I used to feel like a bad yoga teacher, like someone who wasn’t living up to the title. Because I like to wear stylish clothes, love when my Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines arrive in the mail, and the amount of pleasure I get from a good dark chocolate bar is almost indecent. So, I figured, I wasn’t really a true yoga teacher, just a gal teaching yoga.
Then I discovered Tantra. There are worlds within worlds in yoga. Varying schools of thought, ways of categorizing our experiences, and branches that we can stand on. Tantra’s about embracing life in a way that acknowledges and embraces the soul.
We are embodied beings–spiritual beings having a human experience–and through our yoga practice we can unite with the universe.
And in that universe, there are a whole lotta wonderful things. Things like clothes that feel like ‘you’ when you wear them, glossy magazines that remind you of creative, uplifted people staking a claim on their talents and expressing them to the world, and really good dark chocolate.
Tantra is the study of the universal from the point of view of the personal: we are the microcosm of the macrocosm. It’s all about realizing the highest ideals of spiritual philosophy in daily life. In practical terms, that means that our life becomes our practice, and we learn about and embrace the truths of the universe through learning about and embracing our life.
Awareness is sacred. Tantra recognizes that anxiety, loneliness, and continual dissatisfaction often stem from desires that come from a less enlightened place. But, it doesn’t ask that we sever ourselves from our desires. Instead, we become aware of how what we desire causes us to feel—basically, more shackled, stuck and less liberated, or in a state of flow, grace and ease? Our more love-based selves—the part of us united with the universe—has desires, too. These desires ignite in us our state of flow, grace and ease.
And they’ll be unique to you.
Where we go next with this is important: since your unique desires are a reflection of the way your soul is uniquely incarnated, whatever lights you up is what is spiritual for you. Whatever lights up your unique spirit is spiritual for you. These are the ideas, actions, activities, and thoughts that incite in you your greatest sense of expansion, liberation and freedom.
These are soul-based. These are spiritual. These are ideas, actions, activities and thoughts that will help you be more “spiritual”—love-based—and love your life. And, they’re ones that likely have a role to play in the role you’re here to play for the world.
Enjoy!
xL
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Editor’s note: We hope you enjoy another inspiring guest post from Lindsey Lewis–life coach and yoga teacher. Stay up to date with her latest at www.libreliving.com, Facebook, and Twitter. 