Yoga instructor Troy Hadeed launches book

Yoga and mindfulness teacher Troy Hadeed says his book My Name is Love is for people who are looking to become better people.

Hadeed launched the book on November 4 at the Beyond Yoga studio on Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.

In conversation with radio personality Ardene Sirjoo, Hadeed said many of the problems being experienced in the world are caused by people thinking they are separate and different from everyone else.

“I think there’s a human identity crisis. It happens from when we’re born and I think when we look at what’s happening in Palestine and Gaza and Russia and Ukraine, there’s a problem where we think we’re different, we think we’re separate, we think we’re other, and we fail to dissolve those labels of our identity that makes us separate.”

He said society tells people what God is, what God looks like, and what God wants of us.

“I feel that not often enough we’re given space to build our own relationship with divinity, whether you call that God or something else. The idea of God or divinity is used to create exclusivity rather than inclusivity, it’s really evident if you stop to look at it.”

Hadeed said the key to realising that people are not separate is to recognise the divinity in them.

“It’s so important for us to understand that everyone is a seed of God with a bag of conditioning, and all our conditioning, from the day we’re born, every experience, every conversation shapes us and moulds us into who we are. If we can see past that conditioning and see each other, what we can do is help each other reprogramme and recondition.

“The first step to doing that is making someone feel safe, secure, and seen and understood. I don’t have to be in agreement or align with your actions, words and thoughts but I can still love you, and maybe in doing that I can help you shift your actions, words and thoughts to ones that might be in alignment with and in service of the greater collective.”

He said the book is not an autobiography, a coming-of-age story, nor an account of his spiritual journey, but a series of reflections.

“I think right now where we’re talking about the right concepts and ideas, we want to be better people, but there is some disconnect between what we know we should be doing and how we actually live our lives. We should be doing things from a place of love and integrity.

"What we’re not doing is looking at all the areas of our lives where we can do better, where we can be better human beings.

“I fell victim to it too. I was doing all I could every day to operate from a place of love, compassion and understanding, but I wasn't looking at the places where I was unconsciously contributing to separation, division, suffering, otherness.”

Addressing concerns that people would judge him for writing the book, Hadeed acknowledged he was privileged in many ways, and said he had addressed this in a general way in the book.

He said writing it had shown him what it meant to be an artist, to pour his heart and soul into creating something and not knowing how it would be received.

Hadeed said the book is for everyone who wants to look at their lives and see where they can do better.

“It’s for the person who thinks they have it all figured out and for the person who is still looking, like what do I have to learn, how can I be better? And it’s also for everyone. Somebody needs to be at a certain place in their life, I think, to receive everything this book has to offer, and for someone to be in at that place, they need to be asking, how can I be a better human being, how can I help somebody else?

“I can only tell my own story, I feel it’s up to the reader to take those reflections into their lives or not. It might just be a cool book with cool stories, or it could shift perspectives within the reader. It really depends on where the reader is at.”

Hadeed said he was new to publishing and thanked those who helped the book come to fruition. He said during the process he had discovered there were world-class editors and publishers in Trinidad and Tobago. He has started an imprint, Vatula Publishing, to publish his future books.

The book is available on Amazon and at local bookstores.

Hadeed will be visiting bookstores and other locations for readings during November and December.

For more info: https://troyhadeed.com/my-writing/