Spy: How Rachel Hunter got zen over lockdown

Rachel Hunter Lockdown in India Spy July 2020

Kiwi superstar Rachel Hunter has spent lockdown finding inner peace and tranquillity in India.

Earlier this year, the former supermodel sold her house above the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. In March, when much of the world went into lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, Hunter was submerging herself into 18 days silence with yoga mentors in an Ashram for the Hindu festival of Maha Shivarati.

The 500-hour yoga instructor told her social-media followers that during the silence, she experienced moments of great worry as her adult children, Renee and Liam Stewart, were in London. With her loved ones scattered around the globe, the 50-year-old found herself wanting to hold them.

Earlier this year Renee and Liam enjoyed celebrating the 75th birthday of their father, Sir Rod Stewart. After a stint playing ice hockey in Queenstown last year, Liam is now playing for Milton Keynes Lightning in Buckinghamshire. Renee gave online yoga classes during the British lockdown and since it has eased, has enjoyed getting outside to perform her other passion, dancing.

Their mum is now in New Delhi on the next part of her lockdown. She says her adventure continues, as she had a slight document problem, so is still in India but possibly trying to get into the UK.

Hunter is staying at the Oberoi, Gurgaon, a five-star hotel with a 3.5ha urban sanctuary. She told her followers the airports in India were doing an amazing job with safety and hygiene protocols, citing temperature checks, face masks, face shields and hand sanitising.

This week she told Instagram followers she hadn't seen a face she deeply knows for months, nor has she touched another human for months. She is learning the "new way" to move in public and says she had to shut off the news, as, after a few minutes, it would fray her nervous system.

After her latest journey, the faithful yogini intends to move in a more conscious, meaningful manner for herself but, more especially, selflessly for others.

Hunter had moments of worry, wanting to have control of the outcome, with thoughts of those who are suffering. She had moments of "I need to get home" and finally a moment of surrender, before realising for some reason she was supposed to be exactly where she was.

The star of the popular Tour of Beauty series has been sharing peace and love and says regardless of who you are, or where you are, with the world shut down, it has been a great time to find the inner world she has found through yoga, meditation, and other spiritual practices.

Hunter's love affair with India grew over several years but culminated last year when daughter Renee joined her at the Sattva Yoga Academy in Rishikesh, where Renee also became an instructor.