www.CSEcenter.org

17

Laurel:

 How do we discover our own Dharma just as you did and what happens 

after that?
Sam: 

I see my own story as an example of what happens when one’s life is off its 

own track. The attractive stereotype is that enlightenment happens in an instant, 

but it took years for me to even get a glimpse of my true Dharma.

Our Dharma is a call to action from deep inside us that we can’t ignore. It’s a 

request from our hearts and our souls and comes from the core of who we are, 

which of course is intimately intertwined with our world, our community and 

everything around us. I’m still waking up to it. I think we all are. 

When we are living our Dharma and our happiness, we are naturally moved 

toward Seva (service), one of the most profound practices of yoga. Seva gets us 

outside of our own self, off the meditation cushion to engage with the world 

around us. There is an abundance of research that shows that volunteering 

increases our own happiness to say nothing of the folks around us. One of yoga’s 

boldest promises is to combat the kind of “me first” mentality that permeates so 

much of our culture. And from practicing service, we learn that loving others is 

an essential part of how we learn to love ourselves. 

Sam Chase is the author of Yoga and the Pursuit of Happiness, A Guide to Finding Joy in Unexpected 

Places. He is co-owner of Yoga to The People in New York City, where he leads weekly yoga programs 

for everyday people and diverse organizations including, New York University and The United 

Nations. www.samchaseyoga.com