Yoga to find purpose
Discovering your life’s purpose can feel like a profound, elusive quest, but yoga offers a simple path to connect with your true essence. Through the wisdom of dharma and the practice of stillness, yoga guides you to align with your core values, embrace the mundane and uncover your unique spark in every moment.
One of the most important things you can do in this lifetime is discover your purpose, who you are and why you were put on this Earth. Humans have been contemplating what the meaning of their life is since the beginning of time, and philosophers have asked the question across the ages. The yogic approach invites us to connect to our values, the present moment, our spark, our duties and the everyday mundane moments to understand the truth of our greater purpose in this one precious life we have.
Dharma
The yogic understanding of purpose comes from the Sanskrit word “dharma”, which doesn’t have a direct translation in English. There is no one way to define it and there are multiple interpretations, depending on the lineage. The root of dharma is “Dhri”, which can be understood as “to hold”, or “support”. From the perspective of yoga, dharma can be seen in the context of upholding an integrous way of living, one that supports our values — the morals, rights and duties of everyone. When we unite with our dharma, we can live a life of honour, guided by our moral compass. In this way, we are truly aligned to our purpose.
Why connect to your purpose
In the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita, we have the symbolism of Arjuna, our warrior hero who represents us, everyday mortals. He is in conversation with his guide, Krishna, who represents God or the universe. Arjuna is the archer, his bow and arrow reminds us that when we have a purpose, it’s like shooting those arrows towards a target. We can focus our attention on that goal and then put all our awareness into shooting our energy in that direction. When we don’t have that target, we just shoot arrows aimlessness through our thoughts, words and actions. When we consciously direct our attention and prana or life force, instead of carelessly throwing it around like confetti, we become very powerful in manifesting all the things we desire.
Finding your purpose — the importance of pratyhara and stillness
To figure out what our purpose is we need to stop shooting arrows aimlessly. Rather, pull in for a moment and turn our attention inwards instead of outwards. Just like the arrow pulling into the bow, before it gets the momentum to move out into action. Getting clear on our goals, aspirations and core values in life requires time and introspection. Our ethics are our guiding light, the compass that will off er clear direction no matter where we are, or how far we away from achieving our objectives. When we become clear on our beliefs and align them with our purpose, we live a rich life, full of significance. When we are not clear there is confusion and chaos. Be still and pull in first, before taking skilful action and releasing those arrows.
The mundane moments
It is most definitely empowering to determine, and know, your greater purpose in life. But some people don’t have the privilege of making that choice. And the problem is that modern Western culture is obsessed with only doing things that have a greater meaning or impact. As though the mundane, everyday experiences we have, which make up the bulk of our lives, have nothing to offer us in the way of satisfaction. The reality is that most of the time
all we really have is the very ordinary moments. Life is made up of a collection of those. So, when we wait for grand events of impact, we miss our life. We miss the opportunity for every waking moment to be filled with meaning. Even if we are not clear on what our greater dharma is, we can all live our lives on purpose. It is enough to be present in every mundane moment. Patanjali tells us in the Yoga Sutra that being in the “Atha” (now) is one of the best ways to experience a state of yoga or peace. Staying awake is enough. Being grateful for each moment is enough. The gift of being alive is enough. Don’t miss it searching for the big things, the extraordinary incidents, the rare unicorn sightings.
Finding your meaning
A great way to start to explore what your dharma is may be contemplating what lights you up. Our dharma is ultimately something that can’t be taken away from us. No relationship, no pandemic, no cost-of-living crisis, nothing, can take away your true purpose. I like to think of it as your spark. When you are connected to your spark, it’s like you’re plugged into a universal power source. You focus and lose track of time doing that thing. Unlike time spent with energy vampires, the people places and things that drain you, when you’re aligned with purpose, you never get tired. Choose the things that ignite you. You’ll shine bright like a diamond that no one can steal.
Contentment
If we can’t learn to find contentment in the tiny, life will be very disappointing. One of the Niyamas, (restraints, observances or ethical practices) Patanjali prescribes for our happiness is santosha (contentment)in The Yoga Sutra. A powerful way to practise this, which has plenty of scientific research backing its profound effects, is practising gratitude. Doing a gratitude practice can interrupt negative thoughts and replace them with dopamine and serotonin, giving our brain feel-good chemicals. When we are grateful for what we have, we are more content. When we are steeped in santosha, Pantajali tells us, we will feel supreme joy. Not the fleeting, external validation type. But deep, long-lasting happiness.
Duty
Another way to understand dharma is duty. Just like Arjuna in the Gita, we all find ourselves at some point in life on a battlefield we don’t want to be on. We arrive in situations we didn’t sign up for. We have to do things we don’t want to do at the expense of working on our dreams and goals we believe to be our higher purpose. Many of us are the Sandwich Generation, simultaneously taking care of kids or teens as well as ageing parents. This in a time where there is global uncertainty and the cost of living is skyrocketing,
can feel like we are living a life that is no longer ours. There are times when our duty is our purpose and our capacity to accept that, and put just as much effort into it as our greatest desire, will determine how easeful the process is.
Do it wrong to find it right
A recent Harvard study found that the first step to finding your purpose is to engage in diverse life and career experiences. It is only by trying things that we can know whether they are for us or not. It’s imperative we try, fail, make mistakes, try something else, and course correct when we need. You don’t discover what’s right for you until you feel what is definitely not. Bump into a few wrong dharmas, before you find your spark.
Setting an intention
In the yogic and Vedic tradition, a sankalpa, resolve or intention, holds great significance. In our daily practice, setting an intention allows us to direct our attention to a higher truth, something bigger than our individual selves. The modern perspective of purpose incorporates the idea that it is our greater overarching intention in life which holds meaning to us and has impact in the wider world beyond ourselves. Practise setting intentions in the tiny each day in order to foster your connection to discovering a greater one. Every time you get on the mat, let it be a prayer. Eventually your whole life becomes one, big, living, breathing prayer.
Energetics
The bottom three chakras are really the energy centres that connect us to our sense of self. From an energetic perspective, our purpose resides in our third chakra, manipura. It’s the seat of our ego and how much we value ourselves, represented by the fire element. We all know fire has the ability to nourish and sustain, cooking our food and keeping us warm. Equally it can rage as a destructive force, desecrating cities and annihilating everything in its path. When we are aligned to our values and live a life of meaning, our fire creates warmth and light, nourishing our sense of purpose, and we move to the higher chakras where we live from the heart space. In this way we live a life in service of others. When manipura is out of balance and we fan the flames of our ego alone, the fire may burn out of control. Or if the fire is dim, we can always breathe life into it and reignite our embers by remembering our spark or noticing the tiny everyday miracles. Balancing this energy centre is the key to connecting to our inner fi re in a healthy way.
This practice focuses on the bottom three chakras, especially the third: manipura chakra. As you move through the practice, keep your awareness on the navel centre and observe what arises. If you like to work visually, picture the colour yellow in that space of your solar plexus. Make notes or journal if you have any reflections after practice.
Yoga to find your purpose sequence
Set an intention
Choose a comfortable seat with a tall spine. Set a sankalpa or intention for your practice. It may be as simple as a word or feeling you want to bring in to the practice today. Maybe see it written in your mind’s eye if you like to work visually. See it or repeat it silently three times.
Lion’s breath
Stay seated. Close the eyes and observe the breath. Take a slow breath in and empty the lungs. Inhale through the nostrils, exhale sticking your tongue out making a “haa” sound like you’re fogging up a mirror as well as possible. Notice how you feel. Repeat two more rounds, letting go of the practice if you feel dizzy or lightheaded.
Garudasana — eagle pose
Take a drishti or focus point to softly gaze. From feet hip width, wrap right thigh over left. If you need to, connect right toes to earth, otherwise hover the foot or wrap it around left calf. Extend arms in front of you, place right arm under left, then bend elbows, lift elbows as high as shoulders and slide shoulder blades down the back. Spread shoulder blades and smile across collar bones. Take five breaths. Swap over to the other side.
Navasana — boat pose to pick up
From a seat with knees bent, legs together, balance on the buttocks, toes floating off Earth, spine tall, extend all four sides. Take shins parallel to the Earth, or extend legs. Take three breaths and then cross ankles, place hands on earth or blocks, pulling knees into navel, extend the arms and pick everything up for a breath. Return to navasana for three breaths, swap ankles to opposite crossing on top, press palms down and pick everything up. Repeat one more time.
Plank
Set shoulders over wrists, heels over balls of feet. Lift shoulders up out of wrists and send thigh bones up to sky, but pull frontal hip bones to bottom ribs to lengthen buttocks to heels. Take five breaths. Knees down if you need.
Lunge twist
Set up in a lunge, right knee over heel, back heel over ball of foot, right angle in that front knee. Place back knee on the earth. Hook left elbow over right thigh, keeping both side waists long. Have right palm in a fist or hands in prayer. Stay here or extend back leg. Take five breaths and swap sides.
Twisted scandasana
Start in a lunge. Set left hand just in front of shoulder line and spin all 10 toes to the right, lowering hips. Take five breaths and swap over to the other side.
Easy twist
Come to a seated position with legs crossed, right shin in front, ankles in line with knees. Elevate your seat with a blanket, cushion or block if the knees are above the hips. Ground seat down. Take left hand outside of right thigh, and right hand behind you. Inhale to sit taller and lengthen the spine, exhale to twist to the right. Take five breaths. Come back to centre. Swap legs, left shin in front, ankles in line with knees, right hand outside left thigh, left hand behind. Inhale, lengthen spine, exhale twist to the left. Take five breaths.
Gratitude practice
Think of three things you are grateful for today. Write them down, note how they make you feel, and offer up your immense gratitude. Make this a daily practice at the end of each day, or just before bed.
