Inner Truth

When I was doing my yoga teacher certification program, I deeply resonated with a kundalini yoga practice called “Sat Kriya”. While holding my arms straight over my head in rock pose, as I inhaled, I chanted “Sat”, and as I exhaled, I chanted “Nam”. “Sat” means truth and “Nam” means name, so the phrase means “Truth is my identity.”

Connecting with my own inner truth has been a life-long journey. I existed for most of my life behind so many veils of pretending and illusions. I lived in a state of “inner haunting” as my truths and my feelings wanted to come into my full consciousness, but from fear, I kept pushing them down.

Nearly twelve years ago, around the winter solstice of 2012, these inner ghosts would no longer be kept within their coffins inside of me. My feelings arose  – of sadness, of grief, of regret – deep feelings of not wanting to live  – of not wanting to live within the life that I was in. As I looked at my life  – where I was living, what I was doing in my daily routine, and my significant relationships, there was deep despair as these all felt so out of alignment from myself – as I had spent a lifetime following what other people wanted me to be and do  – instead of my own inner truth and guidance.

The past twelve years have been an excavation of my inner truths and a digesting of them. It has often been painful. Yet, with every truth that I have allowed to arise within me and that I have acknowledged and embraced, I have set something free within myself. And, this path of feeling my internal states and my own guidance has led me on an external journey of moving to a state that resonates with me, of leaving a marriage that did not serve me, of pursuing work that fulfills me  – of living in big and small ways that are in alignment with who I am.

It seems so simple. But it’s not easy. But it works. I profoundly changed my life by telling the truth. To myself.

Sat Nam. Truth is my identity.

May the light of your inner truth guide you.

With every blessing,

Dr. Tassel Faith Shanebrook, Ph.D.

Visionary & Founder, YOU ARE YOUR OWN HERO