The Paths That Found Us

It is in those quiet moments, when you pause, that you realise you are living a life you once only dreamed about. In one of my favourite children’s books, Wendy asks Peter Pan, “What if I fall?” just before she follows him into the air for the first time. And Peter replies, “Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?”

I have always been an overthinker. But instead of only imagining what could go wrong, I have learned to also picture what could go right. Over the past two weeks, I have been reminded how often life unfolds not through careful planning, but through the paths that quietly find us.

Priyanka and I met seven years ago during a mountaineering course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. It was both of our first Basic Mountaineering Course. Her family is from Pithoragarh, a hill station in the foothills of the Himalaya in Uttarakhand, and she grew up in Haldwani, where the land begins to flatten.

Back then, she was finishing her Master’s degree in Geography, and I was at the end of a ten year career as an economist. We were both standing at turning points, without knowing how closely our paths would later intertwine. Looking back, this was one of those moments that did not seem significant at the time, yet quietly shaped everything that followed.

After the course, Priyanka and other coursemates invited me to visit their homes. I travelled for a month across Uttarakhand, meeting families and reconnecting with people I had only just met, yet already felt close to. I stayed the longest with Priyanka and her family. Since then, we have travelled and trekked together across India and Nepal, and I have returned to her home many times. Her mother, Saroj, checks on my health and happiness whenever I am in India and makes sure to scold me if I do not visit often enough. Recently, I brought my own mother to their home, and together we celebrated the wedding of Priyanka’s brother. Some relationships enter your life quietly and then never really leave.

When Priyanka continued her training as a mountain guide and started working as a tourist guide for an international travel company, I felt it would only be a matter of time before we would start working together. With about a month in mid February between my yoga course in Goa and my next Shanti Trek in Nepal, and with Priyanka not having any tours planned, we took the opportunity to explore our first real Incredible India trip together.

After beginning our journey in Amritsar, where we experienced the calm and openness of the Golden Temple, we continued on to Dharamshala. As I followed the same path up to Triund that I had walked years earlier with the French mountain guide, I was reminded of how far I had come. This time, without planning it, we were lucky. The Dalai Lama was in residence, and Priyanka was able to attend one of his ceremonies for the first time. McLeod Ganj, the upper part of Dharamshala, carries a very different atmosphere. It is home to the Tibetan community in exile, and the presence of Buddhism can be felt everywhere, in the prayer flags, the scent of incense, and the quiet stillness that seems to settle over the town. Standing there, I could feel how different moments in my life were beginning to connect.

After our mountaineering course, a few of us travelled to Rishikesh for one night before our paths parted. It was a lot to take in. Pilgrims by the Ganges, rituals, temples, and pujas everywhere. At the same time, there were big emotions in saying goodbye to new friends and continuing on alone.

I cannot really say I experienced Rishikesh back then, but ever since, I have felt a pull to return to this holy city by the Ganges. This time, I stayed for two weeks. I found a room in an ashram, practised yoga daily, and immersed myself in the rhythm of life along the river, following the spiritual pulse of Mother Ganga.

Just as Priyanka and I were about to part ways, I came across an advertisement for a Tibetan singing bowl course. I had first experienced sound baths in Nepal and had felt their effects deeply, but I had never found a teacher I truly trusted. This time felt different. The timing aligned, and I signed up. We started with the basics, learning how to hold and play the bowls and how to create vibration. Later, we explored placing them on the body to release tension directly in the muscles.

For me, the connection was immediate. Sound has a way of bypassing thought. It slows the breath, softens the body, and creates space. After attending a Yin Yoga and sound session, my imagination began to wander. I started to wonder what this experience would feel like in the mountains. The school had connections to a factory in Kathmandu, and as I write this now, sitting in my favourite café, my own set of singing bowls is being made. Another path I had not planned, now unfolding naturally.

When I quit my job as an economist in 2019 and set off backpacking through India and Nepal, I had no clear plan. It felt open ended, uncertain, and at times even directionless. Only now do I realise that I was already laying the foundation for what would later become Shanti Treks.

Looking back, it is striking how little of it was accidental. The people I met, the paths I chose, and the small decisions that felt insignificant at the time all seem to connect. Encounters that lasted only a day stayed with me for years, and moments that felt random became turning points. Even doubt and uncertainty were quietly shaping direction. Not everything reveals its purpose immediately, and not every step needs to make sense in the moment. Sometimes it is only with distance that the threads begin to come together. I have come to believe that there is a quiet logic to it all. The right people appear when you are ready, and the paths you walk slowly form something meaningful, even if you cannot yet see what that is.

If parts of this story resonate with you, maybe it is your turn to take a step into the unknown. You can find all details for our upcoming journey here:

Incredible India – Paths of the Himalaya

And if you would like to experience the sound of my new singing bowls, I will be bringing them to several upcoming yoga weekends and day hikes.

Haus Spitzingsee with Mie, 23-26 July

Meissnerhaus, 3-6 September

Rifugio Fanes, 28 September – 2 October

Day-Hikes finishing with Yin and Sound Bath at Haus Spitzingsee