Where there is love -there is hope

“You should always be prepared to meet the love of your life “

Alba Morassutti Vitale

Akin to most people, in the Westphalian world at least, a life devoted to spirituality is not the most sought after. Not because it is not attractive, but rather, who has time to consider God? Between the great illusion of modernity and the vile trappings of consumerism, there exists a narrow space for devoutness – and this time is usually spent browsing through social media! But where else do you go when your life is falling apart?

Fuelled by a trauma I was suffering, in 2018 I made a difficult, but necessary decision. Ultimately it terminated all bonds to my family of origin. Although estranged from my family for two decades, coming this heart-breaking conclusion snared me in a deep hopelessness that no one could touch. In the depths of this mire of depression, I applied to do the yoga teacher training with the Heartfulness team in Chennai. So here I was – the walking cliché! A white western woman having an identity crisis, absconding to a foreign land in search of an authentic, metaphysical, and profound sense of existence.

On the eve of my departure, a friend turned to me and said ‘Rachel – I really think you’re going to meet someone really amazing in India – I can feel it.’ I laughed – loudly. ‘Oh yes…I’m sure a Hindi Tinder account is just what I need right now!’ She nevertheless smiled and said, ‘you really should pay attention and prepare yourself for a surprise’. Surprises for me usually involve a bill I forgot to pay, a dodgy ex-boyfriend emerging from the shadows, or the stray cat I occasionally feed giving birth in the cupboard where I keep my clean sheets. Surprises are not universally accepted as a ‘good thing’, nevertheless, I was not deterred by the threat of surprises or the fact that my life was falling apart.