We just completed the second weekend of Yoga Teacher Training at Yoga Center of Columbia. These eleven women and two men will graduate in November having gained 200 hours worth of experience going deeper in their yoga poses, meditation, yoga philosophy, and Yoga Nidra.
This weekend we began discussion of the perennial work, Bhagavad Gita, in which one of the main themes is dharma. “It is better to do one’s own dharma poorly than to do another’s dharma well.” [BG 18.47] It actually uses that statement twice in the Gita, to show just how important it is to be your own self fully, to live your life to the fullest.
Dharma means to make firm, establish, or secure. It also means to nurture, to develop in a sustainable and viable form, viability. It often translates as the law, truth, duty, or righteousness and it is your deepest held convictions; it is your purpose in life; dharma is the sensibility that we stand for something. Dharma is part of the way reality creates a centering, supportive experience. When we secure our own sense of place in the world, when we do our own dharma, we participate in that nourishing and grounding experience that the universe is offering to us.
What is your unique dharma you might ask? Only you can answer that question. And I am here to say that yoga practice is a tool, it offers many tools actually, to help you figure it out. Wildflower Yoga offers many ways to connect to your source, your purpose, your dharma through live classes, an ever-growing on-demand library subscription, and even Yoga Nidra. What are you nurturing in your life today?