I recently celebrated a birthday. A couple of days before said birthday, I read a post by an absolutely amazing yogini and teacher, Sianna Sherman. She was promoting her “Goddess Yoga Project” and was speaking of Kali, the dark, fearsome, fierce goddess who imparts the fiercest love.
Sianna Sherman wrote: “Kali – Fearsome and Fearless. Goddess of Transformation. She holds you accountable to your highest integrity and radical honesty. No excuses and no complaining, it’s time to transmute the mind into a laser beam of awareness. Clear the blocks, Untie the knots, and set your spirit free! Key Life Lesson: Transform Your Fear.”
From the very first time I encountered Kali, she resonated with me. As fearsome as she is, I loved the power of deep transformation she represents. The cutting away of the ego and our limiting thoughts and beliefs so that we can show up authentically, honestly, and bravely from our deepest Selves.
As much as I’ve been trying to take the steps to live a life in harmony with my values, doing what I love, and showing up fully, along with the moments of momentum and bliss, I’ve also found myself in many moments of doubt, fear, and feeling stuck. Reading about Kali again, right before my birthday, felt powerful. I decided that I would tune into and meditate on Kali and what she represents, possibly making it a theme for the year, or at least for the first month or so of it.
A couple of days later, on my birthday afternoon, I saw that Sianna Sherman was hosting an Instagram Mythic Yoga Flow Challenge. Fourteen days, fourteen poses and themes. Post a picture everyday and you could win her newest Mythic Yoga Flow Master Course.
I loved it! I was excited. I had been planning to take the course as it was, and this seemed like a fun opportunity. As I read the details more closely, I saw that the challenge started that very day.
Now, I understand that for some, none of this would seem like a big deal. But for me, it did. I’ve never done anything like this before. There was a certain feeling of vulnerability that came up in imagining posting pictures of myself for 14 days straight. And the questions and doubts, “What if I can’t do all of the poses well?” And the excuses why not to do it, “I’m not warmed up to do this first pose right now. We’re meeting people in a few hours, I don’t have time to do a practice before doing the pose. If I had just found out about this a day in advance, etc…”
And then, Kali came flooding back. “No more excuses.” Just do it, even if it’s not “perfect.” (I know, this is huge point I make in my teaching, but sometimes it still is hard to embody. It’s still a practice of my own.) Do it and have fun with it. As unlikely as an Instagram challenge may seem, it felt like a step to propel me more along my path.
There is one day left of the challenge, and I’ve had a blast doing it. It has asked more of me in my personal practice than I imagined it would have. It has asked me to move beyond my comfort zone and show up every day. And although it’s via technology and the phone, it has connected me to other people taking the challenge that I wouldn’t have necessarily connected with. It has been such a joy for me to see the pictures that the other participants post each day. (As much as I feel that technology can disconnect us from ourselves and others, I have to admit that it can also bring us into communities that we might otherwise not have had the opportunity to be a part of, but this is another topic for another day.)
Kali asks us to step up and to show up. Even the smallest actions can be significant.
I offer to you the challenge to show up. To show up honestly and with integrity. Showing up fully no matter how big or small the circumstance to live your fullest Self.