FEBRUARY 23, 2026 - Identifying the Dharma
Following our conversations about energy, the nature of relationship in yoga and how we influence those relationships, the question arises: what do we want from all of this? And how do we know that what we want is responsible? So we had to open up a big topic, possible the biggest: dharma.
Dharma is usually translated as “law, justice, morality, order, harmony, etc.” The idea is that the world we live in has an implicit, underlying order to it, an order that we should all try to follow in order for harmony to persist. For me, that’s always seemed a bit abstract. What does this look like? Feel like? The best introduction I’ve come up with is simply this: dharma is Life affirming. If we think of dharma in an ecological sense, a great web of Life that is interconnected and somehow conscious, a network that knows how to constantly balance and re-balance the scales in order to for Life (I’m capitalizing here to differentiate between “life” as the state of living versus “Life” as the state of all existence - living, dying, bliss, suffering, and all in between.) So how do we begin to act responsibly and contribute to the dharma? We learn to tune into the experience of aliveness itself! To feel the vital energy of breath and the soaring sensation of our skeleton and muscles pulsing with life.
To that end, we had a very lively, energy-rich practice as a way to taste the nature of Life, of the dharma, itself.
We began lying on our backs with a bolster under knees, breathing in ujayii and bringing our attention to three bony centers of mass in the body (aka “the wheels”): the skull, the ribcage, and the pelvis. After that, we…
Practiced spinal extension and flexion by articulating the spine by moving through the three wheels. We did this in table top position and through standing.
We warmed up with forward folds, cobras, and downward dog.
From there, we transitioned to a lunging series. We…
Started with back knees down, finding the three wheels to engage and lengthen the front of the hip, and from there hinged at the hip.
Crescent lunge/warrior 1 stance with an open twist
After this, we practiced down dog at the wall to find energy and length through the limbs, as well as opening through the backs of the legs. Next, we went through a final lunging series:
Warrior 1 to pyramid stance to lengthen the hamstrings and calves, supporting lengthening and flexing of the spine with blocks.
Then we got to the wall/partner work. Woo!
The first partner began by assuming a lunge stance at the wall. The other partner crouched down and provided resistance into their partner’s heel, pulling slightly up while the heel went down and out. The lunging partner then had the opportunity to slide their hands up the wall, lengthening through the hip and front body. Then we swapped.
The second pose was warrior III (virabhadrasana III). The first partner took down dog at the wall. Keeping their standing leg and hip stable, they picked their other foot up and raised it behind them, pressing into their partner’s belly or thigh. People reported the experience of full body lengthening, energy pinging throughout the body, and breath coming alive.
To close, we cooled with a supine twist and savasana.
Thanks, y’all. Hope to see you next week :)
Saprema