Karma Yoga: What Would You Do For World Peace?

World peace is the ultimate dream. Ask any beauty contest contestant, 11 year old kid, war ravaged grandmother, or the Dalai Lama. Even better, ask your own heart.

Here’s the thing – we have a chance to make this dream a reality! When you read this article in its entirety you will understand how.

Karma yoga is the practice of yoga as service. It’s yoga in action.

Now, this can happen in any number of ways. It can be as huge as dedicating your life completely to selfless service like Mother Theresa, or it can be as simple as making people smile.

The key to karma yoga and seva (selfless service) is living in awareness and doing what you can to make things better. That doesn’t sound so hard does it?

What’s important is that it’s relevant and realistic. Relevant, meaning it’s something you care about. You are more likely to be more effective and enjoy serving when it’s something that impacts your life. Realistic, in that you’re doing what you can, from the heart, without over extending or depleting yourself.

Karma yoga is something that should enhance your life and your own energy, because doing good is hugely rewarding.

Yet the action itself is enough – when you start looking for compensation or expecting something in return for your service, the practice of serving is not pure. Practice being able to perform an action without being attached to the results. This is a challenge, yet it is enormously freeing.

You can pick any cause; take world peace for example. We all have to pitch in to make the dream a reality. And it CAN happen. It is happening.

But there’s also a lot of turmoil that isn’t helping the whole world peace movement – or maybe it is. It’s definitely raising awareness.

Raising awareness alone is something you can do that doesn’t take a lot of time, effort, or resources. By learning about what’s going on you can share your thoughts with others. Often you’ll be so impassioned about what you learn that you’ll hit the ground running to spread the word and make change in whatever way is most possible for you.

Try this for motivation: Watch this 2 minute trailer for a new documentary. Go on, I’ll wait…

What do you feel? Empathy perhaps? You might feel sad or angry – if this happens then let those emotions soften instead into something that feels better and is more helpful such as determination.

The strongest feeling I get from watching that video is an overwhelming sense of motivation to DO something. Let’s make peace happen. Let’s call on all our resources to make change.

We CAN create world peace.

How, you might ask, do we tackle something this big? One person at a time.

Here’s what you can do:

Tell people about it: Post this link on Facebook, Twitter, or send emails out to spread the word.

Support the movement and learn more: Get the documentary RETHINK Afghanistan and watch it with your friends.

Call, write, or otherwise contact your government officials. Tell them what you think about the dangers of the war in Afghanistan and kindly ask them what they’re going to do about it.

Get peaceful: When you embody peace, you naturally influence people around you and the matrix of peace on the entire planet grows stronger. Here’s a free meditation for global peace.

This may be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your karma yoga. Remember, whatever you decide to do, let it naturally arise from your desire to make this world a better place. Never doubt the impact of any action you make from the heart.

World peace is not a myth, it is absolutely attainable.

With each person who raises their awareness, with each simple act of kindness, with each voice that says “this has to change, and it changes NOW”, we are getting closer.

What will you do for world peace?

(comment below and let us know)