In the Yoga tradition there are Sannyasins, or those who renounced worldly affairs to live as ascetics seeking moksha, or liberation, through austerities, meditation and mantra. The Sannyasin gives up all possessions, all family and all associations.  Sannyasa in this context means total surrender and dedication to spiritual awakening.  This is a difficult path and only for a very few.

When our Yoga practice brings us into spiritual awakening and we begin to reach clarity about the emptiness and illusory quality of life in a material society, we are often drawn towards dropping out and rejecting the world in which we live. We dream of becoming like Sannyasins and embarking upon a new life of simplicity and purity. However, this type of withdrawal often causes us even more problems and greater imbalance.

This is why the ancient scripture also gave us the path of Karma Sannyasa. Karma Yoga is the Yoga of action. As Karma Sannyasins, which is at the very core of Deep Yoga philosophy, we stay fully in the world, both enjoying and suffering life as it unfolds, but in a state of higher awareness. We seek to transcend the ego and our petty concerns, stay detached and yet at the same time be skillful, creative and self-expressive. Through this practice, each and every experience – whether we deem it positive or negative – offers us a great teaching and opportunity to evolve even further in our journey.

I invite you to practice Karma Sannyasa in these simple ways:

• Look for the teaching in your experiences, especially those that seem most challenging.
• Stay even and detached during the ups and downs of your days.
• Enjoy all positive experiences to their very fullest without becoming attached the them.