How Creating A Desire Map Can Help You Discover What You Want Most Out Of Life
“Follow what lights you up, and you’ll light up the whole world” is a message that I love from spiritual author and teacher Rebecca Campbell. It sounds great and makes sense, but maybe you don’t even know what lights you up. Or maybe you do know, but are still trying to figure out how to successfully integrate it into your life.
If you’re looking to discover what your true desires are or how to simply create actionable goals to get where you want to be, check out an upcoming day-long workshop, Bhakti Yoga & The Desire Map Urban Retreat, led by Erika van Gemeren and Meghan Neeley. The retreat is set to take place September 24 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Harmonia in Sausalito in Marin County.
“The Bhakti Yoga & Desire Map Urban Retreat is a day devoted to discovering what you want most out of your life,” said Meghan, a certified coach and a licensed Desire Map facilitator. “Based on the best-selling book, The Desire Map, by Danielle LaPorte, we get straight to the heart of the matter: How you want to feel? At the end of this workshop, you will walk away knowing your ‘Core Desired Feelings’ and the skills to use those feelings to guide your life decisions in your career, your body, your creativity, your relationships and your spirit.”
What is a Desire Map?
A Desire Map helps you identify what Danielle LaPorte calls “core desired feelings,” which serve as a guidance system for soulful decision-making and a great sense of your inner compass. Creating a Desire Map can help you make clear decisions that move you toward your goals, discover what you need to do to feel the way you want to feel in your life, and create a plan for how to get from where you are now to where you want to be.
You Should Create a Desire Map If...
1.You're ready for a new way to move towards your dreams that doesn't involve a five-year plan and a checklist.
2. You're in transition in your life. You're ready for a change but you don't know what that change is. Don't worry, you don't have to. Your heart knows the way and we're going to open up the compass inside of you so that decisions become clear.
3. You want a retreat. A day to step away from it all so that you can get perspective and go back to the fullness of your life feeling revived and deeply nourished.
What to Expect at the Retreat
The day will begin with a body-nourishing Bhakti yoga class led by Erika. “Bhakti means devotion and love,” she said. “So falling in love with yourself and the world around you. [Bhakti yoga] teaches you how to feel the divine in everything, the day-to-day life, household chores, even the things we may dislike, it's all part of this one beautiful life!”
Bhakti is heart-centered—this is where we love from, Erika said. “There's chanting and singing, which opens up the pathway to the heart, laughter and sometimes tears....it's an experience.” During the yoga practice, students will be asked to pay attention to what’s not working in their lives at this time, before moving into the Desire Map portion of the workshop.
“The Desire Map workshop begins with getting clear on what you already have in your life, what you are grateful for and where you are dissatisfied,” said Meghan. “You’ll get clear on the root of your desire and create a map of how you desire to feel in five areas of your life. From that place of clarity, you’ll be guided to discover and declare your core desired feelings, all while being supported in a sacred, loving environment of other soul-seekers.
“Harmonia provides the perfect environment to step away from your everyday life without needing to get on a plane. We'll flow between solo reflection time in the private garden area and guided group experiences in the expansive studio space,” said Meghan.
Anything Can Happen When You Open Up to Desire
Meghan has been teaching how to create Desire Map at urban retreat days, one-one-one coaching intensives and virtual workshops for two years with much success. “Again and again I hear participants saying they get in touch with the root of their goals,” she said. “They let go of surface striving and acknowledge their deeper why. With that clarity guiding them they've gone on to start new businesses, reclaim their worthiness, ask for the kind of connection they want in relationships, quit old ways of being and start living the way they've been saying they want to. Anything can happen when you open up to desire.”
For more information on this workshop click here.
To learn more about Erika visit: www.yogawitherika.com and to learn more about Meghan visit: www.meghanneeley.com.
