You Are Peace

"You are the common denominator in all your experiences of life." – Kamini Desai

Have you ever heard someone say that we are a microcosm of the macrocosm? If so, what does it mean to you?

To me, it means our inner world is a mirror of the wider world. When we turn towards ourselves first, it becomes a form of service. This is my form of activism. When we change something within ourselves, it ripples out into everything around us: our relationships, our circumstances, our communities.

This is what shifted everything for me. I asked myself: What in me is at war? What am I battling? What am I resisting? And can peace sit alongside it all?

In Yoga Nidra, this inner-and-outer reflection shows up in the koshas, the layers or sheaths of our being. There's the physical body, shaped by what we eat and how we live. There's the energy body, the life force that animates us. There's the mental body, our thoughts, which shape our actions. There's the wisdom body, our intuition and inner knowing. And at the centre is the bliss body, the deepest layer, where peace and joy are simply our nature.

Which brings me to something important: you are peace already.

This might sound counterintuitive. So much of what we hear tells us we need something more to feel peaceful, a holiday, a retreat, a life that's finally sorted. I'm here to tell you that you don't. You might well meet your peace on retreat (I'm a big advocate for retreats, they're the best!). But what's really happening is that you've paused long enough to remember. The peace was there all along.

Peace isn't something to earn or find once everything is in order. It exists side by side with it all. 

Peace is being with ourselves as we are, and our life as it is. - Karmini Desai

I hope you'll join me in this quiet form of activism: remembering who you are, without looking outside yourself for the answer.

Thank you for being here.

With love,
Zoe