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Enlightenment Journal | Summer 2017

LIVING KRIYA YOGA

Dharma 365! Online Course  

with Yogacharya O’Brian

Notes from A Year of Living Purposefully

Genie Palmer, Ph.D.

Just like many of us, I was continually looking for a way to bring my spiritual 

practice more consistently into my daily routine but often got sidetracked 

by the busy-ness of work, family and the many distractions that pull us away 

from remembering ourselves as spiritual beings. For years, I had subscribed to 

Yogacharya O’Brian’s Daily Inspirations so I had my spiritual “toe in the water” 

of daily contemplation. But I had reached a place where I longed to integrate 

my path more evenly into my life so that it did not feel like one more thing that 

I needed to accomplish, but rather a foundation for me to carry with me as 

support throughout each day. I wanted to try to live with a higher purpose, but 

not just when it was convenient or when I remembered or when I had a free 

moment. After experiencing many positive and useful benefits with the year-

long Artha program at CSE from a couple of years ago, I eagerly enrolled in the 

Dharma 365! online course. Plus, I had read that “Discovering our dharma can 

be like discovering our North Star—our spiritual compass—the sure guide to 

living with higher purpose every day.” That is exactly what I was seeking.

Now that I am receiving not only those 365 Daily Inspirations, but weekly 

lessons that focus on one inspirational theme, and monthly practices with 

step-by-step instructions, I am feeling so much closer to my goal of integrating 

my spiritual self into my work and family life instead of feeling that uncomfort-

able sense that we sometimes have that our lives are splintered into segments. 

Knowing that I can let go of “planning” my spiritual practice and simply receive 

the teachings each day has given me a sense of surrender into my practice. I like 

knowing that there are many others out there taking the course and if I chose to, 

I can interact with them, but if I want to just stay with myself and journal about 

that week’s lesson, I can do so anytime in the privacy of my home or even on a 

break at work. I also love that I can refer to any previous lesson anytime I want 

to and have found myself going back to a particular teaching when a need for it 

arises, so I get the chance to practice and apply the dharmic lesson in the “labo-

ratory” of my own life.