The Hanuman (splits) leap you've already taken ☀️🥭

Reading time: about 5 minutes 🫶🏽

It is said in legend that Hanuman once tried to eat the sun because he thought it was a mango 🥭. That's not the interesting part of the mythology. The interesting part is that he later forgot he could fly, and it took an old bear 🧸 to remind him.

If you've made a big decision recently and you're wondering whether you're up to it or not, like, what have I done?, then this one's for you. Grab a cup of tea ☕️.

I've spoken before about how most yoga poses don't have any symbolic or spiritual meaning. They're just poses. But there are a few that have been linked to the mythology and the tradition, and one of those is Hanumanasana, the front splits.

The legend, as you'll know if you read my longer blog, is that Hanuman, the devotee of Lord Ram, leaps from India to Sri Lanka to find Sita. And as he leapt through the air, his body expressed the front splits.

I was always intrigued by how symbolic this was and the deeper meaning behind it. The people behind these mythologies were too clever for their message to be ignored. I always saw Hanuman's leap less as a physical effort and more as a mental one. A courageous leap of faith.

You see, legend has it that as a child, Hanuman was a bit of a menace. He once mistook the sun for a ripe mango and leapt into the sky to eat it, which is the kind of ambition I'd normally encourage. But he also made a habit of pestering the sages meditating in the forest, pulling at their robes and knocking over their things, until they'd had enough and cursed him. Btw, Indian mythology loves a curse. So due to the curse, Hanuman would forget his powers, and only remember them when someone reminded him of who he really was.

So, many years later, after Sita is abducted by the mighty Ravan, Hanuman comes to find the princess. Between them, though, is an even mightier ocean covering the distance between India and Sri Lanka. Hanuman just sits at the edge as doubts begin to surface. How can he save Sita? How can he make this jump? People watched and were astonished. Here was Hanuman, a demigod who had genuinely forgotten his true nature. Then Jambavan turns to him and reminds him. He says, you, Hanuman, are the son of the wind. Nothing is unattainable for you. Believe in your true nature and you will know in your heart that you have always been able to do this. And Hanuman listens as the curse is lifted. Hanuman grows, climbs the mountain and jumps to Lanka.

Jambavan might be Hanuman's own mind, or he might be the people who believe in us before we believe in ourselves. Either way, Hanuman wasn't stuck on the shore because he couldn't jump. He was stuck because he feared he couldn't. The leap to Lanka wasn't about gaining a power he didn't have. It was about remembering one he'd always had.

When he returned with news of Sita, Ram thanked him for his loyalty and remarked on what a remarkable leap that was. But Ram wasn't surprised. I like to imagine him telling Hanuman that this is you. This has always been your nature, but subconsciously you chose to forget, as we all do.

I don't like to use myself as an example, as I'm really a nobody. But I'd like to show you how the myths and the human side meet. In 2012 I took my own leap of faith. It was probably the worst decision I ever made or the best decision I ever made, depending on who you ask 😜🤯. I decided to sell my house, sell everything, and open a yoga studio 🫣. I even slept on the sofa at the studio for the first few months. My pockets empty but my heart full. It's been a slog (understatement). It's had its ups and downs, but it's given me the most rewarding job I could have asked for.

And that one leap also had such a profound effect on others. It created somewhere for people not just to do Yoga, but to make friends for life, it was somewhere that gave them meaning. I've gone on and trained yoga teachers: Ali, Emma, Lynn, and so many more. The knock-on effect continued as I met Laura. We had Zaccy, and finally understood what love is, and what attachment is. And all of it came from that one moment when I decided to jump. To take that leap of faith that seemed so insignificant at the time.

The reason I've shared Hanuman's leap, and my own, is so you can somehow see yourself in all of this. Whether you qualified as a teacher with the last cohort or you're starting your TT tomorrow, you have made your own leap of faith by doing your yoga teacher training.

And I don't want you to downplay the significance of doing that. You might not think it's a big leap of faith. You might not think it's that big a deal. But it is. Because there are people out there waiting for a teacher just like YOU. People you haven't met yet, and you have no idea how much you're going to help them and inspire them or how you're going to change their lives.

It's the one thing I've been more overwhelmed by than anything else: the messages people have sent me over the years about how much the studio means to them and the significance it's had in their lives. No matter how many times I hear it, it still overwhelms me. Because at the time, setting up the studio wasn't that big a deal. I wasn't married, I had nothing to lose, and I just set up a studio.

You might think, well, i'm not setting up a studio Zahir, I'm just setting up a yoga class in a church hall once a week 😏. It's nothing 🤷🏾‍♂️. But it is. You won't realise the power of that leap at the time, because all you've done is find the faith in yourself. But once you find it, you will help others see it in themselves too.

In many ways, you're not going to be teaching people yoga. You're going to be using yoga poses to help people find the faith in themselves. And it's the most rewarding thing you will ever do..

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Namaskar - Eternal Seeker

Zahir Akram

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