We Can’t Have Harmony If We All Sing the Same Note

I am very blessed to lead Yoga Teacher Trainings. I have the honour of helping students find a deep connection to Yoga and thereby to live a happier, healthier and more fulfilling life.  I am also blessed to witness students find their potential like the 60-year-old woman who did headstand for the first time and also their own voice like the shy introvert who leads a round of sun salutes to a room of 20 people.

Finding our potential is not as easy or obvious as it sounds. If you have been fortunate in life someone has encouraged you, guided you to listen to your inner voice or to speak your own truth.   For most of us we have not been taught the tools or techniques to even be aware of our own potential never mind speak it. Usually we find out who we are by comparing ourselves to others. Well if they are doing it then it must be the way to do it. Or we seek advice from everyone from our psychic to our shrink. “Tell me I am normal. Tell me what to think, do, eat, say. Tell me, tell me, tell me.”

I remember when I first started teaching Yoga, I felt like an impostor. I did not look like, sound like or be like the thin, blonde uber-beauties of the Yoga Mags. I felt that somehow how my dark crazy curls and curvy frame did not quite live up the ideals of a Yoga teacher in North America coupled with the fact that I did not always feel peaceful, liked filet mignon, the occasional margarita and old country music did not seem to fit into this ideal either. Should I give up all my leather jackets, start growing lentils and only buy Sting cds? More troubling were the nagging doubts that I had anything meaningful to say. Who would want to listen to me? Who was I kidding?

Then I met a great teacher. Radha was my chanting teacher at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai in 2003. I was completely freaked out about chanting as I had the worse voice ever. I hated the sound of it and really hated leading chants. Of course, Radha picked up on this and would make me set the pitch for the class which meant I had to chant Om and everyone would join in. At first I was terrified and then I realized that I could find my own pitch – in chanting class and in life.

I met many great teachers since them some of them on the mat and many off of it. One thing I learned is that we are all full of potential and we all have something meaningful, resonant and beautiful within us and it is our duty to share it with the world. It may be as a Yoga teacher, as a gardener, as a carpenter, a lawyer, a lover, a friend.   Many times we are standing in the shadows waiting for a chance to sound our voice. And many times we do not know what our voice or inner knowing is call from us. Here is a simple way to begin to discover your potential and inner knowing:

Finding Your Potential/Voice:

• Step One: List all of the gifts you have been blessed with such as a great sense of humour, natural calm, great hair, a great smile, love of people, etc. Go crazy. Do not hold back. Let the great gifts overflow. You are blessed!

• Step Two: List all of the things you are really passionate about or things you have all dreamed about…Don’t censor yourself and don’t worry about the details.

• Step Three: Dream a dream…and then give it up to the universe. What are you wanting most for yourself and your world right now?  Once you have discovered that then ask the universe/creator/God to take care of the details.

The world needs you to stand in your light and in your potential. You are not alone. We are all cheering you on. This is not the time to play it small. Seek support, seek love and seek You.  Maybe if you are lucky a teacher will ask you to set the pitch and it will lead you into a whole new relationship with yourSelf.

Namaste,

Shasta

Learn more about Balanced Life Yoga’s life changing and life affirming Yoga Teacher Training Programs or about Magical Life Coaching to find your purpose and potential.

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Shasta Townsend: E-RYT 500, Reiki Master, Cultivator, Creator Balanced Life Yoga

A celebrated transformational leader and a leading pioneer in embodied spirituality and Yoga, Shasta has inspired hundreds of people through her breakthrough methods for awakening and empowering your inner voice and divine power. Director, founder and senior teacher with Balanced Life Yoga, she delivers public talks, seminars and trainings on evolution and empowerment. She draws on a wide variety of techniques including Yoga, Shamanism, meditation, energy healing, coaching and the Law of Attraction. She is especially appreciated for her passionate way of allowing individuals to make sense of their world and embodied, holistic means to become the change they wish to see.

As early as in her teenage years, Shasta embarked on her journey as a spiritual explorer which led her to India, where she studied yoga, meditation and energy healing. She has studied with many remarkable mentors and she has undergone thousands of hour’s intense practice of meditation and spiritual studies. Shasta has taken every opportunity to become adept in her field through her own practice as well as through extensive training in yoga, group dynamics, meditation and spiritual counselling.

www.balancedlifeyoga.ca