Is there resistence in a dharmic path?

It's better to perform one's duty imperfectly than to master the duties of another.
Bhagavad Gita

I am again back from 2 weeks traveling with my beloved teacher Rod Stryker. I was first at the Himalayan Institute, participating in the Akhanda Japa meditation and taking Para Yoga's master teachers training on the Koshas. Then I went to Miami, where I've assisted Rod in his Yoga of Fulfillment training and offered a Business of Yoga intensive.

Though tired and homesick, I came back recharged, inspired by my teacher and the teachings he embodies, and looking forward to integrating the new tools I've learned and the insights my practice has bestowed on me.

One of the things Rod presented with unequaled eloquence is that the age we are living in is one where you will find a lot of resistance to bring light to your life and to other people's lives. It will be easier to open another strip club or a gun shop than to be a yoga teacher and to open a retreat center. Resistance is not an indication you are in the wrong path.

The yogis see resistance, both internal and external as karma, and the way to overcome it to increase the energy behind your determination (your shakti) as well as the resources you have (prana in many forms). Rod offers this teaching as a formula, called The Creation Equation

F = S + P > K

Where
F = Fulfillment
S = Shakti, desire to fulfill
V = Prana, resources/processes used to fulfill your desire
K = karma, resistance

So whenever the sum of your desire and your resources is greater than your karma manifested as resistence, voilá, you have fulfillment. So resistance is always there, the key is to ensure it's not the greater of the forces.

The scriptures promise that fulfillment comes from acting in accordance to your purpose and not from any other way of measuring success, including numbers and how easy it was to get what you wanted. If that was true for Arjuna, who had to go to war in order to fulfill his duty, I am sure it applies to us as well.

Yep, that's the type of stuff we talk about in the Yogi Incubator. And then of course, we share practical tools so that you can become not only more determined, but more resourceful...

Every time I see Rod it humbles me. I realize how much I owe to him and what a blessing and joy it is to have a teacher. If you want to experience him in a non-commital way, you can listen to "Fearlessness and Joy: Yoga's Vision of Your Best Life" by Rod Stryker, a closing talk at the 2008 San Francisco Yoga Journal Conference.

On a very practical note, I have three more teleclasses for this year. I hope you can join me!

To the light and strenght that dwells in your heart,
Clara