Saving a Dharma Bum
Ann Johnston is a Yoga teacher, Ayurvedic Practitioner and Trainer. She has been teaching, writing and giving workshops and courses since 2003.
I can’t be more thankful to the people who come to my yoga classes and appreciate the way I teach. This is a challenging time for everybody, even a home-bird like me finds the constraints of confinement brings on cabin fever at times.
I have my Yoga practice, my Vedic chant studies and my ongoing Panchakarma course plus any number of jobs at home that have been ‘on ‘the long finger’ for a while and many of which remain undone. I even get to go to work in the countryside two days a week and yet at times I have felt really uncomfortable, dissatisfied, agitated and a little bit lost despite appreciating the very very many in dire circumstances around the globe. I put this down to the financial anxiety of the circumstances at first but even that I’m managing to surrender to for the moment. Something else was amiss.
This brought me to thinking about on what motivates and supports me in life. What gets me up and going every day, what helps me keep the faith in my daily life and can hold me now in this time of change and adversity with so much suffering and anxiety in every curve of our planet.
TKV Desikachar describes Svadharma as “that which protects, supports and elevates me” (Desikachar, TKV. , 1998." “Health Healing and Beyond”. p. 170). Svadharma is personal to each of us, we each have our own path and motivation in life. What is key about Svadharma is that is is not just about doing our duty, fulfilling our responsibilities nor simply satisfying ourselves. It was explained by my teacher Peter Hersnack as:
That which supports me and allows me to support life
Marie from my Yoga class left these heavenly scented peonies blooming on my doorstep this morning.
This is where I found my answer. There are many small things I do in life that are a good fit; I try to eat organic food and avoid chemical cleaning products and toiletries, this supports my health and that of the environment. I buy local as much as possible and this brings great relationships into my life and supports my neighbours. What holds me and carries me forward is sharing what I have learned, teaching a 6 year old boy to knit or a friend to sew curtains as my mother taught me. Phoning some older students, or people I know living alone, for a chat or offer to do their shopping. I have been forgetting to appreciate these everyday actions to allow them to enrich my life. This may be a good time to take stock, attribute value and appreciate all the small things we do everyday that support us and support life.
I have been most fortunate, there has been a gift for me in this period of confinement. When I feel best, “in my right place” is when I am sharing the teachings of Yoga and Ayurveda. This is my Svadharma. I thank my students for contacting me looking for practices and support because they saved me from that lost, ‘filling time’ feeling and the financial anxiety of this time. I thank my friend and fellow Yoga teacher, Paula Kirwan, who generously helped me put in place online classes with Zoom and I am now happily overwhelmed by the number of students attending the online classes. I’m up early and on the Yoga mat preparing for my day with enthusiasm and delight.
The Bhagavad Gita teaches that Svadharma involves being content to do what we can and allow the rest to evolve. This has brought me the gift of Sraddha, faith and trust. I am doing what I can, with what I have, to support myself, others and life. I cannot change this Coronavirus situation but I can do this.
The paralysis of powerlessness has diminished and my mind and energy are freed to get on with what supports me and supports life. As long as I am staying on the path of my Svadharma I can manage the rest.
We can all remind ourselves that when we are doing what we can, even in what we imagine is a small way, this is enough. We need not worry about what others are doing or not doing, that is their Svadharma. We need only concern ourselves with what we do now, in this time and place, and let it evolve and bloom.
So many thanks to my Yoga students, my Yoga teachers, my friends and technology for keeping me on the path and saving this Dharma Bum.
