Why Being Spiritual Does Not Mean Being Perfect

You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.”  -Friedrich Nietzsche

Yoga is a path of self-reflection and self-exploration, not self-perfection. I’ve thought a lot about the discipline that comes with living a life based on spiritual principles, and how easy it is to fall into the trap of perfectionism.  We might think that being spiritual means that we no longer have negative feelings, or make mistakes, or that we have endless amounts of patience. In my experience, the practice does not take away from the messiness of life, it simply creates more space around it. When we have the space to allow for the chaos of life to arise and subside, we are also allowing for the birthing of something new to arise. Some of the most beautiful things in nature came from circumstances that we might call “non-yogic”: the formation of mountains, diamonds, and childbirth to name a few. Without chaos, pain, pressure, and friction none of these forms of life would come to be.

So if you find yourself in a situation that feels uncomfortable, disjointed, unbalanced or messy, see if you can hold the space for it to come and go. What lies on the other side could be the most beautiful thing you could ever imagine.

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