Seeing your true self

Hello beautiful human,

You know, years ago, if I had been greeted with beautiful human, I would have been put off. I didn’t see myself that way. Honestly, in my 20s I was very far away from considering myself a beautiful human. I doubt I would have even continued reading that message.. 

So why do I now begin with this greeting? What changed?

During my Alexander Technique training one of my teachers told me he’s only seen beautiful people for the last 20 years. He said this as he indicted every single person on the subway with us. I was both amazed and chagrined. That’s not the world I was seeing. My view of the world was clouded by internal judgements of what I thought I (and others) should and shouldn’t be. Now I think I’m slowly understanding what my teacher meant.

In Kundalini yoga there’s a mantra used at the end of every class: Sat Naam. This roughly translates as True Identity. It’s an invitation and a reminder to see beyond expectations, to see beyond preconceived notions and judgments of ourselves and others. 

What’s left when we see beyond these things? 

Beautiful humans
Beautiful souls
Amazing energy

Even those words aren’t quite right. What’s beyond judgments and expectations is an experience that words don’t accurately capture. The experience is what you get from the practice of somatic meditations. But words will do for now. 

So beyond your judgments, ideas and thoughts about yourself, beyond your beliefs about your body, I greet you—beautiful human.