TARA'S STORY
"I was born in France.
I grew up in a loving family, with its average amount of stress and drama.
At 16 years old, I asked to see a therapist.
After graduating as a physical therapist,
I could not sign up for the expected private practice, career and so on.
I just felt there was something else for me.
To live, to feel and to be.
First I walked the Earth, all over the world, in the silence of the Sahara,
the wild Amazon, the top of the Himalayas... for weeks at a time… searching...
feeling and observing the world.
I had genuine questions:
How does it feel to sleep under the stars in front of the Everest?
Who do you become, as a person, when you live in a desert?
Do you love differently when it's -30 degrees outside for five months in a row?
I kept on searching for silence.
Places where one does not speak so much to communicate.
Nothing was pure enough, wild enough, remote enough.
Until I found the nomads and lived with them.
No road, no electricity, just the Earth and me.
There, a foreign woman, among the nomads,
it was spacious and pure enough for me to agree to call it home.
I created an NGO.
For the kids, for women, for the nomads.
Health projects, Education projects, Earth projects.
I refused to learn the language at first.
I wanted to understand the language of the heart.
My life was the NGO.
Dancing under the stars…
My bathroom was a wild river…
Many shocks too.
A child died in my arms.
I carried a 3 years old out of a health's service truck,
back to living in the street at -35 degrees.
At the same time, I witnessed so much dignity,
so much resilience,
despite the extreme conditions.
Hiking in the snow to see a patient, eagles at the door of a tent.
I loved this life.
Grateful to meet these men and women from a wild land,
to share their laughter and song,
and to learn from their silence.
To cope with the heartbreaking moments
I debriefed via email with my therapist.
And I ran for hours,
jogging in a land where wolves and horses were free.
Yoga kept me balanced.
I learned a lot from this land and its people,
and I thought I would simply stay there, forever.
Yet at 30 years old, I had crossed all the items on my to-do-dream list,
and as I found myself literally on the geographic North Pole, ski on my feet,
the thirst for more was still there and the big question:
What now?
This is when meditation came in my life.
I fell in love with its depth and its silence.
Right on time.
Just before my life completely fell apart.
After a traumatic event, I had to stop working.
I touched the bottom of the bottom.
This time, even going to therapy felt unsafe.
Nor could I regain my balance by moving my body.
I was frozen, barely able to go outside.
I could not speak. I could not make sense.
I shut down all my emails, gave away my computer and my phone.
Pressed pause and disappeared for a while.
Absolutely in panic most of the time.
Except for one thing.
I knew meditation could support me.
It required nothing, but myself and a cushion.
It felt safe. And I knew it could bring me in the here and now.
Far from my overwhelming past, my worrying future, my shame and my terror.
So that's what I did.
For 10 years, I meditated.
And there was one big question to answer now:
How the hell did I end up in such a mess?
I decided it was time for a deep introspection,
and certainly hours of meditation.
I participated to more than 100 groups' processes.
I had no choice.
I dived within like I had search the Earth,
with the same passion, intensity and thirst.
Supported by my meditation practice.
I faced my wounds, my traumas, my fears, my shortcomings.
Understanding the roots of the mess I had created for myself.
Taking responsibility.
I met wise teachers.
Found like-minded thirsty seekers.
I learned to trust again.
I learned to walk in the street without looking back.
One day, I put on my running shoes again.
One day, I unrolled my yoga mat again.
I cried the hungry children, the babies gone too soon
and the life I had built and lost.
One day at a time
One meditation at a time.
When the path of the feminine found me,
I took a deep breath and felt the most profound nourishment rising from within.
A big piece of my puzzle in the absolute right place.
I trained as a yoga teacher and as a therapist.
I also became a meditation facilitator.
And then.. one day..
sitting on my cushion,
guided by one of my teacher,
here it was..
within..
no enlightenment, no big whatever..
It was just that I could safely rest within me..
What a relief.
How amusing as well..
After searching every corner of the Earth, here it was:
Home
Within my own body.
My longing for a life outside of my safe meditation bubble came back,
together with my self-confidence.
This is when Tantra came into my life.
And with it: Bliss, Expansion and Immense Joy.
I did found two answers to my many questions:
Wherever you go in the world or within,
there is a lot of Love out there,
and you do love the same at -30 degrees,
in cozy France or in a wild desert.
That I know.
There is another thing I know for sure:
You can heal and stand back up from a lot.
You just need to meet the right people,
to find the right way for you to get better,
to chose life,
and to Go In.
Because ultimately all the answers are right there.
I now support others on their own journey to themselves."
# Onward
"The Earth laughs in flowers."
