Tuning In to Your Impractical, Illogical Soul

I often use the phrase “tune in” when talking about the breath in my yoga classes. Tuning in to the breath brings us back to the present moment and back to our bodies, rather than off in the land of thoughts.

Lately, I’ve also recognized the importance of “tuning in” to the soul. But how, on earth, can you tune in to something that isn’t palpable? At least when we’re breathing, we can feel the sensation of the breath and hear it as it enters and exits the lungs. Hearing what your soul has to say takes a deeper listening, and sometimes it takes external circumstances (and people) to help you understand what it’s saying.

Meditate: Open the Channels of Communication Between You and Your Soul. You don’t have to be an expert to meditate. You just have to be willing to sit quietly, observe your thoughts, and rest in stillness. In that stillness, you may be able to hear the voice of your soul more clearly.

A year ago, I came back to the US after spending nearly 4 months traveling. I went back to my 9–5 job in legal publishing. Was it my ideal gig? No, but it was a soft place to land. A few months later, as I was sitting in meditation, I heard a quiet voice, and it whispered to me: “It’s time to quit your job to teach yoga.” Upon hearing the whisper, my heart sighed “yes,” and my eyes filled with tears of both longing and relief.

Start to Differentiate Between Who is Speaking: Your Mind? Or Your Soul? Our minds are full of thoughts — many of them useful and practical, but many of them a hindrance to true growth. So how do you know who is actually speaking — the mind or the soul? Just ask yourself the question: who is speaking? If it’s the mind, it will come up with a believable, practical answer. If it’s the soul (the Self), there will not be an answer that you can put into words; the soul usually speaks to us with just a feeling. If the soul is saying “yes” to something, you will usually feel joy and expansion; if it is saying, “no,” you will feel tight and restrictive.

When I would think (fantasize) about quitting my job, my mind said, “Wait, what? No thanks. I make a very nice salary. I work from home. I have a kind boss and flexible hours, and I can teach on the side. Not quitting. No way. Nice try.” I kept having this conversation with myself over and over again. “Now’s not the time,” my mind told that voice inside me, the one that had stopped whispering and was now adamantly demanding that I quit.

Is the Universe Saying “Yes”? Even if we can’t tune in to our souls by meditating or by practicing self-inquiry, the universe will still say “yes” to us, usually in the form of synchronicity. Kind people and favorable circumstances will show up in your life, like someone has rigged your life to make you see: it (the impossible, impractical thing that you soul wants) can work for you.

When I was too stubborn to listen to my own soul-voice, the universe kept saying “yes” to me quitting my job to teach: a few different studio owners asked me to teach for them, several students approached me to work with them privately, and two new coaching clients showed up on my doorstep, without any effort on my part.

Is Your Body Trying to Tell You Something? The body is amazing at telling us if something is imbalanced in our lives. For example, if you’ve got a bellyache, it could be because you’ve eaten something “off” or because you have too much stress in your life. The body, marvel that it is, can also act as a translator for the soul.

I felt a tight, restrictive, awful feeling in my chest every time I had to choose between the job that paid my bills and the job that lights up my heart. I started to plan a trip to Maui to practice yoga with Nancy Gilgoff, mapping out exactly how many vacation days and sick days I would need to take the trip. But all of that planning to keep my job felt icky to me. Icky as in: my chest felt tight, my body felt heavy, my shoulders rounded in defeat. I brushed it off and told myself: “Now’s not the time to quit.”

The louder my soul screamed at me and the more I ignored it, the louder my body screamed at me. One day I came down with a little, tiny, tickle-in-your-throat cough. That tiny cough turned into the flu, and it became the worst cough I’ve ever had: no amount of cough medicine or oil of oregano or hot tea with honey and whiskey would soothe it. That cough eventually descended deep into my lungs, turning into a rough bout of bronchitis.

Couch-bound, alone, and unable to leave my house, I had plenty of time to listen to that soul-voice that I’d been ignoring for months. At that point, sicker than I’d been in years, I knew for certain: it was time to quit my job. I was nervous, I was scared, and I had no idea what was in front of me, other than a cloud of financial insecurity.

True Friends Will Reflect Your Soul’s Desires Back to You. We all have people in our lives that ask a lot of “how are you going to make this work?” questions in very pessimistic and judgmental tones. Those questions (while valid) are generally just a reflection of the fears and the mind-based drama that you’re working through yourself. True friends, who know you deeply, will reflect back to you what it is underneath the surface. They may still ask tough questions, but they will show you that what you desire is deeper than all of those fears.

A couple of days before I gave notice, I told a good friend of mine about my fear of diving off a financial cliff, and he said, “You’re not jumping off a cliff. You’re ascending.” In that moment, my soul relaxed into a smile that beamed across my face, and I knew he was right.

I took his words (and the calm feeling of certainty I had when he said them) with me when I talked to my boss about quitting and when I turned down her generous offer to keep my job open for me when I came back from a month in Maui. I reminded myself: ascension, Meg, ascension.

You Will Feel Fully Vibrant and Alive. Feeling fully vibrant and alive is a sign that you’re aligned with your soul’s (sometimes impractical and illogical) desires.

Despite the temptation of continued financial security, I skipped the safety net, ran off to Maui, and came home and settled into my new, self-employed life. From a logical, practical, grown-up perspective, the choice to teach yoga rather than “do something with my law degree” makes zero sense.

But when I tune in to my soul (which defies logic, apparently), it says YES. My heart sighs with relief when I don’t have to split myself between teaching and legal stuff. I feel my soul igniting with passion every time I have the opportunity to share yoga with my students. And I feel my soul relaxing into this new, wobbly, uncertain way of living.

Because for me, teaching yoga isn’t a way to make a living. It is living.