I remember when growing up, my mom would say to my brother, “If you just did the dishes instead of arguing with me about it, they’d be done.”  Our minds are exactly like this. If there’s something that must be done, our minds make excuses, put things off, and do everything but what must be done. But, if we just took action and completed the task, it would be done. The amount of energy that is wasted in this pattern! Ha! Karma Yoga is the practice of learning how to stop wasting our energy and putting it towards a higher purpose.

KARMA YOGA

Karma means ‘action.’ The practice of taking action, to make it Yoga, is taking action without attaching to outcomes and with the intent to realize the true nature of Self. Just by living your life, you can calm your mind.

Let’s break this down a little and make it practical to daily life.

I’m making an assumption that you are reading this because some part of you would like a calm mind and to feel more at peace in your daily life. With this in mind, you can use the actions in your daily life as a means to this goal.

(This is what I love about Yoga! You just have to live your life and be skillful in how you use your life to find more calm and peace).

The first part of Karma Yoga is using daily life to calm your mind. This invites us to practice to take action without letting the dialogue of the mind take over. Like in my example above, if the dishes need washing, do it. It’s the dialogue in your head that takes up energy and creates the distraction.

I know, it’s easier said than done and this is where practice comes in. 

DOING THE DISHES TO CALM YOUR MIND

You walk into the kitchen and notice there are dishes in the sink. The mind starts to go off. “Who left these dishes in the sink? What am I, just everyone’s housekeeper? This just pisses me off!” Is this a calm mind? Nope.

When this happens, take a deep breath and first remember how grateful you are to those other people in your house. With that attitude of gratitude, step up to the sink, and lovingly wash the dishes or rinse them off and put them in the dishwasher – even easier! Finally, step back and notice how it feels to see a clean sink. Enjoy it!

Use your daily actions to practice:

• Taking a breath
• Focusing on gratitude
• Complete an action
• Enjoy the process
• Notice the outcome 
• Move on

There are so many opportunities to practice this throughout our day!

LET GO AND CALM WILL FOLLOW

Another practice of Karma Yoga is letting go of the outcome. Please reflect on this – You have no control over the outcome. How much time do you waste trying to make an outcome be something we think it should be?! 

Instead, focus on your intention and your action towards that intention. An intention is something you want to cultivate more of, it’s something you have control over, and it’s something you are working towards. Then, brainstorm the actions available to you at this moment towards that intention, pick one and do it.

The outcome that happens will be more information that will tell you: 1) No more action needed, or 2) Try another action.

HOW YOU TO ACTION MATTERS

Finally, the deep meaning of Karma Yoga rests in where you put the mind. At the heart of this is doing all action for a higher purpose. Check in with yourself. Does doing the dishes because you have to versus doing them because it is an offering of thanking the dishes for being there to use them feel different in your body?

This is why, in most cases, what you do doesn’t matter. Rather, how you do it is the important part. The how is in your attitude or mindset.. If I start to do the dishes and my mind starts to go back to the irritation and stays there, then my mind is no longer calm. Work on cultivating calm through inviting a different mindset. 

What is an image of calm for you? Maybe it’s seeing the ocean or in the shape of a circle. If this is available to you, what is an image or sense of something greater than yourself? Eventually, if you can connect with a sense of the greater good or the divine, this can create a more lasting calm. At least this is what the enlightened Yogis tell us.

MEET YOUR MIND WHERE IT IS AT

Start where you are at, though. If you want a calm mind, then make that your intention and use as much of your daily actions of the body and the mind, to cultivate this intention. When the body or mind are not calm, use this as a practice to work towards calm.

The bonus is that through this process you will come to know yourself better and better, eventually knowing the truth of who you are.

This is Karma Yoga.

Shanti.