Slava Goloubov
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From Sheet Metal to Silence - One Man’s Unlikely Journey to Spirituality |
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Most of us in the yoga world are saturated with sayings that we may even find so commonplace that we begin to call them “cliché.” Yet clichés are arguably identified as such because they are, at their core, true. Universally relevant, applicable, relatable. A number of these come to mind when I reflect upon my spiritual journey over the last five years. The one that seems most salient would have to be, “the future enters into you, to transform you, long before it arrives….”.
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I’m sure my story isn’t far from many others out there. I was raised in a Russian household, which held true to the culture of discipline, coupled with the “rugged individualist” mentality of the Western world around me. I learned how to fend for myself early on, and lived a disillusioned – often even disgruntled – life for most of my formative years. Fed into the trades at 15, I worked manual labor for hours on end, day after day, year after year. The irony of such a situation: an occupation fundamentally oriented to my physicality, yet never demanding a spiritual component to weave the elements of appreciation for said physicality. Life went on as usual until one day that stands out from the rest in the blur of the mundane routine in my memory. That day, 500 pounds of drywall fell on my foot, causing me to slow down and look deeper.
It was this experience that would go on to be the catalyst into a new world, life, and perspective. They say that people can only receive information when they are ready for it and not before. Yes, I was aware of spiritual practices before this point, but I was not ready for or open to them. A mind jaded by the harsh realities of this physical existence, a heart subsequently closed for self-preservation. It took something cutting me at my core for these two areas of myself to open to this information. The sheet metal fell, and so did my guard. I went home, with two metal screws in my foot and a newfound resolve in my spirit. That night I booked myself into a Vipassana.
It was those following ten days of silence that sealed the deal – or rather, the opposite, I suppose – cracked me wide open. My spirit came alive for the first time, tasting freedom, wonder, connection. I shed the skins that no longer fit or served, wholeheartedly committing to a new life – a new me. It was from this new foundation, forged, that I found my purpose in this physicality that I had once been simultaneously so close to and far from. Since then, I’ve found my greatest sense of spirituality in my connection to and total embodiment of this physical form. I find myself consumed by the spiritual quality of my physicality, and the greatest beauty of this is that it’s a lifelong unraveling.
Slava Goloubov
