No this is not my dog doing a downward dog, although when I do practice Yoga at home the family dog Hugo shows off his own downward doggie next to me which I am yet to capture in a photo! In all seriousness though, today I am posting about my real life downward dog. The downward dog (in sanskrit Adho Mukha Svanasana) is the pose symbolic of ‘coming home’. I must admit when I first started yoga this pose felt like anything but a feeling of home which embodies warmth, comfort, safety; it was much more like – pain in my hammies and wrists. Fast forward 2 years since I have been practising religiously and I now feel the true effects of the good old downward dog, the safety, warmth and love is beaming out my bum shining up in the air. ha ha!

Anyways, I wanted to draw some parallels between this yoga asana and what is going on in my world right now. So I have literally ‘come home’ to my home town of Brisbane. Brisbane is where I have spent most of my life, we moved here when I was 8 years old and I was here up until I fled to Sydney at the age of 21. All of my family is here so I would definitely call Brisbane my ‘home’.

There is something very spiritual and reflective about coming home. Our home is our safety net, it creates that feeling of comfort and space however intense vulnerability at the same time. For it is in our homes, our true self is revealed. This applies for the family situation which likens to home for me. It is our families who know us best and know how to push our buttons in the right and wrong ways, we feel comfortable and safe around our families but at the same time intensely vulnerable for the reasons mentioned.

So in my real life down ward dog – by coming back my my home in a sense is me coming back to my core.  I know I am here for a reason apart from being drawn back for my studies – I know I am here to address underlying unresolved pain and hurt from my past and come to peace with this and continue on my healing and personal growth journey – I don’t know how long this is going to take but I am here for now and just letting life unfold. Who knows where the next steps of life will take me but for now Brisbane is where I need to be.

As much as it is hard to disassociate from all the years of memories, both good and bad – I am truly focusing on the power of the present moment to guide me through without judgments. Because there is no point in letting the past dictate the present moment or the future. So I am going to keep chilling in my downward dog and embrace the next steps as they guide me.