KEEPING PACE WITH YOUR OWN HEART’S CALLING
September 15, 2025
Spiritual practice is resting in your true nature
Yoga centers, ashrams, retreats, and spiritual communities serve as powerful reminders of the peace and harmony attainable in our lives. The tranquility found within these spaces can become a true refuge.
People practice yoga and benefit from it for a variety of reasons. Yoga is an incredibly flexible and adaptable practice, not a dogma or a one-size-fits-all template. It has the capacity to create, expand, and touch every aspect of life. Not everyone who practices yoga will be on the same path you wholeheartedly follow.
Many engage in yoga for physical reasons—to improve movement, address tight hamstrings, loosen up, alleviate back pain, or enhance mental clarity. For them, physical practice is a journey of self-discovery through anatomy, biomechanics, sequencing, alignment, and balance. This includes both the stillness of static holds and intelligent flow, all of which convey the purpose and presence of the underlying yogic philosophy. Meditation for these individuals may be a destination of physical and emotional tranquility rather than a formal practice. Nevertheless, they learn to stretch and discover spaciousness as a core aspect of awakening. Any emotional or psychological shifts, and their embrace of the finer aspects of yoga, will unfold naturally and should never be forced.
Your path might involve trying to save the world, seeking spirituality, cleansing a chakra, promoting veganism, finding meaning in your existence, or balancing the dance of life. A quest for spirituality or a soul-searching mission may indeed be your personal journey.
You need never feel judged for practicing yoga for your own reasons. There's no need to seek recognition or celebrate how "yogic" or "spiritual" you are. Transformation originates from within. Your perception of who you *should* be does not need to be derived from those who themselves are unsure of who they truly are. Embrace yourself, with all your flaws and insecurities. Simply be yourself, and continue your yoga practice in a way that genuinely benefits you in the real world. Spirituality and personal evolution occur organically, at their own pace and time.
Yoga encompasses far more than just physical poses. Opening beyond the body and self allows us to release ill-will, love others without needing to change them, and experience true freedom. When our identity expands to something greater or more timeless, when we recognise the fleetingness and impermanence of what we cling to, and realise that this body is not who we are, then something else profound becomes possible.
Yoga does not demand that you lose yourself, wear japa malas and Om t-shirts, chant, dress like an Indian, place a crystal on your forehead or heart in Shavasana, balance your chakras or energy fields, or compromise who you are by acting like someone you're not. This approach to yoga (and life) is an act—living in a world of illusion.
The true practice of yoga, however, is one of awakening!
