Autorka: Lisa Marie Cunniff – Onkar Kaur
Britská učitelka Lisa Marie Cunniff, kterou můžete potkat především v karlovarské oblasti se s námi v angličtině podělila o zážitky ze své osobní cesty s kundalini jógou. Příběh je to košatý a text delší… nabitý sedmi zajímavými lety života.
In August 2008 I divorced husband to go on a journey to find myself. I gave him our house and our business and walked away from a 13 year relationship with no financial security. I was told, by all those close to me, that I was crazy, stupid. Wahe Guru. My intuition told me this was the right thing to do. I held my faith in my intuition.
Early in 2009 I started to research psychic phenomena after living all my life with strong foresight and particularly harrowing and violent visions. Almost everyone who knew me told me I was crazy. Wahe Guru. I was lucky that my dearest friend gave me encouragement when I needed it the most and I found the faith to follow my intuition. Through this research I found Kundalini Yoga.
I began practicing Kundalini Yoga in October 2009 and felt a calling in my first class to Teach. It was like every cell within my body vibrated with acceptance, with knowledge that here lies my destiny, this was what had been missing from my life. Most of my family and friends told me I was crazy, stupid to think this. Wahe Guru. I found the courage to hold faith with my intuition.
In 2010 I stopped drinking alcohol and other self abusive behaviours. I also stopped eating meat. Both felt like a natural flow from my practice. None of these behaviours served me any longer. I was told I was crazy, stupid to do this. My body needed meat and my happiness needed alcohol and crazy nights out. Wahe Guru. I found the courage to hold faith with my intuition.
In September 2010 I left the employ of a fantastic company where I had held various senior management positions for over 10 years. I was well educated/qualified and had vast experience in all departments. I had no financial security nor any job to go to, only the inner knowledge that I needed to allow myself this space……I was told by almost everyone I knew that I was crazy, stupid to throw away my career…clearly I had lost my mind. Wahe Guru. It took great courage, but I found my faith strong enough to follow my intuition.
In Jan 2011 I was offered the opportunity to live inexpensively in a huge convent house, suitable for offering K Yoga classes and hosting other Teachers. It perfectly matched my visions, my dreams but it meant moving away from family and friends. I was told I was crazy to do this with a young child as a single mother with no money. Wahe Guru. I found the courage to hold faith in my intuition and had the most fantastic year hosting a Shaman from US, Hare Krishna Monks from Scotland and creating a K Yoga community that is now very active and several students from that year have become Teachers.
All the while I was scared….from the beginning I questioned my faith, my courage, my ability, my responsibility as a mother and my sanity, but a fire was burning inside me and it had a goal….all I had to do was to take each step. Wahe Guru.
In Jan 2012 I found myself uncomfortable in the beautiful convent and could feel a huge push to move…but where? I notified the owner that I would be moving out soon, when? I don’t know…where… I don’t know. Then a handful of subtle signals pointed to Sherwood Forest and when I visited I found home again. My body sang out with contentment and again I moved. I was told I was crazy of course but by now it was like water under the bridge, an accepted part of life. Wahe Guru.
My goal through all these travels was to reach the Education and Health system in the UK. To fundamentally make a difference and to bring K Yoga into the heart of the community. I failed…..or so it appeared at the time to my ego mind and so my family and friends liked to remind me….I was crazy after all and needed shaking back to my old self. I had failed to give my daughter a secure upbringing…if security is one house and money…..I had failed to find a good job and regular income…..if you define good by how many hours you work and how much you get paid. I had failed to teach my daughter gratitude because I had given away all of my possessions…..if gratitude is found in attachment. Wahe Guru. I felt that I had taught her that security comes from within, that all we need comes to us in the right moment so theres no need to attach to anything and that work is best done from the soul….but still my ego mind persisted in pointing out my failures.
In Sherwood Forest I found Mother. I connected to the feminine Shakti Goddess through the divinity of that age old Forest. It was such a blessing and a hidden treasure. I found myself. I accepted myself. I loved myself……and then I met my partner in an ancient grove at a mother Earth Lodge and faith and courage was to be tested once again in the next big leap of change when we embarked upon a European Tour.
Of course, I was told by family and friends of old that I was crazy……….and I thank them and love them deeply for showing me my own depths of courage and faith. Without their fears, I wouldn’t have known the strength of my own courage granted through GODs grace. The Guru is not always where we expect to find it, but in every moment, every relationship, every interaction, the Guru is present.
Its 2015 and my family and friends still say I am crazy but they also tell me how I was right to follow my own inner guidance, how happy they are that I didn’t listen to them and how inspired they are by my ability to pursue my happiness with courage and faith. Some of my family, who really found it difficult to accept my changes at first, now practice Kundalini Yoga. Wahe Guru.
I recently discovered that one of my students from Sherwood Forest is responsible for educating the highest levels of Education and Health Directors in the UK. It is her job to change the health and education provision to suit the needs of future generations. She now attends regular K Yoga classes and uses tools from K Yoga in her presentations to the Directors and demonstrates how such practices are fundamental to health……seems my failures were not quite as I percieved them to be….Faith is a magical gift of GOD, graced to us by the Gurus blessing. Bow and be blessed, serve and be guided, commit and be graced with GODs courage. Judgements formed by the ego mind have no place in happiness, and will disappear as the mind becomes a devotional tool.
Wahe Guru
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I am Lisa Marie Cunniff Onkar Kaur, from Yorkshire in England. I have lived in Ostrov, Karlovy Vary, since Jan 2013 with my CZ partner and our daughter. After travelling around Europe looking for the right community, we chose to live here for the active family lifestyle, a more balanced academic and creative education, spa access and the beautiful nature.
I Teach adult Kundalini Yoga classes and Childrens K yoga classes every week in a variety of places and offer regular Sadhanas. I also Teach K Yoga intensive holidays at a beautiful Castle in the Krushna Hora Mountains. I am content in following my intuition, wherever it guides me, and in my service to the Teachings. I find bliss in Teaching, cooking and writing for the community. I love to live near natural environments and give thanks to the Guru through every conscious moment for my lifestyle. (www.kjkk.cz)