People sometimes express their desire for a better life experience by saying that they need to 'find themselves'. We may hear of a friend or acquaintance who has gone to India for six months in order 'to find himself'. It can be any place, usually distant, that gives us a sense of immunity from the old associations, and holds the promise of time and space in which to think and meditate.

'Finding oneself' is linked with the idea of making a new beginning. If only we could shake off the type-casting forced on us by friends, family, colleagues, supervisors and society generally, we feel our consciousness will flower free from restrictions. Deep down, we know our higher worth and want to realize it. This desire to re-connect with something pure and untainted is a genuine need of the soul and a sign of spiritual growth. Hari Prasad Shastri once composed a prayer which begins: 'I am tired of this superficial living. Desire and aversion, pleasure and pain, gain and loss, do not give the peace my mind needs.' Yoga is very much concerned with 'finding oneself'.