Last month I was sitting at dinner with a good friend and client. We were talking about teaching yoga and if we agreed that was what we “should” be doing. What really was our true purpose in life and was what we do creating the greatest harmony. Yogis often refer to it as Dharma. I am almost 49 years old and as clear as a bell rings…. it dawned on me what my Dharma was. My true purpose in life. My inherent nature… I don’t know how many of you know that my dream as a teenager was to go to law school, become a lawyer and eventually a juvenile court judge. I dreamed of being in a position to help young people in trouble and to be in a position to consider alternative ways to approach, solve and handle these kids with big problems. I imagine that is why my favorite tv shows are The Mentalist, Burn Notice, White Collar and The Good Wife. I love when the system is challenged, when sometimes the lines are crossed but for the greater good and I live for a positive end result. When the right thing happens and people are willing to step out of their comfort zone to learn and grow and to make the right thing happen… I am inspired.
In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali chapter 4 sutra 12; Patanjali says The past and future exist in their own form by difference of paths. One path is that of determination (kind of like a film which can only play what is projected on the bring screen) and the other is that of free will. On account of these two paths there is the difference of inherent properties. (Dharma would be an inherent property). Determination as one path where the past and the future remain different and free will the other path where that past and present can be changed. And according to yogic philosophy everything that happens was pre-planned in space and time..kind of like destiny. Everything goes on like the film being projected. But there is this difference in inherent properties. Do we just watch the screen and allow our destiny to flow by or do we embrace the difference of two paths. And discover the inherent property within each of us… strengthening our own free will along the way?
So my path has and will always been the one of free will. The path that allows the future to become the present and I believe there in lies that true capacity to change.
I will continue to step out of my comfort zone and experience life as powerful, and deeply fulfilling..because when I do I experience the inherent nature of me… and as I do so…I share these experiences with others and hopefully along the way inspire others, to also dream big, overcome diversity and experience much.
I will refer to it as showing you the possibilities. And if that makes me a teacher then I guess..so be it…I am one.
