Why I Practice Navratri: A Sacred Pause to Love Something Into Existence
As a longtime yoga practitioner and teacher, I had heard whispers of Navratri — the nine nights of the Goddess — for years.
But it wasn’t until one of my favorite teachers shared a Navratri offering that I decided to look more closely, learn more deeply, and actually enter the practice for myself.
That was seven years ago.
And something changed.
My relationship with the Goddess deepened.
And, perhaps more importantly, my relationship with myself deepened too.
Over the years, Navratri has become one of the sacred pauses I most look forward to.
It gives me a reason to step beneath the surface of ordinary life and ask:
Where is my heart actually guiding me?
What am I ready to become?
What is asking to be released so that something more aligned can take its place?
For me, Navratri is a way of loving something into existence.
Not through wishful thinking.
Not by pretending fear, grief, doubt, or difficulty don’t exist.
But by becoming willing to see clearly what has kept us stuck.
By finding the courage to release what no longer belongs.
By valuing ourselves enough to believe that we are worthy of more nourishment, more truth, more beauty, more joy, more purpose.
And then by taking embodied, spirit-aligned action toward the life we say we want.
There is something important in that middle piece.
You are not selfish for wanting more.
More doesn’t necessarily mean more possessions, more success, or more achievement.
It may mean more peace.
More creativity.
More honesty.
More freedom.
More rest.
More love.
More meaningful work.
More room to actually be yourself.
Navratri creates space to listen for what that “more” means to you.
The Goddess as Guide
During these nine days, Shakti — the living energy of the Divine Feminine — becomes a guide through that process.
There is courage.
There is clearing.
There is nourishment.
There is receiving.
There is wisdom.
There is expression.
And there can also be discomfort.
Sometimes growth brings us face-to-face with our fear.
Sometimes we experience success and then discover that success itself asks something new of us.
Sometimes there is even a kind of dark night — the uncomfortable territory between who we have been and who we are becoming.
Navratri does not magically remove human suffering.
It does not mean that difficulties disappear.
In my experience, it offers something perhaps more useful.
It restores faith in your ability to meet your life.
It strengthens trust in yourself.
It renews your resolve to become a more authentic version of who you already are.
It restores clarity about the path in front of you.
And when I reach the end of those nine days, I often feel lighter.
Clearer.
More rooted.
More confident in my ability to move forward.
The Sacred Pause Between Darkness and Light
There is another layer of Navratri that I find deeply meaningful.
Sharad (fall) Navratri begins on the first lunar day of the waxing moon in the month of Ashwin — just after the new moon that follows the autumnal turning of the season.
So there is a natural rhythm underneath the practice:
equinox → darkness → new moon → the return of light
The equinox brings us to a threshold.
Light and dark meet in balance.
Then the days begin to shorten.
The season asks us to turn inward.
The new moon brings us into a moment of emptiness — a pause, a darkened sky, a place where nothing is yet visible.
And then Navratri begins.
Not at the peak of illumination.
At the beginning of the return.
The moon is only just starting to grow again.
That feels significant to me. Because so much of transformation begins this way.
Not with certainty.
Not with a fully formed plan.
Not with everything already illuminated.
It begins in the quiet.
In the not-knowing.
In the willingness to sit with what has been hidden.
In the courage to make space before we know exactly what will fill it.
Navratri gives us nine nights to move through that space intentionally.
Durga helps us face what has been obscured and clear what no longer belongs.
Lakshmi helps us nourish what is worthy of growing.
Saraswati helps us listen for what wants to emerge and give it voice, form, and direction.
And by the time we arrive at Vijayadashami, the practice has carried us from darkness toward greater clarity.
Not because every problem has disappeared.
But because something within us has changed.
We can see more clearly.
We can feel what matters.
We can hear ourselves more honestly.
We have made room for a different way forward.
That is part of what I love about this season.
The darkness is not something to rush past.
The emptiness is not a failure.
The pause is not wasted time.
Sometimes it is the very space required for new life to begin.
Navratri asks us to trust the return of light before we can fully see it.
Why Mantra Has Become Part of My Navratri Practice
One of the ways I have always found my way through Navratri is through mantra.
These sacred sounds, words, and phrases have been repeated by practitioners across generations.
There is something about mantra that moves beyond what the intellectual mind can understand.
We stop trying to think our way into transformation.
We enter sound.
Breath.
Repetition.
Presence.
And when we chant, I experience it as joining something larger than myself.
My voice and intention enter a field that has been shaped by countless people who have practiced before me — and by people honoring Navratri in their own ways around the world right now.
There is something profoundly reassuring about that.
I am doing my own inner work.
But I am not doing it alone.
My practice becomes part of a larger prayer for courage, wisdom, healing, love, and positive change.
You Don't Have to Do This Perfectly
You do not need to be a singer.
You do not need to own a mala.
You do not need to know Sanskrit.
You do not need an elaborate altar.
And you certainly do not need to practice perfectly.
What I believe Navratri asks of us is much simpler:
Choose a heartfelt intention — your sankalpa.
Hold it close for nine days.
Return to it.
Listen.
Practice.
And show up for yourself with love and reverence.
Because you are worth showing up for.
That is why I practice Navratri.
And after seven years of finding my own way through these sacred nine nights, it is why I finally felt ready to share the practice with others.
This year, I created Nine Nights of Shakti, a guided journey through Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati — nine days of meditation, mantra, reflection, inquiry, and intentional practice.
Not because I believe there is one “right” way to practice Navratri.
But because I know what these nine days have given me.
And perhaps they can offer you a sacred pause, too.
A pause long enough to hear yourself again.
To remember what matters.
And to begin loving something new into existence.
Nine Nights of Shakti begins October 11.
Join Me for Nine Nights of Shakti
If this way of practicing speaks to you, I created Nine Nights of Shakti as a guided way to move through Navratri with intention, structure, and enough spaciousness to make it your own.
The journey lives inside the SOULutions App and includes:
9 guided daily practices through Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati
meditation, reflection, inquiry, and mantra each day
a continuing sankalpa practice to carry your intention through all nine nights
a printable companion guidebook
printable goddess mantra altar cards
a live opening gathering
a live closing circle
and three original songs — one for Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati — written and produced by me to support your journey through each phase
You can access the course from both the SOULutions App on your phone and from your computer, so you can practice in the way that feels easiest and most supportive.
Nine Nights of Shakti begins October 11.
Investment: $67
You do not need prior experience with Navratri, Sanskrit, mantra, or ritual.
You only need a willingness to show up, listen, and let the practice work on you.
Come as you are.
Bring your intention.
Let these nine nights become a sacred pause for what is ready to emerge.
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