Satya.

Transformation. 

Every studio, workshop, training, retreat and yoga related product has something to do with transformation. 

In the beginning of my yoga journey, I was 14 years old, insecure, and the idea of transforming myself was literally the only thing on my mind. I wanted a new body, mind, spirit, house, everything. So, transformation? Sign me up and take my money. It wasn’t until 13 years later when I started to have mixed thoughts about emphasizing transformation so relentlessly. 

Truth is, the more we search to solve our problems the more problems we create to justify our searching. It’s a perpetuating and degrading cycle we call self-improvement that eventually leads people to a place of comparing themselves to others and not knowing what their goal even is. 

I am 27 years old and while it’s easy for me to kick my own ass for the sake of transformation, it’s not easy for me to define what my true essence is, let alone behave in ways that are completely aligned with my true essence. It’s not easy for me to be still and stop searching for ways to become ‘better.’ Throughout my yoga journey every training and class emphasizing transformation made me feel like I was on the path to success. I kept searching, fighting to transform, searching again for more to improve on, and then working to transform again. I was caught in the self-improvement cycle. Today I feel I’ve arrived to this inevitable point of confronting the fact I spend way more time telling myself how to become better rather than congratulating myself, and loving myself, for the things I do that make me feel good. 

Satya, truthfulness, and the recognition of what’s unchangeable inside us is the tether that keeps us rooted in reality. I guess my goal here is to remind myself and others to not lose that tether or integrity. Yes, transformation is great. But who we are is even better.