Living Your Dharma.
Recently I taught a Yoga Teacher Training in Costa Rica with Kula Collective. As the training was coming to a close, I was reflecting on the experience and observing how I was personally feeling on all levels...mind, body and spirit. In that moment, I recognized that every time I finish facilitating a Yoga Teacher Training, I feel extremely nourished and have a sense of deep gratitude for the work that I get to do. Sitting with such a consistent feeling of blessed elation, I started to feel like I can’t actually call it “work” anymore. Instead, I feel it is more of an offering of the heart that is a gift from the Divine passed through me in service to the whole. I think the best word to describe this offering would be “Dharma”.
I am not sure when this shift happened that moved my perspective from work to service, but I believe it has to do with the concept of living one’s Dharma. When we are choosing to do things that are in alignment with our soul’s purpose, what we do feels more like an offering than it does work. This offering is not done FOR someone or something, but it is done because it cannot not be done.
There is an element to Dharma that is doing what is “right” for you…meaning doing what is of the same frequency as your highest vibration. In order to know what that is, we have to live in that frequency in order to receive the signs and signals from the Universe. If we quiet the mind long enough to listen to the whispers of the heart, we may hear a few of these directional cues. The whispers are the pointers that light our path to confirm that we are doing what is “right” for us. We are all on different paths, so what is right for one is not necessarily right for another. It is our own path that we must tend to, and that is why it is important to know OUR true north, doing what is “right” for each of us.
“Right” action relates to making intentional choices and taking action toward what we know is an essential part of living our Dharma. What is in alignment with our divine path is guided, so we must find ways to recognize the signs. For me, I get a super giddy feeling in my body when I know something is a YES. This is the same feeling I get when I eat or even think about cacao (pure chocolate)…so I know it must be a good sign! Recognizing how we receive these signals from the Universe and noticing where we might feel it in the body is a good practice. As we start to know the feeling of YES, we can choose to move toward more of those things more often. And as we do, the more we will live a fulfilled and purposeful dharmic life.
Here are some of the pieces that I have found relevant in identifying and moving toward our Dharma:
1. Knowing Your Gifts
What makes you exceptional? What do others tell you are your gifts? What comes easily and naturally for you?
2. Living Your Passions
Does what you do make you feel giddy, fulfilled, proud, grateful and joyful? Does it make you say ‘YES!’? Are you making choices that move you closer to or further away from your passions?
3. Offering Selfless Service
Can your work be done as an offering or dedication to something, someone or even all beings, in service to the highest good?
4. Aligning with the Universal Purpose of Awakening
Do you feel your individual purpose is aligned with the greater purpose of the whole? Are you inspiring more awakening of consciousness and love in this world with the work that you do? Are you in the flow?
There is a calling within each of us that wants to live through us. When we allow this energy to guide our actions, we live in a divine and aligned way. Living our Dharma is our birthright. It is each of our responsibilities to get to the business of finding out what moves and inspires us, and then start consciously gravitating toward the things, people, experiences, jobs and opportunities that bring us closer to the fulfillment of Dharma. Our state of awareness around living our purpose is one of the most important things we can focus on. As we live the life that wants to live us we bring light to the world, cultivating a state of peace, abundance and fulfillment which emanates in all directions and serves all beings.
“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”
Ananda facilitates 200 hour and 300 hour Yoga Teacher Trainings, Shamanic Cleanses and Transformational Retreats giving each person the heartfelt attention and direct facilitation that cultivates ecstatic, healing and magical experiences. As a teacher, she sees each of her classes as an opportunity to hold sacred ceremonial space.
Integrating her teachings and passions, Ananda has developed a system of intentional-based healing that draws on the philosophy that we are all a part of a collective life force that is driving us towards greater consciousness. By exploring our gifts and expanding our relationship with higher Self, we come into alignment with our inner purpose of Awakening. Through our collaborative efforts and unified intentions, we magnify the richness of this life's experience.