It is as if the cosmic clock is tick, tick, ticking down the Kali Yug bit by bit. The multiple tragedies of the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear threat compound the Black Swans of war in Libya, uprisings in the Arab world, corruption, greed and the economic spiral into third-world status around the globe. Indeed, these are difficult times, but they are also opportune times. We live in duality, and as things get worse that means things are getting better just as much! The Chinese symbol for crisis is equivalent to that of opportunity -- the opportunity to find the Self.

It is my informed conviction that things will only get worse in the world no matter what the controlled news tell you. And that means things will get better! It is the end of an age, as the cosmos periodically renews itself. (Mircea Eliade) But the paradox is that as things get worse, it will bring about something better, as the old world must fall away to make way for the new. Renaissance comes from Death. Self-realization is a lot like that. As in the Maha Mritunjaya confirms, like a gourd being released from the vine, we become free with a little breakage. It's the shattering of the ego that allows us to be born again. So, there is nothing to fear, as Mother Kali's mudra soothes us; she's just making room for balance to be reborn in the world - because after the Kali Yug comes the Satya Yug.

How will you be a part ofthis important time? When the outer world falls away, when the veil of your personality and economic matrix fall away, what is left? Who are you? What is your relationship to the world? To your family and community? What really matters? Truly, suffering is the tool to wisdom and enlightenment as well as the gateway to great compassion for humanity. We can assist those around us in need in the coming times with powerful storytelling and yoga, helping them to see more clearly the way the world hangs together in duality and their brave participation in it -- breath work to calm the mind and nervous system; asana to relax the body and release tension; story and symbol to soothe anxieties, calm fears and offer hope; as well as guide us to the depths and the gates of paradise that we seek. These are the gifts of the yogic storyteller.

I hope you will join me on the journey and take the challenge of what's coming to courageously and lovingly bring light to the world using yoga and story.  Start your journey to becoming a Yogic Storyteller today and enroll in our revamped certification and create a Storytime Yoga community project to share with your home town. Above all, seek out your own myth. (Carl Jung) And always, tell stories, practice yoga. Especially to youth.