In November 2023, I was about to travel to India on my own. The biggest trip I’d made, definitely in the past few years, and in my life so far. I felt a calling to go, and perhaps a bit foolishly, I didn’t even ‘know’ specifically where I was going. But it was an inner knowing that had to follow.
At the time, I’d been in my own business just shy of a year. I’d been finding my feet, trying to figure it all out, and getting on with building my business. Yet something didn’t feel right. I knew it was time to shift my focus.
So I thought, perfect timing, I’ve got my trip to India to clear my head and decide the way forward when I return.
An unexpected journey
The thing is, this wasn’t any ordinary, backpacking and exploring leisurely pace kinda thing.
Off we went, this random bunch of unassuming westerners on a 'retreat to India' guided by the wonderful humans Greg, Sam and Lucy who run The Quantum Questions, where we spent ten days in an Ashram in the foothills of the Himalayas.
An ashram is known as a ‘forest school’, typically devoted to a deity or ‘enlightened’ person - in this case, it was Shri Haidkhan Babaji, who built the ashram during the 1970’s/80’s, then left his body, and devotees still continue to worship him and work there.
I was in the midst of doing my yoga teacher training at the time as well, and so I was ‘on the path’ so to speak and just completely open to the experience.
And wow, did I get that opportunity - because, let me tell you, ashram living was tough!
4am wake ups, bathing in the freezing river, hours of meditation, devotional singing, and working in the ashram. Sleeping on metal beds in group dorms, buckets of water for ‘showers’, and two meals a day. On repeat, for ten days.
To any outsider, you might question (and I did myself at first) why had I come all this way, to the culturally rich India, to spend most of my day working and doing the same (often seemingly) mundane things each day, in the same place?
It made perfect sense to me. It was a total mirror for me of what I needed to reflect on in my life and my business.
So it was a case of getting on with it, learning what I needed to learn, and getting to work!
Here’s some of the key things I took away from my time, that may also help you reflect and contemplate how things are working in your business right now. There’s a few prompts that you might also like to journal on. Take your time!
Lesson 1 - work is worship.
In the West we often think of yoga as just some stretching on a mat, but that is just one tiny part of what yoga truly is. Yoga is about becoming whole within yourself, and there are many different ‘paths’ to that.
What Shri Haidakhan Babaji taught was the path of ‘karma yoga’ - basically working hard and using it as a form of worship - giving all your actions up to the greater good of humanity (I mean, he got that right, getting all his devotees to help him build the ashram! Smart guy!).
In my case, for a few hours each day I worked on the ‘road’ - the path between the ashram and the temples on the other side of the river. During monsoon season, the river is high and there is no path. When the river subsides, the path needs to be rebuilt, to make the passage smooth for the locals and all ashram residents to be able to visit either side, and so ashram visitors take part in this rebuilding project.
My job was to sift all the larger stones from the paths, for a few hours each morning. So this for me was the first big lesson, about working hard and giving one small task my undivided attention.
In the western world it’s such a challenge, as we have so many distractions. This simple daily act reminded me that when you clear away distractions, and completely immerse yourself in a task, that it becomes a meditation in itself, clearing the mind by the act of working diligently on one thing.
How often do you give yourself the gift of undivided attention on a task, no matter how small? It could be doing something like this, writing a blog, putting away the phone, closing all other tabs, and allowing your fingers to tap away without distraction.
PROMPT: Reflect on something you keep thinking you want to get done, and make a commitment today, to carve out some time and do some ‘work on your road’. Take one small action towards it today.
Lesson 2 - surrender the need to control
Now this lesson is something I think we all need to hear from time to time - letting go of the need to control every action. So often we doubt ourselves and so it keeps us stuck in non-action and indecision.
Prior to India, that’s how I felt in my business. I’d spent a few months toying with the idea of starting some kind of mentorship, knowing that I had all this strategic marketing experience that was not being used.
For a few months I’d dawdled and doubted myself, putting off the action steps it took to get it off the ground. Of course I think there is timing to everything and sometimes we’re just not ready to move forward, but it’s in the small action taking where we truly learn about what we want so we can actually learn from trying.
But back to the road in the Himalayas for the next part of this lesson.
Over the course of a few days, when I’d spent hours working on my part of the path, there came another instruction. Whilst I’d been told to make the road like velvet, as smooth as possible, another instruction came that it needed to be more rugged, that some smaller stones needed to be left for traction.
Other instructions came and went. I had to laugh at the miscommunication and rather than reacting and feeling like I’d wasted my time, I just continued to do what I was told and surrendered the outcome, sticking to my task as best I could.
Now this isn't to say you should blindly take instructions from anyone and go against our better judgement, but it is the act of giving up the outcome, not being attached to it too much.
Especially when you work for yourself or you’re building your own business, you have to learn through taking some action, then re-shaping the path as and when you need to.
Not taking yourself too seriously or attaching too much to what you're doing, I’ve found, is crucial, otherwise we start to identify so much with our business and feel down if we haven’t seen the ‘external results’ of all our actions. Using those lessons to reflect on where we might need to readjust the course is key.
PROMPT:
What action are you putting off for fear of getting it wrong? What is the worst that could happen? Be willing to offer up the outcome of the task, knowing that what you’re doing will do some good, in some way, for the benefit of yourself and others. No action is ever wasted!
Lesson 3 - see the bigger picture
Now you might be thinking Claire, this trip sounds pretty dire to me! And in some ways, yes, I caught myself in my ‘victim mode’, especially during those 4 am wake ups in the cold and dark to go plunge myself in the river!!
But the beauty of this place was also breathtaking. It’s said that if you spend time there, you receive ten lifetimes of spiritual enlightenment - the quality of the air and the auspicious beings that have said to have visited this place quite literally ‘lifts you up’.
In the afternoons, we had some down time and I’d spend it doing a little yoga or reading, and gazing at the beautiful mountains and vast nature around me. That image is imprinted on my mind now.
As much as the daily tasks could be a grind, I’d often take glances up and around at this place I was lucky enough to spent time in.
I remember on the last day feeling sad that I would miss the view. But instead I thought, rather than being attached to this place and this view, what is it really giving me to take away?
The mountain reminded me to expand, to stay open to the bigger picture around me.
The reminder to not get bogged down by the daily drama, to get on with the task at hand, then every now and again, lift my head up to see the bigger picture and drink in the beauty of this walk through life.
So whenever I start to shrink myself or feel down about the daily grind, whether it’s looking around in my environment or going into meditation back to that mountain view or looking at it on my vision board, I take myself back to that feeling of expansion as often as I need.
When we’re building a business that is soul-led, it’s important to call in that ‘big vision’ in some way, often, if not daily. To feel expansive, to start with some sense of wonder and gratitude, to then be able to zoom in and focus on the task at hand.
PROMPT:
What is your ‘bigger picture’? Can you connect to something that is bigger than you, that guides you towards what you’re working on?
Connect with your big picture often, perhaps starting your day with that connection, whether it’s time orienting in nature or spending time in meditation to connect. Remember to reflect often as well, to notice how far you’ve come along the way.
The path ahead
A final reflection from my trip is the day we were given a day off ‘ashram life’ and we walked up Mount Kailash, said to be where Lord Shiva spent time and where Shri Babaji meditated on the top of the mountain for 40 days and nights without moving - a really auspicious place that I felt so lucky to be able to visit - it definitely changed me in some way up on that mountain top.
To make our journey, we were guided by some locals, and looked after so well along the way. One of our guides was a pujari, and we even got the gift of puja (ceremony) on the top of the mountain. I'm a huge lover of ceremony and all things ritualistic so this was just a dream to me.
And during my time there, I met some amazing teachers and guides there, which will forever stay in my heart.
And so it was from that journey that I decided my way forward in my business. To be the guide for other soul-led women, making their way up their own ‘mountain’ of building their soul business.
And that’s what I do now, every day, taking small actions everyday, offering them all up, letting go of the outcome, knowing that all this work will benefit others in the world.
Looking for a soul business sherper?
If there's one thing I know, it's that we were never meant to 'go it alone'. Much like the spiritual path, it can be a lonely path building your own business, and every now and then we find ourselves needing some support to help us sift through the dirt, in order to see the bigger picture.
So if it feels like you’ve got a big mountain to climb to make your soul business dreams come true, and you’ve recognised you might need some support along the way, perhaps I can be your guide for part of that path.
In my Soul Business mentorship, I help you zoom out to see that bigger picture in your business, put a strategy in place, then co-create with you and start getting to the task at hand.
If you’d like to explore walking this path together you can check out the soul business mentorship, and book in a free alchemy call with me to see if we’re aligned.
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