Find Yourself in India
India touches the soul in places no other place can. It gets under my skin and turns me upside down. Each trip gets easier and easier but India has her way with me and I wouldn’t want it any other way. There is a certain magic that can only happen in such chaos. There is plenty of pain and the daily struggle is unavoidable. People live without running water, many sleep on the streets and children beg for money. It is true, as a white person, I step on the streets with a dollar sign on my forehead but what I take home with me is so much more than tickets.
Every time I visit India, I discover a piece of my Soul and I remember what it means to be human. After my first trip, I stopped shopping at the markets and started having funny conversations with the local shopkeepers, street venders, shy girls and rowdy little boys.
People go to India in search of spirituality. Seekers go in search of peace and the ever elusive enlightenment that is spoken of in western yoga studios. Yet, when said seekers arrive, they receive their downloads in ways unexpected and unforeseen.
India is a living paradox. She teaches in mysterious ways. People go to find themselves, to find God and to reveal the mystery. At least, that is why I went. I wanted to know where the tradition that I love so much came from. And I found more then I could have imagined.
Yes, I found yoga and tantra but I also found myself. Not as a cliché but as a true unavoidable. I was delivered back to myself in a way that shook my foundation to the core, shifted my perceptions and turned my life around. That is what India does and she delivers with the full excitement, chaos, beauty, mystery, magic and galore that one would expect from India. Yet this promise is only for the strong and curious.
The gift India gives doesn’t come easy or cheap for the westerner. She will take everything. She will strip you of your past. She will cleanse you of your worries and petty complaints. She will rid you of your selfish concerns and wash you clean.
You have to be willing to let it all go, to surrender to the process and step bravely into a new life—a life that waits you on the other side.
India isn’t for everyone. Her land is not everyone’s path to walk. If you hear the call you know the stirring inside, you know the strong desire that pulls you toward her. It’s not if, it’s when. Now is the time. Make the journey that will change your life forever. Find yourself in India.