Follow The Map Until You Don’t Need One

When your dedication to strict practices hinders your ability to meet yourself authentically

The path to self-knowing is rarely straightforward. It is layered, cyclical and paradoxical.

Today I want to share how I’ve learnt and practiced all the tools and methods, only to eventually ditch them all—temporarily.

And how I’ve come to the realisation that it is in the simple act of utter presence and curiosity with myself that I experience my deepest intimacy and truth.

The paradox here is that I did need to try out all the practices in order to arrive at the simplicity of it all. Having a context is important.

And so, I’m not here to tell you to let go of all the things you’re currently doing.

Truth is, we need our own experience and learn our own lessons. It is in this exact process that we become the people we become.

So yes, we need the frameworks and structures to help us understand what we are working with.

We need tools and modalities that help us bring practicality and tangibility to this personal development work that we do, that can often feel so abstract and spacey (is it just me?).

But there is a time and place to dive deep into modalities and do the heavy duty work. To devote ourselves to our practices and learn what commitment to our journey looks like.

And then, there comes a time when these practices and structures become the very things that keep us stuck.

Because in our devotion to them, we forgot how to return to our real needs, desires and inspiration.

We confused devotion to ourselves for the devotion to a rigid routine.

The part that we often skip is discernment—asking the question:

How do these tools fit my own unique life? Do they work for me? Do they expand my capacity to meet myself authentically, or do they hinder it?

Sometimes, the most impactful thing we can do is let go of all that we know, to make space for the raw, real direct experience of the present moment.

To see what we see, hear what we hear, sense what we sense.

To feel ourselves in relation to our environment and the people that surround us. And to let that experience inform our next steps, our desired orientation.

To actually test—in real life, on our own skin—what brings more freedom, and what keeps us feeling stuck.

To question: How might I disrupt the natural rhythm of my being—my knowing, by following something imposed externally?

How might I be disconnected from what life asks of me, in my pursuit of yet another modality through which to experience myself?

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I’ve been in a long period of integration of everything I’ve learnt—from books, courses, teachers. I’ve needed to go through a process of individuation and check:

does this apply to me? does this feel true to me? am I forcing it in any way?

In this process, I let myself not follow any rigid practices or methods.

My only practice was a continuous return to me.

That looked like rolling my yoga mat and giving the reign to my body, rather than follow any specific sequence.

I had been complaining for a long time about some pains in my hips and lower back, as well as feeling stuck when breathing. As if I didn’t have enough space.

So instead of seeking externally what the cause of my pains and discomfort could have been, and specific movements or breathing practices I could do, I just let my body do that.

I discovered a whole world of mystery and gifts.

It turns out, my body was waiting for that permission all this time. It all felt like a huge exhale. Just me, my body, my breath and the yoga mat. The most sacred intimate space I could ever create.

This allowed me to teach yoga in a way that was inviting people into the same exploratory space I had discovered.

A space where we dare to not have all the answers. Where the main interest is to be with what is. To be curious. To be open.

I realised that the body doesn’t need to be put into a different experience than the one it’s in.

What it needs is to be given the space to meet itself.

After such a period of integration and practice, I’m slowly entering an era of searching again. Of needing new perspectives and frameworks. Of gaining new language and expanding my lens of understanding.

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It’s a leap of faith, letting for of labels and boxes and just follow the language of our soul.

The paradox is that it isn’t one way or the other.

It’s knowing when it’s time to receive input and when it’s time to be in you personal life practice.

To discern if and how what you learn applies to you, or if you’re trying to fit yourself into a concept.

This is the art. Learning the concepts and the techniques and the modalities, only to drop them.

And then circle back to them—not as rules, but as possibilities.

This is the role of a practice: to help you develop self-knowing and dial up your authentic expression.

So I invite you to reflect: Am I in a cycle of needing new input from the external, or in one where I’m deeply listening to my internal guidance?

Share with us in the comments.