all about? What can I make sense out of all of this? My logical brain want so badly to make sense of all this loss, my studio, $14,000 and my life in the United States, it felt like I finally made it to shore after huge tsunami.

During my time in the hotel — some dear friends drop yummy food at the front desk. Some phone calls with family and friends in Mandarin. I finally start to feel... I am in Taiwan now. I am here now.

One evening, I ask myself: so after leaving here, what do you want to do?

I then start to answer myself …I want to spend time with my family. I want to travel and visit my friends and actually sit with them. I want to visit the village I grow up in. I want to visit my school and teachers, basically trace my way back and meet the person I was before I moved to United States in 2007.

I remember the Christy before United States. She is too busy to live. So I want to get to know her. And when the world open again — I don't want to just travel between Taiwan and America anymore. I want to explore this world. Our beautiful world.

Part Two - 2021 -2022

From self-compression to self-compassion

I end up staying in Taiwan for one and a half years.

And during that time — so many people reach out to me from both sides of the Pacific Ocean. We have many one-on-one Zoom chats and coffee time. And one question I get asked often, from both sides, is: Will you stay in Taiwan? Or will you return to United States?

And I ask myself the same thing. After 14 years of living in United States — can I see myself move back and live in Taiwan? Or after being away for 14 years — can I see myself continue to live and create in United States?

For anyone who is going through an internal pulling like this — it will definitely drive you a bit crazy. Because when the question comes, the answer does not necessarily follow, because there is no personal clarity. And to have clarity, I need to feel that I have done honest self-reflection. I just cannot push the answer to come. So I give myself a lot of time, and it pushes me to truly reflect on who I really am as a person. Who is the core of me?

But before I answer that — I want to share something I don't often talk about.

Like most immigrants in United States, I spend every moment just trying to learn everything, and expect myself to be good at everything, as soon as possible. I look at what other people are doing and I try my best to follow. I learn all the rules, how to, and the best way, and I keep going, I keep adding skill after skill — from learning English to driving a car and more. It took me 7 years to transform from feeling like an outsider to feel like I have a life in America, and another 7 years from practicing yoga to build a wellness community that everyone just so loving.

But still, there is always a voice pushing me forward. Unconsciously, I become very good at expecting a lot from myself, and I am also the one who adds more to my list — first is becoming good at something, and then delivering value to others. If you are someone like me, our brain or ego can trick you into feeling that becoming good at things is only good. But with my own honest self-reflection, I know I have been living my life with self-compression rather than self-compassion. Although I seem can't get a grip on anything at the time externally, my self-awareness has grown expansively and begins to speak more to me like never before. I know these are coming from within, so I start documenting them without changing a word.

Why do I share this with you? Because there are two truths from my experiences.

Two things I realized during this time from my own experinces:

1, Despite teaching yoga and meditation for years — I cannot yoga or meditate my way out of that state of uncertainty and confusion.

2, Despite reading tons of books at that time — from English to Mandarin, from philosophy to psychology — the only peace I can find within is when I finally put my book down and rest my eyes and let it be. I am in the cloud. And so I allow myself to be in the cloud, knowing that I am just like an airplane moving through the cloud — above the cloud there is the sun, and below the cloud there will be places. Why don't I allow myself to lean into it, and feel it all?

And I feel like I hear a voice from within:

There is gold in all of this.

If you keep feeling into it.

And what I find, at the very center of my heart and my being, is this — freedom. Wherever I choose to be, or whatever I choose to do next, I need to feel that I am free. Freedom is the core of my living. I am at my best when I am allowing myself to explore my potential — not out of being good at something, but driven by my curiosity of life. And what is more joyful than helping people to find within themselves what I found within myself! I finally connect with my 27-year-old self who is seeking for potential in herself, and possibility in life beyond Taiwan — when she moved to United States, 14 years later, back in Taiwan.

Part three 2022-2024

I have a vow with Christy, and I delivered it

And then one day, I come across a beautiful place online. It feel almost too surreally beautiful. A blue sky background, a Greek temple, and a male sculpture laid down — like a falling angel. Is this place real? Oh my god, it is. It is called the Valley of the Temples in Sicily! I imagine myself standing in front of it. How I wish I was there! After some daydreaming, I save that image. And I tell myself — when the world opens again, I will be there.

That feeling tells me that I am ready. Ready to return to United States. Back to doing what I love the most — sharing the ancient gift of yoga and meditation with people who feel called to it, and creating space and opportunity for people like me who are going through uncertainty and confusion, and exercising self-reflection that gives birth to clarity on their path.

Within one week after I landed in St. Louis, May 2022 — I receive an email from someone named John, from Sandwich, Massachusetts. He is asking if I would like to host a retreat.

In Italy.

I read it twice. I cannot believe what I am seeing. Italy has been living in my mind since I see that photo, and I haven't even known yet how to put it into words. Despite I thought about going to Sicily one day, I don't know how to combine traveling and yoga and exploring life together into something I can name. I have traveled solo to many countries, but I have never brought anyone besides my family out of the country before.

“The best way to know the path is to walk the path”.

- My inner myself

And in June 2023, I lead our very first retreat. In Italy. I still couldn’t believe it!

Our first retreat is a huge heart-stretching — not only for me, but for everyone who feel called to and go on this journey. Some of them told me they have a passport they have never used. Some are gaining the courage to travel overseas for the very first time! What an incredible feeling to say yes to their dream. I remember seeing them smile and relaxed, and most importantly, free!

One student joined retreat tells me she hasn't taken a personal trip by herself — without a conference or with family — since she started medical school. That was almost 30 years ago. It is hard to hear, but it is not uncommon for many professional individuals. It starts with the desire to be good at something, and with 10 years on a person's journey, the career comes, and the life partner comes, and the kids come, and the wheels of life begin. We are riding a small wheel, and when you become good and skillful at something, things feel normal because everyone is all riding big wheels, and time keeps on rolling.

Very fortunately, I host another retreat in Italy with Lucia in 2024. And after our lovely retreat is completed, I have a personal commitment that I vow to deliver for Christy — the frustrated, struggling Christy who spent $14,000 to be in a room for 21 days and didn't know why. So I travel to Sicily alone. To the Valley of the Temples. To the Temple of Concordia.

I will never forget the moment I am actually standing right there, next to the graceful male-figure angel. To walk through the Valley of the Temples feels like a dream again — but a different kind of dream. This time, the experience feels like a confirmation of my own calling. I didn't push myself but carry myself through it with self-compassion, and allow my heart to lead when my brain is questioning.

There is gold in all of this. If you keep feeling into it, then you will arrive

- Christy’s inner voice

I have a promise to Christy, and I did it.

Part Four -2025

Sacred Valley — Where I learn to listen and feel

About this time, I receive another invitation from Munay Sonqo in Peru. A retreat center located in the Sacred Valley — an amazing location due to its natural spiritual power, breathtaking landscapes, and access to incredible Incan sites such as Machu Picchu. They tell me Munay Sonqo means "loving heart" in Quechua — the ancient language of the Quechua community. The message pulls a string in my heart the moment I read it.

And from my own experience, I know — the best way to know the path is to walk the path myself. In June 2025, me and our sweet group arrived in the Sacred Valley.

I can't quite describe the feeling of walking into the center, and then into the temple where we hold our despacho ceremony. Maybe it is because we can see the full moon. Maybe it is because I can hear the nearby waterfall. Or the fact that we are physically by the Andes Mountains at about 9,500 feet. It feels a sense of surreal.

Our paqo — our Andean spiritual guide — leads us into the despacho ceremony. We are invited into their way of being. Slowly, and quietly, I feel an inner shift within me. I see myself move from the modern Western sense of time into something beyond time. Something that has been there before me, and beyond me. We are guided to connect with something much larger than ourselves — the Milky Way, the Universe — in a circle, in a temple where the light from the full moon makes some people look so soft. We set our intention and give our offering to Pachamama — Mother Earth. Asking for her permission and her protection before our journey begins.

In that moment, I know — we have arrived in the right place. Guided by people with deep respect, deep presence, and deep heart.

As we continue through the sacred sites — and especially at Machu Picchu — our paqo Valerio invites us to experience the land with our whole being. He asks us to lean into the rock and listen. In Peru, there are rocks that sound like church bells — can you imagine? He tells us everything is vibration, from physical to non-physical. If we want to sense the presence of life in everything around us — in the trees, the flowers, in the path we walk — we have to soften the thinking mind. And allow our whole being to become part of what is around us. There is a world we cannot see with our eyes, but can feel when we become quiet and still.

Machu Picchu, he says, is the university of the Universe. There is the visible side — the one we can photograph. And there is another side.

One that cannot be seen, but can only be felt.

In the ancient time before the Spanish conquest in the 15th century, people used to take pilgrimage by foot from wherever they were to Machu Picchu — to meditate and receive the wisdom of the Universe. After all, we are living in a vibrational-based universe.

We all leave with a deep sense of awe. And for me — if my 21 days in that room was a time of going within, our time in the Sacred Valley feels like something has been cracked slightly open. And that is the beginning.

It has been 10 months since our return. And yet the presence of the Andes and Machu Picchu has never truly left me. This experience feels like a few veils have been gently lifted. On the outside — it feels like revealing a different dimension of being that I hadn't fully known before. On the inside — I learn to allow more inner space, more personal reflection, unfolding week after week after my return.

For a very long time, teaching yoga and meditation are my only offering for many years. But since my one and a half years of self-transformation, and becoming a certified coach to guide people to their inner teacher, I now see myself more like a bridge — to create space and opportunity for you to listen to what has been within you all along. Not because I have all the answers. But because I have walked through the uncharted territory, and walk with you back to the all-knowing within you.

With light,
Christy Lin