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Is your life a wild exploration, or does it feel mundane and lack excitement? Is the life you are living based on logical reason and society’s expectations, or are you doing exactly what makes your heart beat a little faster with passion and enthusiasm? If you listened more intently to what your heart wants, what would you be doing? What are your dreams, and why aren’t you living them at the moment?

These are the questions that author Kori Hahn poses in the introduction to Rituals of the Soul: Using the 8 Ancient Principles of Yoga to Create a Modern & Meaningful Life. She dedicates the rest of the book to showing readers how the eight ancient steps of yoga can help them answer them. We hope you’ll enjoy this Q & A with Kori about the book.

Tell us about your book Rituals of the Soul and what inspired you to write it.

I spent many years doing a regular asana and meditation practice, which of course made me feel a little better each day, but I eventually realized I had no idea how to use yoga as a whole, comprehensive, spiritual system, even after twenty years of practicing and teaching.

When I started creating and practicing specific rituals to more fully integrate my yoga practice, the results and benefits started coming with more ease. Instead of being militaristic about my practice, I started tuning into my soul. The intention of my yoga process was to listen for what my soul wanted and to use its techniques to walk towards those goals a little bit each day. When I started manifesting big bold dreams, I realized I was really onto something special.

In Rituals of the Soul, I explain each of the 8 yogic principles and explore how the big picture of yoga and small, personalized rituals can help us to integrate those principles in our daily lives. While yoga is ultimately about showing us how to manifest freedom from mental anguish and soul-liberation (the yogis call this Samadhi), I have also discovered that I can use the system to manifest earthly dreams as well — like world class surf trips, building and growing my own business, and living a an unorthodox life being spiritual and surfy in Sri Lanka!

You say in the book that intuition is our way of perceiving the world through the lens of our soul. Tell us more about that please.

I believe intuitive messages are subtle whispers sent from the deepest part of our subconscious. These ethereal messages emanate from your soul and are directly guiding you to realize and live your soul’s purpose for you.

When we rely less on the logical, societal norm voice of the thinking mind that tells us what we “should do” and learn how to listen to the calm voice of our soul, we empower ourselves to make the choices we need to heal, find our worth, and to eventually connect to our own God/dess (our soul) living within. Unfortunately, many of us get lost in our pains, discomforts and insecurities and are unable to discern our soul’s chosen path as a result. It is our intuition that brings us closer to ourselves and what we want need for our unique human experience.

You say in the introduction that your book will teach readers how to use yoga to connect with and start acting on their intuition. How so?

Rituals of the Soul teaches readers how to live more intuitively. I teach the reader how to first use yoga to listen to their intuition and then to start acting on it. Yoga is intended to be used as a way of tapping into the God within you. It helps you hear “the words of God” (aka your intuition). Our intuition is how our internal guidance ultimately takes us to the passions and projects, which will ultimately give our lives purpose and meaning.

Your book empowers readers to create their own personalized set of rituals. Why is this important?

Yoga is not meant to only be practiced on a yoga mat. It is meant to help us with the real struggles in our everyday lives! When I stopped practicing yoga so hyper-vigilantly on the mat, I learned to move my yoga practices into my daily life off the mat more often — while cleaning my toilets, sitting in traffic, etc. I started meditating (counting my breath) when I had a spare moment throughout my day and not always as a super structured item on my to do list. As a single mom and an entrepreneur, who is always passionate and excited about some sort of new creative project, I needed yoga to fit into my life not just from 7-9 am, but in all the in-between moments as well.

That is why rituals work so well. They train us to habitually do things differently and are ultimately a reminder of the intention we are working towards. It's not really about the practice, but about the purpose behind them, or our reason for doing them. Rituals keep us motivated and inspired and moving in the right direction. When your rituals are frequently repeated, that consistency can be even more powerful than doing one long practice each day.

What is the most important thing that someone who wants to create a set of rituals needs to know?

Start small so you can do them consistently with ease. Let one small ritual come and see for yourself how it starts saturating all of your life. Then add one or two as your capacity for them grows. If you want to learn to meditate, start by taking ten breaths at a time here and there. You don't need to sit for one hour in the beginning, although you can. Let it be easy and be compassionate with yourself. Do ten breaths when you first wake up in the morning, and then again when waiting in the carpool line, and ten more while taking a shower, and you will have started a new habit of checking in mindfully into the present moment and not just while sitting in a quintessential yogi posture.


Kori Hahn is the author of Rituals of the Soul and founder of a community gathering place called the Santosha Society, which is dedicated to travel, surfing, and the soulful. She hosts numerous trips around the world for hundreds of women who study Ayurveda, yoga, meditation, and all things related to soul growth, knowledge, and fulfillment. Visit her online at www.SantoshaSociety.com.

Excerpted from the book from Rituals of the Soul. Copyright ©2021 by Kori Hahn. Printed with permission from New World Library.

I'm a happily married woman with two beautiful little girls. I have been married for seven years now, and although on the outside I seem like a very together person, I'm very confused in my mind and heart. A few years before I got married, I met an awesome guy and we quickly fell in love. As we live thousands of miles apart, we've never had a long-term relationship, and we ended up with other people. Ever since we met, however, I dream about him at least weekly, and sometimes two or three nights in a row. I feel stupid and awful because I have a loving husband and a beautiful life, like somehow I'm not being totally loyal to my spouse. I'm very irritated that I can't stop having these romantic dreams. The romance in these dreams is very intense. They're not sexual - instead, the feeling is joy that we can finally be together. Sometimes we even cry of happiness together. I'm wondering if we're soul mates and I should have moved to be with him long ago. Did I make a mistake? Do you think he's having the same dreams? Should I see a shrink? I'm so ashamed about these dreams. Thanks so much for you help.

Astrea:

Most of the people I know have dreams about the one that got away. I don't mean to make light of your feelings about your dreams, but we're wise to remember that they ARE dreams, and what you do in your dreams isn't disloyal at all.

Since you say this person was always long distance and never really in your life on a full-time basis, it's easy for your subconscious to paint a picture of him as the perfect guy you always wanted, even though I know you love your husband and your daughters.

Here's an interesting thing about dreaming of a person from our past, especially someone we've been built up into some fabulous ideal: usually it means we wish the partners we love and live with were more like that person. Basically, we wish we could feel the simple joy with our partner that we feel with the Dream Guy.

We project false characteristics and illusionary attitudes on the Dream Guy because we don't really know him and we don't have to live with him day after day when we're awake. Those Dream Guys never get mad, always pay rapt attention to us, and make us feel safe.

Then when we're awake and our own husbands make us feel wonderful, it's natural to feel a bit GUILTY. Quit it - just quit it. You can enjoy your happy family AND your dreams. You didn't make a mistake here; this guy probably was a possible soul mate for you, but you have a better match in real life now.

There is certainly nothing in this situation for which you should feel any guilt or shame. This Dream Guy is a symbol of a perfect person, not the perfect man for you. People in dreams don't always stand for the same person in real life.

There is nothing shameful about dreaming of a perfect person. Just because he has your friend's face and voice and mannerisms in your dream doesn't make him that person in the flesh. I think you should pay attention to what makes you happy about him in your dreams so you can work those qualities into your waking life.

I am the wrong psychic to ask about the ultimate soul mate because I know that we have more than one. We all have choices; it's what we do with the love we find that is important. To me, soul mates are any two people who have grown together over many years with a lot of caring and understanding.

Your husband and your girls are NOT mistakes! Your real life will feel rewarding and fulfilling if you choose to see it that way.

*****

Susyn:

Life is an amazing journey. When we encounter people who touch us deeply, even years later, we can be sure there is a higher purpose behind that connection.

We come into this world with a set destiny and road to travel, so it can be unsettling if we feel that we are missing or have missed something important to our hearts and souls. I can assure you that if someone is supposed to be a part of your life, they will be - when the time is right.

I'm betting that your destiny was to fall in love with your husband and have your two beautiful daughters. Your friend also has other people to influence, learn from, and fulfill his destiny with.

I'm certain that he holds you in his heart and mind in the same manner you do him, and that somewhere down the road, you'll reconnect again. You'll be two very different people after the life lessons you've experienced, which will determine how this meeting will go.

You may discover that he is not the ideal person for you, or that many of the feelings and idealistic ideas you carry about him were mere projection. Often we are haunted by past relationships simply because they represent a time when we were different people - perhaps more innocent, trusting or open.

On the other hand, you could discover that the connection is as powerful as ever, and that the Universe is working to bring you back together.

The important thing to keep in mind is that your attention should be focused on the present. When you experience these thoughts and dreams, acknowledge them, bless them, and send them on their way with a simple prayer, such as, I was blessed to have this person in my life, and if it is meant to be, I would be happy to have him in my life again.

Oftentimes these dreams and thoughts haunt us because instead of acknowledging them and letting them pass through, we tend to feel guilty, afraid or unsure. The more we try to bury them, the more they will return in an effort to get our attention.

When they come again, stop and try to see the metaphysical messages they are offering. Instead of wondering if he is the same or feels the same, ask yourself this question: Am I the same person I was back then? If not, is there something you can change now to regain those qualities again?

Once you take these dreams and focus them back on your current life, you will recognize the spiritual messages they are offering you.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.