The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga is a unique practice that blends the wisdom of India’s 5,000-year-old yogic tradition with the principles of Deepak Chopra’s best-selling book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. These principles can be briefly summarized as follows:
1. Law of Pure Potentiality
Our essential nature is pure consciousness, the infinite source of everything that exists in the physical world. Since we are an inextricable part of the field of consciousness, we are also infinitely creative, unbounded and eternal.
2. Law of Giving and Receiving
Giving and receiving are different expressions of the same flow of energy in the universe. Since the universe is in constant and dynamic exchange, we need to both give and receive to keep abundance, love and anything else we want circulating in our lives.
3. Law of Karma (Cause and Effect)
Every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in kind. When we choose actions that bring happiness and success to others, the fruit of our karma is happiness and success.
4. Law of Least Effort
We can most easily fulfill our desires when our actions are motivated by love, we expend the least effort and we offer no resistance. We tap into the infinite organizing power of the universe to do less and accomplish everything.
5. Law of Intention and Desire
Inherent in every intention and desire are the mechanics for its fulfillment. When we become quiet and introduce our intentions into the field of pure potentiality, we harness the universe’s infinite organizing power, which can manifest our desires with effortless ease.
6. Law of Detachment
At the level of spirit, everything is always unfolding perfectly. We don’t have to struggle or force situations to go our way. Instead, we can intend for everything to work out as it should, take action, and then allow opportunities to spontaneously emerge.
7. Law of Dharma
Everyone has a dharma or purpose in life. By expressing our unique talents and using them to serve others, we will experience unlimited love, abundance, and true fulfillment in our lives. When we teach the yoga postures in Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga classes, we include the movements with these seven principles. We have found that even as our students are learning traditional yoga postures, the attention and intention they give to these principles improves the quality of all aspects of their lives. The mindful application of these spiritual laws promotes physical health and emotional wellbeing, success and abundance, loving relationships, and higher states of consciousness, including intuition, creativity, insight, imagination, and inspiration. Even if yoga only enhanced physical fitness, the time spent in practice would be fully worthwhile. However, while the health benefits are many, yoga offers much more than just a way to exercise the body. The deeper meaning and gift of yoga is the path it offers us into the timeless world of spirit. Yoga teaches us both to let go and to have exquisite awareness in every moment. In this expanded state of consciousness, we experience freedom from suffering. We remember our essential spiritual nature and life becomes more joyful, meaningful and carefree.
If you would like to deepen your own practice or expand the knowledge and expertise you offer your students, we invite you to join us at the Chopra Center yoga studio.
