Dharma

In my yoga teacher training with Bodhi Yoga, we learned about dharma. Dharma is, basically, the essential function or nature of a thing, also referred to as "the way of higher truths".  It is your duty to yourself and society. It is what you have been "born to do".  This means following a course of action that is right for you as your soul evolves. It will be something that you do naturally and well, that serves both you and others--that helps you come alive.  By following your dharmic path, or honoring your self-nature (which happens to be Divine), you increase your level of awareness.  Your karma conditions you, through all of your experiences, to create the character required to carry out your dharma.  The best way to resolve your karma is to follow your dharmic course...do the thing you are meant to do, share the message you are meant to share.  When you ignore your dharma, you create strong, negative, karmic "energy", designed to get you back on your path.

For me, my highest dharma is that of being a wife and mother. I also have a dharma that involves work with horses.  I came hard-wired for all things horses....I was created that way--for a reason.  When I have experiences with horses that cause me to learn and increase my level of awareness,  I can relate that to other areas of my life, and then I am able to share with others what I have learned...which in turn helps them. My work with horses has supported my highest dharma (wife and mother) by making me a more aware, rational, passionate and effective parent and spouse.  My yoga practice/studies have done the same.

Is following your dharma easy? Sometimes, your path leads you to do the things that scare you the most...which, of course, can cause the most growth.  I have found it to be very... intense.