Growing from the inside out

Nothing in this universe ever grows from the outside in. Every seed, every tree, every flower, every human heart unfolds from within. Life always moves from the inside out. Yet so many of us spend our lives looking beyond ourselves for the answers, listening to those who are deemed the wise ones of our time, searching externally for what is quietly waiting within us, and has been all this time.

As my own yoga practice continues to mature, I am beginning to understand this truth in a much deeper way. I find myself longing to listen more deeply, to feel more honestly, allowing what lives within to naturally flow outward into the world. To trust this voice.

My asana, pranayama and meditation practices have become the gateways into this inner landscape. Alongside them, I dance, I sing, I chant and I play. These too have become sacred practices, each one gently opening a doorway into the vast pools of wisdom that reside beneath the surface of us and our everyday lives.

There are fleeting moments when I catch a glimpse of that infinite space—the place where everything and nothing exist together. A place beyond words, beyond thought, where the heart knows what our mind can never understand. It is here that I invite you to dwell more often this week, meeting life through every one of our senses with openness, wonder and awe.

No longer wishing to speak from habit, expectation or fear. No longer to simply go along for the ride, to fit in, keep the peace or avoid unsettling the apple cart. Instead, invite our words, our actions and our presence to arise from somewhere much deeper—from the quiet truth that lives within.

So, this week's invitation is beautifully simple.

Use our yoga practice, whatever that looks like as each day unfolds, as a way of coming home to ourself. Whether you are in a session, on your mat at home, walking through the woods, dancing around your kitchen, or sitting quietly beneath the morning sky, it matters less where we practise or when we practise. What matters is how deeply we are willing to meet ourselves.

Maybe

• carry a question into your practice and allow it to settle in your heart rather than searching for an answer with your mind.

• breathe in the fragrance of a flower until it awakens something forgotten within you.

• move through your Sun Salutations as though every cell in your body is remembering who it has always been.

• sing. chant. dance. cry. laugh. Or simply sit in silence and listen, not for words, but for the vastness that exists before words were even imaged let alone uttered.

Keep exploring. Keep softening. Keep journeying inward. Until there is no part of yourself left in exile. Only the quiet remembrance that you have never been separate.

The profound oneness of life, expressing itself as you.

Hari Om Tat Sat