Why Bhakti?

The Importance of Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti is the embodiment of your heart song

Many of us are already walking the Bhakti path and we don't even know it. In the simplest terms, Bhakti is the journey of finding the Divine presence within our hearts. It provides tangible, practical, and daily rituals that help us remain connected to that which we hold sacred deep within our being. Bhakti helps us establish our relationship with the Divine as the central pillar of our lives. We know it's Bhakti when that relationship is unshakeable because we experience it as real in each moment, we see it all around us in the world, and it's always there to guide us when we feel lost.

Right now, I want to invite you to reflect on all of those things in your life that make your heart light up. Close your eyes, and think about it, feel into it. Which of those things really inspires this natural drive to want to know more, to want to learn everything about it? Think of how you felt the first time you were in love: what can you find in life that makes you feel that way again? Especially, what can you find that makes you feel that way AND cannot be taken away? (It seems like it shouldn't need to be said, but maybe it does: this heart-enlivening thing shouldn't be something that brings harm to other beings, in any way, shape, or form.)

The thing that lights us up is going to be our soul-prescribed spiritual practice. That is going to become the thing that helps you grow closer to Divine; whether it's religious, semi-religious, or non-religious, it doesn't matter. That thing, if you follow it, and you practice for it, and you maintain a dedicated relationship with it, and allow that relationship to be sacred in your life, you are walking the path of Bhakti. That path, doing that, is the exact same path that leads you back to our soul identity. Because the soul identity IS you when you are in that space. If we can learn to live from that space every day, because we've identified that thing, and we are in pursuit, in communion with it every day, we are constantly walking that path. That is the process of yoga. This is one of the many benefits of practicing yoga, and perhaps one of the highest benefits is self-realization in this way. And this journey is a journey of pure authenticity and self-discovery.

So, I invite you to inquire within your heart, unearth your truest passions and soul-gifts, and pursue YOURSELF with vigor. Awaken the heart, awaken to life, awaken the world! Namaste.