I started off as a fighter.

A fighter for justice, the environment, for suffering of animals, anything you could think of. The suppression of alternative medicine, equality for woman, for rights of workers, our corrupt political landscape, third world suppression of people and misappropriation of resources, agriculture exploitation, tribal and first nation eradication off lands, the use of religion to manipulate minds, the misuse of information in media, manipulating media, ahhhhh the list can go on and on, but what didn’t go on and on was my fighting.

I found yoga. It wasn’t such a quick quietening, it took a lot of seeking and understanding of the larger picture to realize that at the center of my universe was me, as is all of us, at the heart of our universes.

All of this injustice that I was seeing, I was at the center of it. It still blows my mind, the immensity of the balancing act I was to undergo, the mental balancing act of equilibrium from within. I was to challenge, and still am, every rigid belief I had created from my rebellious youth through to my held adult beliefs, how indirectly or directly I was contributing to all of the above mentioned inequalities.

It was when I truly understood and thus I embodied what a great monk once said many ages ago: “When I was 20, I wanted to change the world, when I was 30 I wanted to change my friends and family and when I became 40 I realized I could only change myself.”

How could I judge others when our whole existence is a search for peace, whether consciously or not? Sometimes our idea of material comfort falls into that category. Material gain as I see it now is a misunderstood yearning for peace, a place to rest.

To rest what though?

The mind…the mind is discomfort.

So much of our existence and exploitation is based on our search for peace of mind. If we offend someone when we say we are vegetarian, it’s because it upsets their comfort level, their peace of mind. I realize I do not have to argue my choices anymore, because I have chosen a path of honesty to myself, I must live with my choices, how deep or shallow I make them and what brings my soul peace.

What I had undergone in my youth was a deep heartbreak and it took a raising of consciousness, very uncomfortable at times, much like Asana, to take my mind towards the eternal nature of myself. It allowed this nature to shine through and lift the veil of separateness from all that is around. I realized I could not judge the progress of this, or force this nature on anyone else, I had to allow this awareness to come forward slowly, delicately.

I had to give myself time to experience the present moment, slow down to notice the lifting of a glass to the mouth, the sensory pleasure of the taste of water, I could finally see the wisdom in a zen garden. These moments of true experience come with burst of wonder and love. It came from the alignment of my emotions, mind and physical being, being at one, allowing this divine nature to experience itself without my mind getting in the way.

I realized its never ending we experience the divine in how we treat each other, we feel it through non language when we interact with animals, the chairs we share space with, the planet we live on, the land that holds our feet to walk on, the life force we breathe in. It is all connected, every little bit of it.

Yoga brought me truly to the center of my universe, it revealed the interconnectedness of it all, the divine center in all of it.

It is with this realization I opened my eyes to the notion that the personal revolution is the one of unfolding to our true nature and how we truly interact with the world around, one step at a time…

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Assistant Editor: Daniel Garcia/Editor: Bryonie Wise