What's Your Destiny?

"Speak more kindly, live more gently upon the earth and know more fully the expansiveness of your true nature. What a beautiful destiny for us all" Yogi Bhajan

This quote jumped out at me this morning and made me smile having just completed 11 rounds of the Mantra for Destiny : jat paahaaraa (the 38th Pauri of Japji)

More about this mantra later.

Destiny. True nature.

It's quite remarkable how far some of us can drift away from our true nature in pursuit of material gain, career success or striving to fit in with family, society and cultural norms. When your life revolves around identifying with job, money, face, clothes and car, you become stuck in a never-ending pattern of behaviour called fate. Life can feel heavy, like you're treading water, not really getting anywhere but becoming exhausted in the process of just keeping your head above water.

I was most certainly stuck on this path of fate for many years, almost resisting and fighting against my true nature. I have always been at my happiest when moving, stretching my body, through gymnastics as a child, then later with dance, yoga and in the water. I also had a gift for words and writing. And yet all of these parts of me were stripped away, or simply ignored, as I stepped on to the fast-moving conveyor belt of service to money and survival.

Bumping into Kundalini Yoga five years ago slowed that belt right down. I was taken on a new, and sometimes frightening journey inwards. It was pretty daunting because all my comfortable habits, patterns and relationships were hung out on display and brought into question, leading to many being cleaned away. As with every good clear-out there is often a residual feeling of lightness and clarity. My fresh open mind felt like a huge playing field of hope and opportunity as I stared my true nature square in the face, determined to not let it slip away again.

My destiny to teach, to write, to inspire others with my positive and joyful nature through movement on land and in the water, began to sing out loudly. I leapt on to its path and swiftly qualified as a Kundalini Yoga Teacher and Watsu Practitioner. And so my service to love, and to happiness began.

It can be exhausting to shift ourselves from the rut we find ourselves in, which is why Kundalini Yoga can help. The concept of the guru - teacher - is someone who can shift you for you. Within the tradition of Kundalini Yoga that role is taken by the shabad guru, the teacher within the song (mantra), which shifts us into a higher vibration when it is difficult to help ourselves. When we are on the path of fate we are vibrating at a low, base level. The path of destiny deals in the realm of the higher self and your true nature - a much higher level of vibration.

Chanting the 38th pauri of Japji gives us the power to rewrite our own destiny, re-write the direction of your heart. I love this mantra because I feel it singing deep in my heart, reminding me to stay true to my nature. To my Sat Nam (true vibration)

You too can let Kundalini Yoga take you on a journey inwards, re-tracing past steps, letting go of the masks, wiping the mirror clean. And then smile at the reflection peering back at you.