Rise as One

The last few weeks have brought an incredible opportunity into my life. I applied to become one of the ambassadors for the Rise As One project — and was accepted. I can honestly say that nothing I have ever achieved in my life means more to me than being able to be a part of this project, which will create change in our world in a very real and tangible way. Myself and six other amazing yogis will be travelling over to India in September and going into the slums of Nagpur to assist in the empowerment of the young girls and women who live there. The project will offer a way for them to have access to education and job skills, which will dramatically change their lives by allowing them to become change-makers in their own communities.

I’d like to share with you my application answer because it sums up how I feel about yoga and what it can do to create big shifts and changes that are required in our world…

Yoga is the vehicle that takes us home to the truth of our deep connection with each other. Through the practice we move from our superficial identification of who we are, to the felt sense and living embodiment of our true nature. From that place we can start to appreciate that we are all in this experience together. That what is good for one is good for all and, equally, what is damaging for one is also damaging for all. 

Through the study and practice of yoga the arbitrary boundaries we've created between the self and 'other' start to dissolve. We move from self-centred and goal-oriented behaviour to a true Soul and heart connection to all beings. I think this understanding of our connection sparks a desire to support and help others as we start to understand and feel we are just different expressions of the one loving Consciousness. Yoga allows us to look at the many and see ourselves. We start to take responsibility for what we are pouring into the world through our intentions, words and actions. 

Yoga impacts change in the world because the internal force that is awakened in the individual in this practice to grow, evolve, and heal, extends far beyond the boundaries of that person’s skin. We start to see ourselves as an instrument to be able to create great change if we wish to. Our present day challenges extend from our collective ignorance to who we truly are and our interconnectedness with all of life. It is a crisis of consciousness that can be healed through the practice of Yoga. It was through experiencing this on a personal level that called me to become and teacher and pay that forward. Through my own shifts and evolution through the practice, I started to wish for all beings to have what was so beautifully given to me.

Rise As One felt like the portal I had been looking for, where I could take action around female rights and equality, which is something I feel so passionately about. I have travelled through India for months at a time and I’ve felt a powerful heart connection and a 'coming home-ness' each time I’ve been there. But during my travels I have also experienced such powerlessness around the way women are treated in that country. Plus, a huge amount of empathy for the situations that I saw that were reminiscent of my own experiences as a woman... but so much worse.

What will empowering the women of the world do? Seventy per cent of the world’s poverty stricken are women and girls. In many countries, due to lack of education, they have no choice but to marry very young. Worse still, they may be taken into the sex slavery industry, which in our times is a death sentence for most. Apart from the most obvious task, which is to stand up to this shocking human rights violation, if this 70% were educated and had job skills just imagine how that would shift our global economy. I’m reading a book at present called Half The Sky and the chief economist of the world bank states, “Investment in girls’ education may well be the highest return investment available in the developing world”

I’m coming to understand that a huge part of my life purpose is to be a vessel for this  shift; where all girls and women can know that they are special, and enough, and that it is a great privilege, not a curse or ‘bad karma’ to be born a woman. 

The balance of the feminine in our world will bring humanity to it’s fullest potential and create higher, more integrated levels of consciousness on our planet. No one would want a world without the feminine. That would mean no dancing, music, joy, love, radiance, gentleness, kindness, compassion, pleasure, intuition and HEALING. If we cast our eyes across the world right now we can see that we are in desperate need of healing and balance. It is time to lift the feminine energy within each of us (regardless of gender) up from the bottom of the ocean of our consciousness and hearts and have it pour back into our world. We are hungry for it. We are aching for it. And we have the opportunity to awaken it. 

So my invitation to you, blog readers, is to please view the video as it explains what I am doing for Rise As One. The website and my page are now open for donations to support this incredible initiative. I am just so excited to see the effect that this will have on our world and I would so appreciate you joining me in this important upshift of our global family.

Yours in Yoga,

Aimee xx