The intention of SOUL MEDICINE is to offer you, the listener, ways to reconnect to your soul. When I started this practice of yoga, my very first yoga training required us to perform (8) hours of SEVA to graduate. This was the single most powerful thing Beth Shaw could have instilled into my practice. Always coming from a place of service. Remembering that what we DO in this life is a gift; especially if we are afforded the opportunity to practice and share healing gifts.
This topic gets lost in our capitalistic society. There’s an unhealthy striving for more to no end. But from where I’m standing, and like a lot of other individuals I have the honor to work with, it’s all that’s there is … this idea of SEVA.
This is by far one of my favorite quotes from the Yoga Sutras: Translated by Swami Satchidananda:
You have all these things to equip yourself to serve others. You must have a bed to
rest in to feel refreshed in the morning to go out to serve others. You must eat to
have enough energy to serve others. So, you do everything with the idea that you
are preparing yourself to serve others. So, even your Yogic meditation becomes a
selfless action. That is what is meant by “Even with God do not have attachment”.
This non-attachment alone is enough to change your entire life into a joyful one.
My humble belief is that SEVA can be described as moving beyond your own ego and supporting the Universe around you through selfless action and spiritual activism. SEVA refers to selfless service for altruistic purposes on behalf of, and for the betterment of a community.
SEVA is a means to promote humility and demote egoism. It‘s moving fearlessly beyond your prior expectations and self-imposed limitations and elevating human consciousness through selfless service.