CHANGEMAKERS! Change yourself, change the world…. And make it an adventure.

CHANGEMAKERS! Change yourself, change the world…. And make it an adventure.

keep calm and be a changemakerYogis love change. This is how we do it: we get more flexible, stronger, more calm, more grounded, more open-hearted, and more alive. We stretch and we grow, we breathe and we flow, we accept all the challenges, the successes, the failures… and we glow. It’s the sweet glow of transformation, and if you’ve ever done it, then you know exactly what I mean. Most of us don’t know why, but we do it – and it works.

And then one day it starts to spill over the edges of our own skin. There’s something about that inner glow that just can’t be contained. Call it presence, compassion, love, passion, delight… it’s the warm and fuzzy bedrock of human connection, and it’s fostered through the practices and perspectives that we call yoga. Almost without realizing it, it’s suddenly not enough just to want a good life for ourselves: we also want it for others. But where do we start?

Or maybe you’re the other type of changemaker who knows just where to start: an activist, a passionate volunteer, a social entrepreneur, an eco-hero or an outspoken advocate for justice and peace. Creating change in the world around us, but sometimes burning out, not taking the time to rest and be nourished, to look within, to be peace rather than fighting for it…

The beauty is, at some point the inner and the outer have to meet, and the spark of change that happens at this sweet spot, sri yantrawhere balance is struck and opposites merge and unite, burns brightest of all. New-age speak or not, life is holographic, fractal magic: the macro and the micro are in essence one and the same. So what we do – inside or out – matters.

It’s this point of union that I love most. It’s here that a changemaker becomes someone who weaves real transformation born of immense heart and immense intelligence, with inner and outer integrity, with the wisdom of knowing that our own happiness is bound up in the happiness of others, who believes in and sees clearly the impact of their own actions – and is not afraid to get out there, do it, and inspire it in others.

If this rings true for you, let this be a call to action, a call to adventure. Because that’s what life is, if you embrace it.

For inspiration, check out these communities and projects: www.changemakers.org  * www.offthematintotheworld.org  *   www.theglobalwomensproject.com.au  * www.birthforhumankind.org  *  http://www.socialtraders.com.au/

Or better yet come do it together:

Nepal Retreat 2015