Meadow DeVor - The Art of Wayfinding: Discover Your Inner Guide On & Off the Mat

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

The Art of Wayfinding: Discover Your Inner Guide On & Off the Mat 2020 by Meadow DeVor.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

As the purchaser of this e-book, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. The text may not be otherwise reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or recorded on any other storage device in any form or by any means.

Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the authors copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition 2020

E-book ISBN: 9780738761466

Cover design by Kevin R. Brown

Editing by Rosemary Wallner

Interior yoga poses by the Llewellyn Art Department

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: DeVor, Meadow, author.

Title: The art of wayfinding : discover your inner guide on & off the mat /

Meadow DeVor.

Description: First edition. | Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Publications,

2020. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019039512 (print) | LCCN 2019039513 (ebook) | ISBN

9780738760810 | ISBN 9780738761466 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Yoga. | Meditation. | Contemplation. | Spirituality. |

Self-actualization (Psychology)

Classification: LCC B132.Y6 D477 2020 (print) | LCC B132.Y6 (ebook) | DDC

158.1dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019039512

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019039513

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

For Lynn

who never believed I was lost

Contents

: How It Works

: Mind

: The Mind Voice

: Allowing Mind to Guide You

: When Mind Takes Over

: Wayfinding with Your Mind Voice

: Heart

: The Heart Voice

: Allowing Heart to Guide You

: When You Cant Handle Your Heart

: Wayfinding with Your Heart Voice

: Body

: The Body Voice

: Allowing Body to Guide You

: The Weird Thing about Pain

: Wayfinding with Your Body Voice

: Soul

: The Soul Voice

: Allowing Soul to Guide You

: Dark Night of the Soul

: Wayfinding with Your Soul Voice

: Bringing the Four Voices Together

: The Four Voices

: Wayfinding with Your Four Voices

: Point B

Wayfinding Yoga Sequences

Wayfinding Inquiry List

The art of wayfinding involves listening to each of your inner voicesMind, Heart, Body, and Soul. Through the practice of inquiry, you can clarify the message of each voice, helping you understand the meaning, advice, or direction that the voice offers you. At the end of each section, youll find an inquiry method designed to help you find your way with the guidance of that particular voice. At the end, youll find an inquiry method that combines all four voices, helping you navigate with your whole self.

The Practices: On the Mat and Off

Disclaimer

The author offers the yoga postures and inquiry guides in this book as useful tools and advice for those who wish to transform their lives. The author has chosen not to include yoga pose scripts, and assumes that the reader either knows the pose or can easily look up how to do the pose. This book isnt intended to help the reader with the technical aspects of yoga poses. Rather, its intention is to help the reader use yoga to embody the tools within.

While the basic yoga postures in this book are intended to be gentle, readers should be aware of their own comfort level and know their limits. Before beginning a yoga practice, readers may want to consult their physician. This book is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of physicians, and readers should always consult a physician in matters related to their health, and particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention.

In order to protect the privacy of individuals, the author may have changed the names of persons, places, or identifying characteristics and details of events and relationships.

There is an Indian proverb or axiom that says that everyone is a house with four rooms, a physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but, unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.

~Rumer Godden

. Rumer Godden, A House with Four Rooms (New York: William Morrow & Company, 1989), 13.

Introduction

In the middle of my life, I came to a crossroads and I didnt know which road to pick. It was as if Id been snapped awake right there in the middle of the story, and I was lost.

Im not the first person to land there. This freefall feeling of being adrift has been documented all the way back to the twelfth dynasty of Egypt. Dante, Aristotle, and essentially every poet, mystic, and hero since has spoken of it. Inevitablywhether its Dorothy Gale, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, or youthere comes a point when you have to navigate through tough terrain without clear landmarks or any view of the horizon. Youll reach a point where all your old maps and compasses no longer work.

Maybe this is exactly where you find yourself right now. Maybe you feel like youre living in a shell, overwhelmed, lost, or alone. Maybe youve worked all your life, nose down and diligent, only to end up in a place you dont love, in a life that doesnt feel like your own. Or maybe you just have a sense that something is missing even if you dont exactly know what youre looking for.

Since time began, people have had to learn various navigation skills to help them find their way through this unknown and sometimes scary territory. Some learned to chart their course by starlight, some by listening to birdsong, others through reading faint water patterns off the bows of their boats. No matter the culture or method of travel, people have continuously turned to the art of wayfinding to find their answers and their way through to inner peace and understanding. Wayfinding is a skill to be mastered and requires focus, sharp listening, and an eye for subtle clues.