Paying homage to my roar-ness
For years, most have known me as Roar Spirit Yoga, a title I chose for myself straight out of yoga school. And while it’s served me well, today I am proud to step into the sacred power of my name.
It’s fair to say that my spiritual path has been affirmed in recent months. After losing my dear Mum about 4 months ago while in mandated quarantine with my husband…I had no choice but to dive in and process this devastating life event.
Right now I am reminded of the great spiritual teacher Ram Dass who in his film Going Home said of his debilitating stroke which left him with expressive aphasia: “the stroke pushed me inside and it’s so wonderful. I don’t wish you the stroke but I wish you the Grace from the stroke.”
Same…I don’t wish you the grief, but I wish you the time wandering inside.
Having now lost both of my parents in physical form, never has my name been so important to me.
My name has always been a part of my legacy but I now I feel that more strongly as I continue to struggle with the dark feelings of abandonment and primordial aloneness.
It must be said however, that Roar Spirit was the umbrella under which I collected so many wonderful memories, so its important for me to pay homage to all the name helped facilitate for me, including:
Building my own beautiful community of yogis in Docklands and bringing yoga to the area
Securing regular classes at some of Melbourne’s most wonderful studio
Conducting numerous workshops solo and with some beloved yogi colleagues
Teaching on three Yoga retreats including one I co-led in Hoi An, Vietnam
Inclusion in Australia’s first dedicated book to local yogis Down Under Yogis
Facilitating two world yoga days with the Melbourne Star - including filling each cabin of the wheel with a yoga class in celebration of our auspicious day
Invaluable time spent in Hoi An, Vietnam teaching at the wonderful wellness centre (A Luminary Life) sharing the teachings with an international audience
However, a commitment to sadhana (daily spiritual practice) will inevitably transform us in ways we could never imagine. It certainly has me.
But know that this devotion to self-exploration doesn’t change you, per say. There’s actually nothing to change about yourself. It’s more of a peeling back, so to remember all that you already are. After over a decade of uncovering, not just through the yoga method but also with the ‘human curriculum’ (a la Ram Dass) as my teacher, finally I feel like I am living more aligned with my true nature.
Today, I am more alive to the idea that there isn’t anything material in this world that can make me happy. And there’s no one person, job or holiday that can make me happy. That is all an inside job.
At the heart of my recent spiritual re-awakening has been my discovery of Bhakti yoga. Chanting mantra coupled with playing the harmonium.
Bhakti yoga is a pathway to self-realisation and is a practice that has helped me to take spiritual bounds. It opens your heart and helps to clear your mind of all the stuff of not-remembering. To chant the Name (of God, Divinity, Consciousness) is to call out to the light of Divinity within. That which you are seeking… if you’re a seeker.
Let’s see, but I hope you’ll be able to join me soon either online or in person for kirtan.
Sometimes I feel like I am tuned into a station, that the majority of people aren’t even aware of…yet. Most are listening to radio non-stop thinking (a ‘la Thich Nhat Hanh) and living their life governed by their sub conscious patterning and conditioning. And hey, for the most part, I still do that too.
Frankly, I stare in disbelief at people who adore dogs but will happily consume bacon, people who preach the teachings of yoga but don leather jackets and handbags, who throw their cigarette butts on the street or out the window of their car like they somehow don’t count.
But hand on heart, I know they are my teachers too and I am grateful for them.
Despite the doom and gloom of our time, I remain hopeful that recent world events have seen more people turn on the radio and open up to the possibility that true growth and the realisation of our connectedness comes from the deep crevices of our suffering.
My commitment to my own practice and to helping others realise their own inner light is what continues to propel me on my own path. This is the tonic for realising my own spiritual potency.
And so I’ve decided to start the next chapter of this journey, simply as me.
Today, I step into my name with the same essence of Love I try to bring to every moment of my life.
Om Shanti xx
Thumbnail image thanks to Trina Gadsden.