The Yoga of Returning: A Pilgrimage to the Inner Temple

You did not come to yoga for a perfect pose.
You came for something older. Something aching.
Something you may not yet have the words to name.

Maybe it was a whisper beneath the chaos,
a silent sob between your inhales,
a longing beneath the life you've carefully built.
A feeling that your soul has been calling
not outward, but inward-
toward something ancient, sacred, and lost.

This book is not a manual of movements.
It is a map of remembrance.

It is for the ones who have sat in a pose and cried without knowing why.
For those who sensed the body held stories no one ever listened to.
For those who've sought freedom in a sun salutation,
yet felt caged by grief in the heart's deep silence.
It is for you.

We have been taught to practice yoga from the outside in-
to fix the posture, align the spine, perform the sequence.
But the true purpose of yoga is not perfection.
It is reclamation.
It is the holy return to the temple of your own soul.

Yoga is not something you do.
Yoga is the name of your homecoming.

In this book, we journey not to escape the self, but to descend into it- layer by layer, temple by temple, wound by wound. We walk barefoot into the sacred chambers of the body, meeting the child who still shakes, the woman who still burns, the voice that still trembles, and the spirit that still waits.

Through breath, movement, ritual, and myth, you will enter the seven sacred temples of your being-each one a gateway to lost power, forgotten joy, and silent knowing.

You will not just stretch your muscles.
You will stretch your soul back into its shape.
You will not just open your hips.
You will open the locked doors to the memories they keep.
You will not just move.
You will remember how to be.

So, beloved pilgrim, gather your courage and step into this sacred text not as a student, but as a seeker. Your body is not a battlefield. It is a holy site. And every breath you take is a chant that leads you home. Welcome to The Yoga of Returning. The temple has been waiting.