This blog was written on the Monday afternoon of our Ibiza yoga holiday in October 2014. It was only a few hours later that our group was challenged into their own hero’s journey. A journey, which started with awful family news for one member of the group who then had to leave us to return to the UK. This was, I feel the start of this little series of challenges and obstacles, with which we were faced as a group and as individuals. I must say however that however hard and challenging the experience was at times, it reminded me of the importance of accepting support, and how laughter and group energy aids our inner strength and self belief.
Some people spend a lifetime trying to fit in, to live according to cultural images that never seem congruent with their self-image. A person who is able to transcend the norms of society and move instead along a very individual path is to me a hero…to themselves and an inspiration to those around them. They are inspirational in their commitment, often passion and inner strength to commit to personal ideals, dreams and morals. The hero on their journey is demonstrating the courage, inner fortitude and drive that inspire us all to aim for the stars.
Our universe, like the universe of fairy tale and myth, is full of challenges, danger and difficult times. Many a time we will face challenges, which just like for the heroes of stories, mean we must find our way out of darkness and into the light. We may have times where we feel alienated, estranged, confused or challenged by events happening in our world…and these are the times where we may choose to take steps on our heroes journey. A ’heroes journey’ takes us from darkness into light. Often allowing us afterward to view our world through eyes changed by experience. For our perception is based upon our experiences & our reaction to the challenges in life.
One wonderful thing about life is that we are all on our own individual journey so to follow a well trodden path is to ignore that fact. The only way to discover our journey and our personal path is to look inward rather than listen to the external opinion of society telling us what we should be doing and what is expected of us. It is often hard to forge a personal path. Difficult to listen to our inner guide rather than those opinions and expectations, often of those that are close to us and that we respect.
Seemingly those on the right path can overcome insurmountable problems. It is said, in fact that this can be the way to determine if you are on your path, for the problems you find solutions too may be those that would be blocks for others trying to forge the same path. Joseph Campbell (1949) has described the archetypal ‘Heroes Journey’ as a series of interconnecting phases from innocence and unconsciousness through the initial challenge that begins the hero on their journey. The hero’s journey can be seen as a metaphorical framework in literature and myth of self-study and personal enquiry. It is through this journey they may encounter challenges and obstacles that in myth or fairy tale may involve evil or personal challenges allowing them to bring a gift to their world, personal transformation or the hand of their true love!
I feel that the last few years have been my own personal journey. For me each challenge I meet and overcome, each day of self-discovery that allows me to open to who and what I am, all allow me to perceive the world I live in very differently. I feel somehow lighter as well as stronger as I learn to believe that I am on my right path. That my dharma may be at times challenging, it is often not easy. That many a time I feel very far from a heroine but for me…that is now how I view myself. It is a strange thing I admit that I am learning to be proud of myself… but I am 🙂 for I have come a long way through an often challenging path to feel that ahead my world opens into a spaciousness beauty only possible to see because of the obstacles I have overcome getting here. Thank you to those who have joined me on this journey of yoga, of self-discovery and of challenges. Thank you to not only those who believed in me, but also to those negative people who tried to tell me I couldn’t for they only inspired me never to think like them! My little dream of doing Yoga in Cheshire, of creating a yoga community, of discovering a way to create links with like-minded individuals is happening. My dream of yoga retreats and yoga weekends both in the UK and abroad is evolving. My journey is far from over and I hope will not be for a long time…for those next obstacles are in the way of more exciting times so I hope to face them with courage, with inner strength and with a self belief I am slowly finding through my yoga practice.