Karma

 

Karma---It’s become a familiar word in our daily vernacular. But what is it? When we witness somebody acting in an undesirable way, we often quip, “oooh…that’s a bunch of bad karma” but is it really and what does it mean?

When I asked students this past week what their understanding was of “karma” I received a few of the following responses: “What goes around, comes around”, “It’s the concept of cause and effect, as well as being a key factor in rebirth”, and “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

The focus on karma this week has been its effects on both our internal and external environments, as well as what it means to be a Karma Yogi. External karma is the consequence of our actions in the world; internal karma is the effect of our thoughts and emotions on ourselves. Our internal world is that which is bordered by our skin and all that is contained within. It includes our physical body, what we think, and the emotions we experience, as well as how we connect to the bigger universal source or spirit.

Hovering an inch or two away from the skin, I visualize another boundary of our auric field, one you can sense and most people can’t see. You know its presence when in the company of someone you enjoy and want to get close to, the pull of attraction that draws your two fields of energy towards one another. And you also know it when the opposite is true, coming across someone who you literally repel away from, not wanting to mingle your energy with theirs.

Beyond our internal quantum field and our auric boundary is everything else-the external environment. And although they’re being described as two different things, they are most definitely linked and influencing each other. It’s as though we have a porous membrane between the two which moves energy in both directions…towards and away from our individuated selves. The point of this concerning karma is we might believe that if we think unkind thoughts either about ourselves or someone else, and if we don’t act on them, they can do no harm. However, imagine spending a big chunk of your mental real estate on negative self-talk, flooding your mind with things you would never dare say aloud. What’s the effect of filling your field with self-criticism and judgment?

We all know people who seem to complain regularly and I would guess that the negativity that propels the complaining begins within their thought process, silently taking a foothold on their energy until it begins to spill out of them. The result is an impact on not only the complainer but those hearing it. It’s as though the internal toxic environment begins to spill into the external environment, poisoning all.

The beautiful thing about our practices of yoga and meditation is that it helps us recognize and potentially begin to shift away from habitual and harmful self-talk that is ultimately unhealthy, toward a kinder approach. When we begin to nurture our inner environment, it naturally begins to nurture our outer quantum field. We begin to see that what we say, what actions we take, and what we think has a karmic, or cause and effect cycle.

Some people believe that our actions not only have an effect in this lifetime, but we have carried over unresolved traumas from previous incarnations. The caste system in India was a reflection of this --- if you acted badly in one life, you would be born into a lower caste in the next life. How you act now begins to determine what lays ahead. As Deepak Chopra said, “Karma means you have to live with the consequences of the actions you have taken in the past. Whatever you put out, is coming back.”

One practice besides awareness to improve your karmic outcome is practicing Karma Yoga, often called the yoga of service. A top example of a Karma Yogi was Mother Teresa, whose calling was to serve the most impoverished and forgotten people on the streets of Kolkata, India. She served those who were unseen by the majority of the population without expectation of anything in return. As a Karma Yogi, her actions led her to sainthood and her practice of service never involved undertaking a single yoga pose (which is Hatha yoga).

Ultimately, when we begin to live a heart-centered life, we connect to a deeper place both within and without. Send out those good vibes as we know they have a return address!