Here are some questions to start you working through your story.

Stories define us. The narrative we hold about our self, can dictate our life path, the choices we make, our health, and the people we surround our self with. This story is not set in stone – often it is no more than the dominant beliefs we have come to hold.  However, because it is habitual, it is often unconscious, and represents a deep samskara as it is called in yoga.

Our unconscious narrative often holds us prisoner. It limits our choices, colours our experience of the World, and affects how we interact. True spiritual freedom will only come once these unconscious threads have been unravelled, and we own our life consciously.

Working through your narrative and unpicking your story will happen automatically as you develop awareness in your yoga practice. Listed below are some questions and exercises to help guide you.

 

1/ Imagine meeting someone for the first time and they ask you to tell them about your life. What do you say? Why do you choose those statements and events, and not others? Why highlight some roles and not others?

 

2/ What words do you use to describe yourself? What do you believe are your strengths and weaknesses? Where do your beliefs in your faults come from? Do the people who know you well describe you in the same way as you?

 

3/ List 5 to 10 people who have had a big impact on your life. For each person, list the beliefs and habits, positive and negative, that you inherited from them.

 

4/ List 3 events in your life that had a big impact. How did they change your worldview? Did they have a positive or negative influence?

 

5/ Look at the information about each Chakra (here’s number one, use the search function to find the rest). How has your life shaped the development of the Chakra? Which Chakras need work?

 

6/ In what ways do you hold yourself back? List your most destructive thoughts and habits? Where have they come from? What would your life be like if you could let them go?

 

7/ If you could wave a magic wand, what life would you conjure up? What are the emotional qualities that make this your dream life eg lack of financial worry, or status? Why are you not living this life now?

 

8/ List things you do regularly (every day or every week) – do these habits contribute to balance and calm?

 

9/ How would you describe your roots? Think about cultural, and class issues, in addition to family and institutions such as schools.

 

10/ What excites you? What makes you bounce out of bed in the morning? How can you do more of what you love?