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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.

For the past couple of years, there has been a spider specter that hangs over my bed while I sleep. It's about the size of a softball, and just hangs there with all of its legs folded up, the way that real spiders rest. Once I blew on it and it disappeared. I'm scared to death of spiders in real life, but for some reason, this specter doesn't scare me. Could this be a protector of some sort? I've never seen anything like this before. Thanks!

Cindy

Astrea:

The manifestation of a spider as a totem animal is very significant. Having a spider specter for a guide and protector is a very good thing!

In most old myths, spiders represent certain elements of life. If you have Native American blood, perhaps your ancestors sent the spider to you. If you don't, you could have been in a tribe that venerated spiders in a past life. The reason you don't fear this particular spider is because you know in your gut that you shouldn't.

Making something disappear with your breath is a custom as old as time. The idea probably came to you from some magical work you did in a past life. People blow away bad dreams, and in our current vernacular, people are often blown away by something that impresses them. I think you followed an ancient instinct when you took that action.

Our breath is considered an element of fire. What did you want to burn out of your life when you blew away your spider?

Spiders are good guides because they are crafty, intelligent and decisive. Do you possess these qualities? Do you need to work on them? Spiders are spinners. Is your life going the way you want, or do you need to put a different spin on things?

Remember too that spiders bite and often stun things. Do you need a swift kick in the pants to get some new project going? Do you feel trapped into doing nothing about a situation that needs to be changed?

I've found that spiders manifest to my clients when it's time for them to change something in their lives, to weave a new web or to capture something of immense importance. Job and career changes often accompany the appearance of spiders.

If you don't need to make some drastic change in your life, it may be that a person close to you needs to change or weave a new way of thinking. Spiders are great communicators. This one could be weaving a new web for your family to connect you to someone who is feeling left out or useless to the rest of you.

You probably can't communicate with your spider verbally, but you can via thought and meditation. Even if it feels silly to you, give your spider a name - it will give you a warmer feeling about it.

Be positive when you see it and try to silently communicate. It will give you messages in your dreams or in visions. It's there to help you work something out that has been pending for as long as you've been able to see it. It's a GREAT guide to have!

*****

Susyn:

The symbol of the Spider has many rich and varied interpretations. Examining some of the more prevalent beliefs about the Spider should help you interpret the messages this specter has been trying to send to you. This will enable you to benefit from the gift of its presence and understand why this special eight-legged ghost has chosen to look over and protect you.

Not only is this spider a symbol of spiritual protection, it has been sitting over your bed to encourage you to create the life you've been dreaming of. Your letter indicates that you are now ready to hear and act upon the direction it is offering.

In India, the Spider is regarded as a symbol of the perfect order of the cosmos and of one's ability to create or weave the life one wants. This spider's presence could be encouraging you to become more creative, and especially more decisive. Taking action to create the world you dream of living in can be very powerful when you have Spider energy backing you.

Picture a spider sitting in the middle of its web - a web of its own creation - and you will see that whether you feel trapped or enchanted with your life right now, you have woven that reality for yourself.

Many Eastern cultures believe that the Spider is an indicator of spiritual self-liberation. In that regard, this specter denotes that you've been in a process of spiritual growth and enlightenment for the past couple of years. As you continue on your journey of awakening, the Spider will accompany and guide you.

In Native American cultures, repeated sightings of the Spider carry the message that you should be writing, journaling, and making records of your progress. In other words, take the time to put your experiences to paper for the explicit purpose of gaining greater understanding and helping those who will follow in your footsteps.

Because the Spider's body takes the form of an 8, the symbol for infinity, this may also be part of the message your spider is sending you: Anything is possible at any time, and the time is Now. This is compounded by the fact that Native Americans also believe that four of the spider's eight legs represent the winds of change, while the remaining four legs symbolize the four directions.

This Spider is telling you that it's time for a change, and your possibilities for success are endless. Now that you have awakened spiritually and are ready to create the life of your dreams, it's time to get moving. In honor of the Spider, note your experiences along the way as a record of the amazing path you are about to embark upon.

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.