DNYS blog – What if you are already what you are looking for?

Maybe you recognize this:
You start with yoga to become more flexible or with meditation to calm your mind. That's often how it begins. 

You often feel "something" every time you step off your mat or meditation cushion. But what that "something" is? It's hard to put your finger on. Yet, it keeps calling you back to your yoga mat or cushion. 

Even if it sometimes feels challenging: even if your head initially only seems fuller, or the postures only make you painfully aware of how stiff you are. 

But the more you practice yoga or meditation, the more you notice something happening. Not just physically, but on a deeper level. A kind of remembrance. An inner knowing that there's more… More than your thoughts, your story, or the roles you play. As if something is awakening within you. As if you are awakening. 

What is that anyway?

That's what yoga and meditation are really about.
Not necessarily about becoming more flexible or experiencing more peace (those are welcome perks). But about seeing who you are at your deepest core. About recognizing the silent, free consciousness that always lives within you.

We call this recognition: Self-realisation.

What is self-realization?

Self-realization literally means: realizing yourself. It is not about striving for a better version of yourself, but rather about shedding all the layers that you NOT ALLOWED It means discovering who you truly are—beneath all the thoughts, beliefs, and roles you play in daily life.

Self-realization is when you begin to see clearly what you essentially are.

It's not a magical moment, not an end point, or something you "become." It's precisely the recognition of what you've always been. A coming home to yourself, when you begin to peel back the layers.

Meditation and yoga as an invitation

In this sense, yoga and meditation aren't goals in themselves, but invitations. They invite you to listen. To pause. To be present with everything that is, even what's uncomfortable.

The postures, the breath, the silence… they are all tools. Gateways to an experience of what you essentially are: consciousness, space, love. Whatever you want to call it. 

Or, as the ancient yogic texts call it: Sat Chit Ananda — being, consciousness, bliss.

That doesn't mean you have to become something you aren't yet. You already are. 

Remembering who you are

That may be easier said than done, because our whole lives we've been used to identifying with ourselves: with our thoughts, our personality, even our job. Much of our suffering stems from this identification with what we are not. 

That's also why we sometimes end up in an identity crisis when we lose our job (“Who am I if I lose my job?”) or that we sometimes do not feel worthy or good enough. 

It is precisely in letting go of those layers that lies an enormous freedom. An experience of consciousness that is independent of external circumstances or conditions.

Yoga and meditation help remind you of this:
You are not your thoughts.
Not your story.
You are that what experiences.

Practice and all is coming 

“Practice, and all is coming” –
these are the famous words of yogi Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.

So they don't just mean you might one day be able to touch your toes or sit still for hours. The promise goes much further than that.

A promise that if you continue to practice yoga and meditation, you will remember who you really are. 

Self-realization doesn't give you new Life comes to life. But it gives you a new perspective on the life you're already living. One in which you're less driven by thoughts, emotions, or identification with what isn't truly you, and instead live from your essence. 

And that is real freedom.