What is Karma?

I’m sure you hear the word “karma” all the time.  It’s common to say “Karma is going to catch up to them” or “That’s karma” or really anything along the lines of karma being the force that gives someone what they deserve.  The more you study yoga philosophy, the more you will learn that, when it stands on its own,  karma simply means “action.” 

Anytime you do something in life, that action sets a whole lot of things in motion and then there may eventually be something that happens directly to you because of that action.  It might be amazing or it might be kind of bad, but you will always have a choice as to how you respond.

Karma is meant to help you understand why you’re here. It teaches you how this life is working in your favor to help you move through things from your past that may potentially keep you from being the best version of yourself.  To fully understand the process of karma, there are a few key points to unpack. 

Karma teaches you how you got here.

In YogaRenew’s Yoga Philosophy training,  Charles Dickens' book “A Christmas Carol” is brought up.  There is a scene in the book where the main character's old business partner comes back as a ghost and he’s covered in chains.   In this scene, the character explains that he’s wearing heavy chains because of the way he behaved while he was alive.

If you move through life acting selfish and angry, then there is a chance that you may be faced with events that challenge you to face the outcome of those actions.  This doesn’t have to be a bad thing!  It’s a chance to take a step back and question how a challenging experience may be happening as a chance for you to burn through your negative actions and move forward in a positive way.  

You always have a choice. 

If the idea of trying to see how a challenging situation in a positive light sounds a little daunting, then you can also think of karma through an example of taking a flight somewhere.  If you travel via airplane from one location to another, you are technically on that plane and you can’t change anything.  

You can’t decide mid flight to jump onto another plane while you’re in the sky.  Karma can be understood as that flight from Point A to Point B.  You’re going from A to B, but how you arrive at B is entirely up to you.  

You might choose to read a really inspiring book or have a really insightful conversation with someone.  You may also choose to get into an argument with your partner or complain to the staff the entire time.  Those latter options will most likely cause you to arrive at your destination feeling angry or frustrated.  You are on that flight, but the way you choose to spend the time and react to what happens will determine how you arrive.  

You can be in control of your karma

Yoga teaches us that we have the tools and the ability to control our mind.  You are in charge of how you react to something.  The more you study yoga and the more you stay consistent with the practice, the more you will realize that you have some time between what happens to you and how you react to it.  

So many people move through life simply reacting to what happens to them.  Someone upsets them and they yell.  Someone hurts them and they hurt them back.  As a practitioner of yoga, you’re given the tools to create a pause between action and reaction.  This pause space will allow you to react in a way that creates some better karma for yourself.  

Karma is neither good nor bad

You have probably heard the phrase: “That’s some bad karma.”  Try not to see karma as being good or bad.  It really simply is what it is and whatever you are faced with will present an opportunity to either learn and move forward or become negative and stay stagnant.  

You can’t always control what happens to you or how people treat you.  You can’t control the majority of things that happen in this lifetime, but you can control how you react to them.  Understanding karma means understanding that this world isn’t out to get you.  It means understanding that this life is meant to teach you.

You can stay where you are or you can learn the lesson

Studying the concept of karma also means studying the way you handle everything that comes into your life.  Sometimes, it’s easier to keep doing what you’re doing because maybe you’re a strong person and you can handle anything that comes your way.

Yoga teaches us that we don’t need to suffer.  We don’t need to be in a mundane or sad life because it’s easier.  Yoga teaches us that we have the ability to learn from our mistakes, analyze why this life is not blissful, and then make those changes.  You are in control.

It’s not always easy and it’s not always fun

I probably don’t need to remind you that life can get hard and, as humans, we go through some really sad experiences.  The important thing to remember is that we aren’t being punished and we aren’t being picked on.  The bad stuff happens because it’s meant to help us move through those experiences and come out wiser, stronger, and kinder. 

You don’t deserve the bad stuff, but you deserve the teachings and realizations that the bad stuff brings up.  As humans, we all experience suffering.  Some people seem to experience it more than others and some people never seem to experience much of it at all.  Don’t worry about other people.  Focus on yourself and what you personally need to do to move through experiences.  

 The bliss is on the other side of sadness

It can be said that ignoring sadness and avoiding any kind of negative feeling will prevent you from experiencing the total bliss that all of us here on Earth are meant to experience.  Yoga teaches that bliss is on the other side of sadness.

Notice that I said it’s on the other side.  This means you need to go through whatever is happening in order to reach that bliss.  If you go under it, over it, or around it, you probably won’t tackle the actual experience that had been put in your way for a chance at growth.  

 The bumps in the road are sometimes the best way to learn

It is very possible that my karma is to have a life filled with bumps on my road because that’s the only way I will learn anything.  I personally know that I need some tough lessons before I actually see how I’m supposed to learn from them.  Maybe you’re not as stubborn, but if you’re anything like me, it might take some time to travel down  a really bumpy road filled with obstacles before you learn the lesson.

The good news is that once the lesson is learned, it’s learned.  You got it.  You learned what this lifetime was meant to teach you in that moment and you created a path that’s a little more clear for yourself.  

 Karma will make you ask “How can this teach me?”

Although it can be difficult at first, eventually you will begin to see everything as your teacher.  The bad stuff in life doesn’t happen because you’re a bad person.  No one deserves that bad stuff.  Unfortunately, it still happens.  However, you always have a choice.

You can react in a way that causes more negativity or you can react in a way that helps you grow and move forward.  No one ever said that yoga was easy and no one promised that the concept of karma was fun.  The good news is that the work always pays off.

 Life is happening for you and not to you. 

You may have heard it before, but it’s always important to remember that this life is happening for you and it's not happening to you.  If you can embody that fact, you will be able to see everything as a blessing and everything as an opportunity to grow.  

Most of the difficult people, situations, and experiences that happen in your life will become your favorite teachers.  The sooner you can move away from the “Why me?” attitude, the sooner you will be on the path to bliss and loving this life along with all its gifts.  

Anything you experience can be a chance to face your karma and create a positive future.  It isn’t always easy and there’s no promise that experiences will become lighter, but the way you handle whatever comes at you is the best way to burn through old karma and live in much more mindful way.  

This blog was written for YogaRenew Teacher Training