Dorothy and Her Travels Within

While preparing for yoga today I was reading through some meditation thoughts and trying to collect my own. Yearning for a simple inspiring thought to guide the class and practice and their savasana. As I found the quote to use I began to get caught up in it. So much so I was wishing I could have been blogging while they were all in savasana. But no dice. So here I am. And here it is.

" Yoga is the practice of celebrating what is. At the end of the hero's journey, he finds that he did not need to go anywhere, that all he sought was inside him all along, Dorothy, having travelled across time and space to the land of OZ, and having struggled desperately to find her way back to Kansas, discovers that she could have gone home at any time. In the end, she learns that her adventures have simply brought her to the point where she can believe this. It is the aim of all spiritual seeking to bring us home, home to the understanding that we already have everything we need."

- Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison

It is so true. How often am I Dorothy? So desperately thinking I want or need something else and struggling to find my way home when home has been here the whole time, waiting for me. In this life I truly believe we have all that we need. Some days it may feel dark and like we are missing something but the reality is that we have not been placed here to fail. Even Dr Seuss knew that we were not to fail when he said:

“And will you succeed?

Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)"

We are not here to fail. We were placed here by such a loving God who has given us a home and who is waiting for us to return to it. 

I dont often equate my yoga classes to religion. Yoga is very spiritual for me and respects all religion but I do not use it to promote my own beliefs so as I sat there during savasana and watched my students I allowed myself to delve into my personal religous thoughts. Of how heaven is always waiting, of how God waits for us and wants us to recognize that he is always there just waiting for us to realize and turn to him. 

And then I thought about my own journey. How I  lack faith in myself. How my confidence and lack of stops me from accomplishing so much. I dont put myself out there because I dont believe in myself. I let my ego take over and I feel like I need so much more to be able to be what others need. I see others that have so much more than I do and feel I cannot compete. But the truth is, I am enough. I have room to improve but I am enough. I am worth others time and attention. I have something to share and I am not the same as everyone else. 

As I havent been to Oz since grade 1 when I was a poppy amongst other things in the high school play of the Wizard of Oz, I still realize that Dorothy was just like me. She didnt know she had everything she needed within her.  Perhaps it is time to tap my heels and come home.