🌹 A Life of Devotion 🌹
When I was 17, I had a dream of meeting the blue god, Lord Krishna, in India. That dream planted a seed, one that would grow into a life-altering journey.
At the time, I was apprenticing in herbal medicine with Brigitte Mars, building herb gardens and working at a local health food store. With every dollar I saved (back when $6 an hour was the norm), I inched closer to turning my dream into reality.
Eventually, I found myself stepping into the warmth of India’s early morning air. Arriving in New Delhi at 4 a.m., the parking lot was shrouded in fog, the air a mix of incense and pollution, holding an edge of both nervousness and anticipation.
This was my initiation into a life of devotion—not just in practice, but in every fiber of my being. In Haridwar, along the sacred Ganga River, I immersed myself in mantra, meditation, and fire ceremonies.
The Gayatri mantra wove through the air as I experienced my first taste of tending to the sacred. From there, I journeyed north to Rishikesh, where the rhythm of ashrams, yoga, and ceremony became my daily life—a time when these practices were not yet “trendy” but deeply rooted in devotion.
There was an edge of fear in traveling alone as a woman, the stories people told me lingering in the background. But the pull of devotion was stronger than the fear. From Rishikesh, I traveled to Dharamsala, sitting with the Tibetan people and receiving teachings from His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.
Each moment was a sacred thread woven into my pilgrimage: Pushkar, with its desert temples; Varanasi, the city of light and death; Bodhgaya, where Buddha attained enlightenment; and Sarnath, where he gave his first teachings. In Bodhgaya, I stayed for a six-week silent retreat, tending to altars, meditating, and playing flute in the rice fields. It was here that devotion truly anchored in me.
I found solace in the rhythm of tending to the sacred, waking early to prepare altars for the teachings of His Holiness. Devotion wasn’t a choice—it was who I was.
From Bodhgaya, I returned to Vrindavan, a place of song and temple life. There, I became a temple keeper, bathing the statues, cleaning the altars, and caring for the sacred spaces. Each act of tending felt like home, a remembering of something ancient within me.
I almost became a Tibetan Buddhist nun and later, Hare Krishna, but these experiences were simply guiding me deeper into a life lived in devotion.
That six-month pilgrimage forever changed me. It wasn’t just the sacred places I visited or the rituals I performed—it was the devotion itself that lit me up. It was tending to the holy, weaving love and care into every action, that shaped the foundation of the life I live today.
And now, this essence of devotion is woven into everything I offer, including The Temple of She.
This sacred space is a devotional gathering to honor the Holy, Whole, and Healed Woman. It is a call to those who feel the pull of tending to their inner altar, releasing what no longer serves, and anchoring themselves in grace, love, and beauty.
💫 What does living a life of devotion mean to you?
How do you honor the sacred in your daily life? I would love to hear your reflections.
