lost…and found

There are moments when I rediscover myself. Like I let myself become lost amongst the daily responsibilities, and the rhythm of life. But a piece of music, familiar face, place or situation, a moment can sometimes make me realise I’ve been off the path I’d intended. Maybe I wasn’t quite feeling or being myself; perhaps I’d taken the role of someone else, become smaller than I’d hoped. I had lost my way.

I see it in friends who had dreams and ambitions but slowly sacrificed them because of love, life or comfort. Some of us become less than we’d intended. We lose our way.

This is where Yoga becomes medicine, for it’s a practice that brings presence and lands us back in our body.

There’s a theory that our energy body (spirit/soul) can escape the boundaries of skin and hang about us cloud-like as an aura. Some experience this sensation as being connected to the wider world - an empath who feels the energy of others more viscerally than of self. For some, the escapism of self means feels like a loss of boundaries or power.

The tenets of Yoga teaches methods to re-invite self back to the space and boundaries of body. When we find what was lost, we reawaken our power, gain direction and feel a deep now-ness.

Each of the 8 limbs - Yama (worldly restraints), niyama (self restraints), asana (posture), pranayama (breath), pratyahara (withdrawal of senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (union/bliss) - show us how to find one self - the truest versions of ourselves.

Finding one self means to allow what holds us back to fall away. We must lose inhibitions, societal beliefs, and find what fills our own cup.

It’s okay to get lost. It’s just we have to make sure we practice self-care enough that we discover and find ourselves again.

Like this intention…I got a little lost this month, so had to find myself to have the energy to share my thoughts again.

“We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.”

— T.S. Eliot, from Little Gidding