Introducing Tek Har

For the past ten years, I have done something symbolic and interactive for each of my birthdays.

Today I want to introduce you to Tek Har. She is who I married last year on my birthday, when I had the "Oneness Celebration" in Wildflower Park. The celebration was attended (in person and in spirit) by many of my close friends (here and abroad)— all of whom also made personal Love vows.

One part of my decision to marry Tek Har (about whom you will read more below) was based on the premise that you must love yourself before another can love you. I took it a step further to the premise that I must marry myself before someone else can truly marry me. Do not take this literally. I am not talking about the societal norm of hetero-marriage and wearing a wedding dress in a church, etc. I am talking about the power of being committed to Truth in my Self and Love for my Self (both of which are a continually ongoing process)—to the extent that any Love Partner who enters my life can only reflect that—being that true and loving with/to herself and therefore with me.

Is this as easy as it sounds? I look at the above image (which was the photograph used on the wedding invitation) and I wonder ... who will be courageous enough to fill those empty footprints, to stand honestly, face to face, look me in the eye and truly say & mean: "I love you".

I am doing it for myself first. And when she comes, whoever she is, it will be clear.

ABOUT TEK HAR

Last year, just before my birthday in October, I wrote to write to the 3HO Foundation (Kundalini Yoga) and requested my spiritual name. I had never felt the urge to before, but somehow that day "it was time". One's spiritual name is worked out based on your given birth name and birth date numerology.

The spiritual name I was granted is Tek Har Kaur. The announcement came with a beautiful letter explaining the name's essence. In summary, it means 'the kind, creative, spiritually prosperous Princess/Lioness of God who feels supported by the power of the Divine.'

A spiritual name is a personal mantra, vibrating one's personal Truth.

The power of a Spiritual Name is that the more you speak and hear your name, the more it permeates into your being ... and the more you will experience its Nadh (inner sound current), bringing you into harmony with your destiny. (Excerpt from the letter I received with my name)

At the time of the "Oneness Celebration", I was not sure if, when or how I would transition into using the name Tek Har. It's quite a jump for people who've always known you to start calling you something else ... and it's not like I dislike the name Elspeth, so Tek Har was not necessarily for replacement purposes. The 'marrying' of Elspeth and Tek Har was my way of merging the essence & meaning of the name Tek Har with who Elspeth is. At the time, I thought that even if I never actually used the name Tek Har in public, the meaning would be honoured within me.

As time progressed, Tek Har emerged naturally and gradually, in her own way. Lately I have been using both Elspeth and Tek Har. Each name has a different energy. My Kundalini Yoga friends and associates refer to me as Tek Har and I love how it feels and sounds. Some other part of me is actually activated whenever that name is used. In association with any yoga-related activities, you may hear/see me referring to myself (or being referred to) as Tek Har. Everyone else knows me as Elspeth. Both are good because I am both. And, as I am seeing, they work together.
You will also be seeing more of THOU ART YOGA, my new enterprise. As you can tell from the name, it merges two major aspects of my life: yoga and art. Everything that I do now related to Kundalini Yoga and/or yoga-related art will come under the category of Thou Art Yoga.