This tattoo story is about the enlightenment and kundalini awakening.

Herman is a yoga instructor who teaches and practices Raja’s yoga path; he chose the path of self-awareness and wanted to create a beautiful piece of art that portrayed his journey to enlightenment.

The path starts with the flower of life symbol, which connects all life forms, and then progresses through three layers of duality in which the yogi releases his attachments.

The first layer is the (I Amness) or Egotism: I (ahakra) layer, in which the human identifies with the body-consciousness and the transitory world of ideas, feelings, sensations, actions, and sense objects. At this point, an individual identifies entirely with his ego and personality.

This layer is then transcended by the awakening of the spiritual eye (Nadis), which allows one to see beyond the physical appearance of things.

When a spiritual eye is opened to the illusory nature of reality, it enables one to see things as they truly are — not as they appear to the eye — and get a new perspective on the world beyond the five senses and ego consciousness.

This activates the third layer, “beyond-I-ness” (antma), in which he recognizes he is a spiritual being in a physical body and is aware of all his desires and acts in this body and the world.

He no longer identifies with any particular body at this stage of consciousness, but rather knows his identity is with the spirit within and all beings everywhere.

Kundalini awakening occurs when the three layers (‘I-ness,’ ‘Spiritual Eye,’ and ‘Beyond-I-ness’) are opened. It is a blissful and peaceful condition, as well as a state of oneness with nature and the universe.

When a yogi’s experience gets profound, he or she enters the Turiya state.

When the yogi transcends all dualities and experiences total oneness, he or she has reached the stage of unification that leads to enlightenment or freedom.

The journey of self-realization is a personal journey that we all take at one time or another in our lives, we learn many lessons that teach us not only who we are but also who we are not and at the end, we must all meet in unity and experience the truth in life and become one with the Universe.