I’m still in England, staying with my extended family as I always do when I travel here. Over the past 15 years, these trips have always provided me with a real break from my daily life and responsibilities, and along with that have come some of the greatest moments of clarity and epiphany. Last night something happened that I’m still trying to process, and I wanted to share it with you.
I, obviously, am a huge believer in what yoga brings to our lives. The physical, emotional, intuitive, energetic…the benefits are innumerable, and they affect all aspects of my own life. I didn’t start teaching yoga with the intention of filling up my coffers or becoming wealthy, in fact, I’m very aware of what it takes to simply get the bills paid in this field of work. I also have never felt the inclination to run through training course after training course, and to be honest, I found my yoga teacher training to be possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever done. My reason for teaching stemmed from my passion for my own personal yoga practice. What I deemed über-personal and enlightening for myself ended up being what I felt compelled to share with the world. Nonetheless, with the growing demand to teach and speak and bring my message to people, I have noticed how easy it can become to let my personal practice fall by the wayside as my schedule gets busier and busier. The expression “The carpenter’s cabin is always the one in need of repairs” has rung true many a time in my career, and so when I came over to the UK this time, I vowed to come back to my home practice.
After only a few days of coming back to it, I did the typical things we do when bringing ourselves back to a pattern or practice that we have once known but have let fall away: I analyzed how a regular yoga practice affected me – my mood, my physical state, everything. I saw how much better I was feeling, physically, emotionally and mentally. All these things I felt in control of – I had made the decision to prioritize my practice, and these were the benefits I experienced as a result of that decision. And then last night I had a dream.
I was in India. Ok. Let’s stop here for a moment. India has never had a massive allure to me. I consider myself sensitive to suffering and sadness and having seen images and knowing the degree of poverty and suffering that exists in India, I’ve definitely felt an aversion to all that (dysentery has also always been a fear, if I’m being honest). Back to the dream now. I’m in India, at the top of a flight of stairs that borders a river. I’m in need of some kind of help (I can’t remember what was wrong), and before me is a sadhu (Indian sage) with long, dark hair and a beard, in orange robes. He gives me something (I can’t remember what, but it wasn’t a tangible, material object), and a sense of peace and gratitude washes over me. I started thanking him in earnest, my palms together in front of my forehead as I bow to him, thanking him over and over. He then walks a few steps away from me to the mouth of a long horn-like wooden instrument and blows into it, releasing a deep rumbling drone from the opening on the other side of it. I then turn, walk down the stairs to where I thought the sidewalk or road would be, but all is flooded, so I immerse myself in the water and start swimming, hyper-conscious of not letting the water into my mouth for fear of ingesting bacteria. I swim to the side where there are people lined up in single file, and as I join the line, a boy standing in front of me turns around and takes from me what I had attributed as being the blessing from the sadhu. I felt no panic or fear, in fact I realized that I could survive without what I had been given. And then I woke up.
I have read countless tales of people being visited by visions of sages in their dreams (A Search In Secret India and The Journey Home among others), and have always thought it fascinating. I never in my wildest fantasies ever thought I would have a dream like the one I did last night, and am so curious to see if this sage will manifest again somehow in my life. I feel steeped in spirituality today, guided by an energy that I have no control over, an energy that I somehow know will continue to bring me closer to true spiritual light the less I try to manipulate it. I feel so alive and wanted to share this experience with you…
I also wanted to ask if this has occurred to any of you before? Have you been visited in dreams or other states of (un/sub/super) consciousness by someone or something that you felt was guiding you? Let me know, and I will continue to share this ongoing experience as it unfolds to me…
Lovely! you’ve been blessed and I feel directly touched by your blessing while you share it with us. Thank you!
Yes, I had a mystic, awake experience when I would see every human being as an angel (in more or less despair and confusion) and I would know that we are all ONE. To keep it short…
Wow – well said and fascinating. Thank you for sharing. I haven’t had a dream with a visitor like that but I really enjoyed hearing yours. Take care.
Nice blog thaanks for posting