“We are born into the world of nature, our second birth is into the world of spirit.” - Bhagavad Gita They say that when you are ready, a guru will be “exactly where you are at the appropriate moment”. With Divine timing, I found my guru this year in Florida. Truthfully, I wasn’t really looking to be a yoga teacher but I just knew I had to get away for a little bit to unplug and retreat, to get closer to myself. I had been reading so much Ram Dass, I became obsessed. So coming into the ashram, I had already felt the solitude away from people and had become so inward bound listening to his lectures. It was him that brought me closer to Yogi Hari, in its unique way. Before the ashram, I expected to learn the asanas, the poses we typically see, and maybe learn to quiet my mind better. But I quickly learned that Yogi Hari intended the program to be more than just about our bodies. Yoga, after all, is the union of our mind, body, and spirit. In Sampoorna yoga, we experience the yoga of Fullness. . Yesterday was Guru Purnima where we celebrate and express gratitude to our gurus. I think of Yogi Hari, who has taught me to give all my heart when I chant and to feel the subtle vibration in silence and stillness. He taught me that the truest form of yoga is Karma yoga; that it is in our actions that really show how devoted we are in living the yogic way. I think of Ram Dass, his words, and his lectures that continue to remind me what illusions are, the Maya that is this world. That we are playing the Lila, the playful dance, and how necessary it is be curious and childlike. . I think of all the people I met at the ashram, the karma yogis, and the students like me. How they taught me about our Divine energy. . At the ceremony, Guruji named me Shakti, the Divine Cosmic Energy. It is everything there is. Shakti is the divine feminine energy that made this world possible. Shakti reminds me to be soft, to wring myself out of the toughness I was conditioned into, to be gentle, to go back to my childlike play, to nurture myself and others, to not be afraid of vulnerability. It sounds like coming back home. Om Shanthi 🌷