We are all on a hero’s journey.  Some of us know what we seek and others are completely unaware they are living a life of purpose.  Joseph Campbell wrote a book called A Hero with a Thousand faces that outlines the myth of the hero.  You can think of it as if your life is a book and you are the hero of the book.  The hero changes the world.  The hero helps others.  The hero lives an extraordinary life.

In order to live this type of larger-than-life myth, the hero is put through a series of tests that give him the wisdom he needs to continue on his path.  He learns the truths of the universe.

There is usually a refusal to go once he has been called on the adventure of life.  Typically, he is in a place of comfort and security and he knows by moving outside of his comfort zone, there will be the void of the unknown.  At least there is a nice little graphic that can help navigate the process.

The more we deny our purpose and ignore the call… the more we convince ourselves we want to live our lives according to our own plans, the more we suffer.  Suffering can come in the form of bad relationships, illness, a desire to numb out, or distractions of any kind.

When we practice surrendering, we can observe how much we are clinging to our own ideals.  We want to get closer to universal truth and further away from ego and mind-constructs.  A practice that helps with this is Yin and Restorative yoga.  The best pose I’ve found to notice how to surrender is Balasana, or Child’s Pose:  Come to all fours, lower hips to heels, forehead comes to floor, hands move beside body, palms face up.  As you breathe, notice the gripping within the muscles of the legs… the face… the shoulders.  Practice letting go.