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Some people underestimate spirituality or see it as a trend, but as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Rumi explored that truth in his poems. We don’t just live in the spiritual realm, but we are the spiritual realm. To see beyond our physical bodies and realize our true essence has been our purpose since the beginning of time. Rumi wrote about it eight centuries before the extensive spread of spirituality.

Additionally, Rumi establishes a firm reality: black and white are man-made. We are familiar with the beautiful and the ugly, the good and the bad, the true and the false. However, below the surface of black and white, there is a gray space we fail to see—a space void of conflicts.

It is human nature to judge the situations that occur in life, and so we label things that we don’t like as “bad” and call the ones we do like “good.” Our dualistic mind sections off emotions, thoughts, and events—and we automatically follow it. This mental division is often the main reason behind our inner and outer conflicts. Then there is also the factor of acting like sheep. “The blind leading the blind.” When we don’t have or understand all of the information about something we have a tendency to blindly follow suit.

I have suffered extensively in my life from false labeling. In the past I have even been accused of labeling. All of this “labeling” and judgement is inevitable, and bound to happen if you allow yourself to be vulnerable. If you share your heart and put yourself out in the world in a BIG WAY, labeling and judgement is expected. It never gets easier, in fact it’s enough to make you want to shutdown. But, without friction there would be no fire. Without fire we would not be able to burn away the facade and get to the ashes… the grey matter. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

I have also witnessed the suffering of others, because people could not let go of labels. Rumi writes that beyond these labels, these distinctions, lies a serene place—this is where we should all meet each other. Rumi helps answer the questions that bewilder us today. He makes it easier for us to understand not just matters of the heart, but also the mind, and the soul.

Most of us know Rumi as a poet, but he is also a significant spiritual teacher. It difficult for me to choose just one Rumi poem as my favorite, but lately there is a specific poem that keeps returning and proves to be deeply resonating during these tumultuous times. I love, and connect with, this Rumi poem because of how he weaves together the idea that we must first let go of judgments before we can enter the spiritual realm and realize our “oneness.”

The poem is called “A Great Wagon,” and the middle verse—my favorite—is below:

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,

there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,

the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”

doesn’t make any sense.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don’t go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.

Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill

where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

Don’t go back to sleep.”

This verse highlights three pivotal ideas: the realization of the spiritual realm, and the exploration of non-judgment and oneness.

In this field, which is void of labels and judgments, there is absolute connectedness. As Rumi puts it, even the phrase “each other” won’t make any sense anymore when we realize our oneness with everything and everyone else. In our own minds, we think we are separate from others, from animals, from nature. The truth is, we all stem from one source of energy. You may call that energy by a different name, or label, but we all come from “ONE.” But, we can never truly realize this oneness without letting go of judgments first. Seeing every living being as part of us is a step toward gaining a higher realization that doesn’t know opposition.

Thanks to Rumi, whenever I find myself quick to judge or label, I take a moment to create space in my thoughts and remember to head to that field. In this space I can become one with everything and everyone. When we see the world as separate, we only limit our own potential.

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there…

in gratitude and love,

Tymi

I felt so tangled up in emotions the first week my family moved to Charleston, South Carolina from my hometown of Orlando, Florida. I was functioning in a permanent state of “fight of flight!” Even though I was totally aware of it, and would catch my reactive tendencies, I still allowed some unfiltered emotions and choice words to fly out. The follow up response to those reactions were always a sense of immediate regret and period of reflection.

My old, go too response was always to run. Yes, I used to be a runner. Whenever things got uncomfortable or even too comfortable, I’d run away. I would change cars, homes, boyfriends just about every 2 -3 years. This response began to shift after returning home to Florida, and opening up Guruv Yoga Studios in my late 20’s. I’m not saying the itch wasn’t and still isn’t present, I just respond differently now. After moving back to Florida, and opening Guruv Yoga Studios, I become responsible for an entire community of students and teachers. My love for the community and yoga family was more powerful then my own discomfort, so I stayed! It was through that love and discomfort that I emotionally matured, and that I discovered my dharma and path of teaching yoga on an international level.

It was also through the connection of my yoga studios that about 6 years ago, I met my now husband Nathan Charles Bender. We celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary on July 16th, 2020. After almost 13 years of owning 3 yoga studios in Lake Mary and Orlando, Florida I sold them in October 2019. I am so grateful to have found someone to carry on and lead the amazing Guruv Yoga community that had been created.

Nate and I moved to Charleston, South Carolina on the 4th of July, 2020. Riding into Charleston by the light of a huge full golden moon, and fireworks seemed like the perfect welcome to our rather monumental transition in life. We both are creating work and carving out our own paths in new and uncharted business territory. Radical times, require radical responsibility!

We purchased a used 26 square foot RV and parked it in the backyard of the home we purchased and started renovating before COVID 19 hit. We stopped renovating in March when the United States went into lock down, and we both stopped working.

We are calling the RV our tiny home, it sounds much more en vogue and glamorous. (NOT) Having 2 adults and a 9 year old boy all living together within less than 26 feet as forced us to do some major downsizing and simplifying. Not only is this the longest amount of time my husband and I have spent together, without a break, it’s also the longest time with a 9 year old boy in the mix. After a full week in our tiny home, I am just surrendering into the messiness of it all. A sense of humor, along with staying focused on what we are creating helps immensely.

Fact: I feel physically and emotionally beaten up these days, and frankly I look like it too. Between my glorious total hip replacement surgery scar, the saucer size Charleston mosquito bites, the blisters on my left hand and up my arm from a cooking mishap in the RV, acne on my face from practicing sweat box hot yoga to work lights in our gutted home, being peri-menopausal and living in a 27ft space with two dudes and not having privacy to “really” go the bathroom!! Oh yeah, and then there’s this little thing called COVID-19 that’s annihilated my personal yoga teaching schedule, sources of income to our personal household, as well as the financial state and stability of the economy for the entire United States.

We are all exactly where we are supposed to be, going through exactly what we are experiencing. I don’t think many (or any) of us would choose to be in this current state of “pandemic.” We don’t have to like where we are, but we can choose to trust that there is a “Divine Order” at work, and have faith that there is a higher purpose to all of this chaos.

Remembering to look for the good, and the hidden blessings within every nook and cranny of a situation, no matter how challenging that may be sometimes. Grace is always present, just waiting for us to acknowledge it.

What helps me? Glad you asked…

1. Daily exercise. Move the body and get those endorphins flowing! I like yoga, but I also enjoy walking, biking and swimming.

2. Get outside and connect to nature. Put your hands and feet in the dirt, grass, beach sand, clay, whatever gets you grounded.

3. Music! Turn on some music. Make playlists that literally get you dancing.

4. Get INSPIRED! Listen to Inspirational Podcasts or webinars.

5. READ. Grab a real live hardcopy of a book, and hold it in your hands. Whatever genre you dig!

6. Mediate. Take time everyday to empty out, get still, quiet the mind and breathe.

7. PRAY. Connect and converse with your higher power. Plug into Source and remember who you are, what you are made of, and why you are here!

8. FaceTime or Zoom call someone who makes you laugh!

9. Food. Cooking can be extremely therapeutic. Get into the kitchen and create something healthy for yourself..

10. Write. Just start writing, even if you don’t feel like it. Write that down! Put pen to paper and start expressing your feelings. Just by getting them outside of yourself, and onto paper you will feel lighter, and FREE!

In gratitude and love,

Tymi

Wholeness is dissolving the illusionary boundaries in our consciousness that separates us from the Divine.

When our ancestors looked up at the night sky they saw a Universe whole and complete, guided by a Creators infinite wisdom and care. In today’s skeptical age we don’t find ourselves in the same position. The Universe is random, accidents happen and we struggle to maintain what seems is our fragmented and separate life.

Being pulled in every direction makes it difficult to believe in wholeness, but wholeness is not something we are asked to believe in. Wholeness either exists or it doesn’t. It’s also obvious that separateness exists. Each day is like a pie that has been cut up into many small slices, with each piece representing our work, obligations, duty, demands, pleasures and pains. The only way to change this feeling of division is to first see something that is whole, and then like a bit of yarn sticking out from a big ball of yarn we can begin to follow it and find what lies beyond and deep within.

Where is wholeness to be found today? Where is wholeness now? Ancient yogis declared that God is all, in all things, love is everywhere and Grace abounds. These are all invisible things that we can’t experience except in the moments of time that come and go. Wholeness by definition can not come and go. So, what kind of experiences are timeless and not needing this moment or that moment, but “being here” all the time? Only one thing qualifies. YourSELF. As long as you are awake, your constant companion is yourSelf. YourSelf is the seer who looks out on the passing scene, and the mind that is aware of time passing, it’s the knowledge that you exist!

Nothing else is constant but the “Self”, and thanks to that you feel continuos. The Self is what we are most grateful for, a fine piece is the beautiful tapestry of life.

The ego-self has been changing since the moment we were born. When we look in the mirror we see that we are no longer our child-self, but that is not what we are talking about here. We are talking about the Self as timeless awareness, and not the ego-self. As awareness, you have always been “YOU”, and that is the clue that you are whole. There is a reason why the words wholeness, holiness, health, healing all derive from the same root word. As our awareness expands through gratitude and meditation, we become healed through our own wholeness. At the same time our life feels Holy and full of Grace.

Wholeness doesn’t mean you forget who you are as an individual. It simply means the individual stops feeling separate, isolated and alone. This happens automatically as you remember who you are, and feel thankful that you are YOU. The identity that you have today, the “I” who thinks and the body you see in the mirror will fade away. YourSelf is hidden inside of you and it can’t be seen in the mirror or even thought about in the mind, and yet it is the real you!

Wholeness is the life you were born to live. A life of gentleness, live, Grace, kindness and beauty.

Simply by practicing a daily 5 minute wholeness mediation first thing in the morning will shift your perception and change the way you approach life.

Meditation:

1. Finding a quiet place to sit comfortably, close your eyes and focus on your breath.

2. Take 3 slow deep breaths and release any tension in the body.

3. Relax any tension and contraction in the physical body, and bring your awareness to the third eye, the space between the eyebrows.

4. Repeat silently to yourself:

“The true nature of myself is the wholeness of the Universe.”

5. Continue to repeat your mantra, and if thoughts or sensations arise, simply return to the mantra.

This meditation will open the eye that looks inward to the Soul.

Namaste.

In gratitude and love,

Tymi

Taking into consideration that I was a wee-bit over tired getting up at 2:30am with a puppy every morning as a factor and my nerves being raw, this holiday season has proven to have been a highly emotional mix! For me, like so many of us, most of these feelings were fueled by the dramatic lifestyle, professional, financial, and personal changes brought upon us because of the Covid pandemic and highly charged presidential election.

I wish I could say that after 30 years of yoga, I never loose my sh*t anymore, and that 2020 was a walk in a Zen garden, but that would be a lie. There were some MESSY moments in 2020, full of tears, snot, sweat, and gut wrenching “UGLY MESSY MOMENTS!! These experiences are usually so intense, that all I wanted or could do afterwards is sleep. I literally crashed. Normally I would say that in these moments, all yoga flys out the window. BUT, I have discovered that it is actually during these highly charged emotional moments that “the yoga practice” is even MORE PRESENT. In these heightened states of being I am fully conscious and connected to my breathing patterns, as well as every sensation and feeling in my body. Rather than suppress these experiences because they’ve been labeled as bad, inappropriate or weak, I simply sequester myself in a safe space alone and let let them f*cking fly!!

The last thing we ever want to do, is hurt or harm anyone else or ourselves with our words or actions, but by allowing and giving ourselves permission to dance, wrestle and finally sit within our darker emotions, we can then hand (or throw) them over to God. We don’t need, nor are we supposed to carry all of that shit around inside of us. Lets face it, emotions will find a way out. When we continue to stuff or deny them, emotions will wreak havoc on our bodies and in our lives. Emotions are energy and need to be expressed and released, and we get to choose how they are expressed. Our yoga practice and humanness is contained within these transitional moments of choice. It’s easy to say, “always choose love,” BUT it’s an entirely different matter when we are in those emotionally charged places to think rationally. To just choose love, can be challenging, especially if we have been suppressing certain emotions for a long time and not allowing them to be expressed.

 How do we express emotions like anger, jealousy, sadness, loneliness, distrust, worry, etc… in a loving way? First we have to let go of judging our emotions as good and bad, and simply allow ourselves to acknowledge whatever it is we are experiencing from a place of detached witnessing. Just be the observer of our own experience, knowing that we are not our emotions, nor are we even our experiences. We are that which is aware and unfettered by all of those things. We are the witness. We are the masters of our experiences, and within this realization we can begin to channel our emotional energies into how we want them to be expressed in the world.

We are creators. We are spirits, having a human experience, brought into being-ness to create! Personally, I am happiest when I am creating. Whether it’s creating a yoga sequence, making dinner for my family, writing, renovating a house, or planning a business venture…I am happiest and more emotionally balance in all areas of my life when I am able to channel my energies into creating something positive on a daily basis. If we add in the element of learning something new, because variety is the spice of life and also keeps our brains healthy, we will begin to experience an insatiable hunger for life and new found energy!

 In the beginning it may take a concerted effort to plan and even schedule out daily creative activities and outlets, especially if you are in a rut, have unhealthy habitual patterns, or a job that is just not inspiring you.  I find that by starting the day with intention setting, prayer and some form of physical exercise, helps tremendously. Usually it’s yoga, but lately it’s been walking our new puppy Ozzy and then a little later comes the yoga. These simple daily habits plug us into source, we remember that we are spirit, and we spark our creative fires, keeping us fueled and more emotionally balanced throughout the day. The key to all of this is consistency, which means making sustainable lifestyle changes. Keyword is sustainable. By setting ourselves up for success with a schedule that is doable, and activities we actually look forward too and enjoy doing are all very important. Especially if we are going to stick with it. Life should not be viewed as a chore or burden. Life isn’t a “I have too”, Life is an “I get too!” We get the privilege of living, loving and experiencing all the blessings and beauty of this world, and being part of all Gods creations and expressions. We are blessed.

Start now, attack the day, seize every moment as an opportunity to create beauty and love in this world. Explore new ways of expressing and channeling your emotions into creative outlets, and don’t limit or judge yourself. It’s also perfectly ok, and human, if and when you find yourself in need of a HUGE MESSY emotional wresting match with Self. Most of my best creative work and discoveries have been amidst sweat, snot and tears.

In gratitude and love,

Tymi