Do you present yourself to the world in a way in which is not aligned with what is really important to you? Do you find yourself being a version of you that actually doesn’t feel like your real self? Do you observe yourself showing up in a way that does not really fit with who you are on the inside?

What is going on when we feel that way?

Life is not static…life is always changing…every day is a new day…and sometimes we just haven’t quite caught up. Sometimes we are just trapped in being an old version of our self that is not quite a fit to the now.

What’s the key to finding a good fit?

Self-awareness.

We need to recognise that today requires a different set of responses from us than yesterday, or last year…or 10 years ago.

Just like we update our phones and computers…we also need to update our own programming. Sometimes we are stuck in the past. We operate mindlessly with beliefs and behaviours that are born out of habit rather than awareness. Reacting to what is happening now with outdated and sometimes completely irrational reactions…rather than responding to what actually is.

Sometimes we are so lacking in awareness that we cannot even fathom just how nonsensical and distorted our own reactions are.

The teachings of Yoga point us to – Avidya – our own ignorance as being the culprit. Ignorance is the veiling of ‘what is’ with our version of it. It is…simply put…when we cloud the truth with our fears and desires. When we fail to see things as they really are…and instead see them through the lens of our own fears or attachments…when we see life now through the filters of our past…then we bump and grind through life rather than feel at ease.

Ease comes when there is alignment of what we experience with what actually is…when we stop projecting our old beliefs and expectations out onto what is now. Ease comes when we dump our ignorance and replace it with awareness.

Adhyasa is the process of projecting or imposing what was onto what is…thus distorting our view of now.

Yoga teaches us how to stop doing this by giving us the practices that move us towards self-realisation.

Meditation teaches us to pause…to stop with our automated and outdated reactions…to remove the clouds from our experience…and to experience life – situations and people – without all that we project onto it.

Self-study – Svadhyaya – requires us to get to know our self. It is the process of observing our self, taking stock of our how we show up, the recognition and letting go of our fears and attachments, that keep us bound to old outdated versions of our self that no longer serve.

The practice of Yoga allows us to get to know our true self…the one that is not weighed down by fear and attachments, driven by the reactivity of old programming that does not serve us in the present. As quoted in the Bhagavad Gita, ‘Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self to the Self.’

Yoga gives us the simple practices to discover our true nature. When we practice…we being to feel more and more like our self.