Since 2005 Dashama has produced hundreds of videos, multiple best selling online courses, 32 instructional DVDs, written 2 published books and 4 ebooks, lead international retreats, teacher trainings and events serving the growing demand for her high quality educational material in the meditation, yoga, health & wellness market segment known as LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability).
Her productions have distribution globally through Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, ATT Uverse, Broadband TV, Marriott Hotels, Shangri-la Resorts, Roku, Apple TV, Daily Yoga app + more with a total reach of over 150 million potential daily viewers combined. Dashama was inducted into the Happiness Hall of Fame at Stanford in 2019 and spoke at the United Nations for International Day of Happiness in 2016.
Podcast Highlights
Who is Dashama?
Dashama thinks about the journey a little bit differently from other people. She grew up with a loving mother in a loving household up until the age of 7 where her mother became schizophrenic. This completely changed her life. She ended up in foster homes and experiencing a lot of trauma regarding the loss of her family. This was how she learned the importance of the mind.
She found ways to make herself feel better despite the repressed trauma by being an excellent student, an athlete, and generally popular. When Dashama was 18 she was hit by a car while biking, and this left her with what doctor’s described as irreversible spinal damage. Despite the prognosis, Dashama went on a quest to heal her body through yoga.
It was around that time in her life where Dashama started looking for deeper answers. She started pursuing a career as a yoga teacher and it ended up changing her life so completely that she has dedicated her life to it. She never planned to make money from yoga but wanted to share what she learned with other people, and in the first year of teaching Dashama made $80,000.
One of her clients helped her set up her YouTube channel in 2006 during the early days of the platform. In 2008 Dashama started the first 30 day yoga challenge in the world which catalyzed the global yoga trend and made the practice more mainstream.
Healing The World
The coronavirus pandemic is bringing awareness that the world needs healing. For Dashama, her life purpose is to heal the world and people, specifically the mind. It’s our reaction to what happens to us that causes us suffering.
If we really want to change the world, the best way to do that is have people experience joy from within. The main issue with the world right now is that people are grasping for things outside themselves to make themselves feel happy. This leads to consumerism, conflict, and greed.
When you feel joy inside you become a radiant light to other people, so the starting point is healing the self. Once you get to a joyous place of contentment and wholeness, the only question is how can you serve the people around you and make the world a better place.
We need to come together to solve the issues caused by the pandemic. This can take the form of meditation and breathing, but it’s all about getting into a state where you feel so good that you don’t bring suffering to others.
So often we think we can fix the world by fixing everyone else, but if the focus is inward so many problems could be solved. We currently live in the ME culture but we need to realize that the state of the world is a mirror for what’s within us. Many people live within a veil of illusion and can’t see things as they are, which is not always easy since reality doesn’t always please the ego.
The primary reality is within, and the secondary reality is outside of us. Whatever is happening inside is going to be reflected on the outside.
Everybody was born into the world to serve in some way. In Yoga, the concept is known as Dharma, and it’s where your passion and purpose intersect. If you are living your Dharma that helps you live in joy and service at the same time. If we can heal ourselves in this way we can begin to help other people heal themselves too.
Flow State
Flow state is the state of total absorption. It’s the aspiration of yoga and many other people to achieve this state more often, and if we can be fully present with what’s in front of us most of our problems can be resolved.
There are a number of different entry points to the flow state and it depends on the person. For some, that can be dancing. For others, it might be breathing or ice baths.
Being the observer of your reality is important as well, and seeing what is taking you out of the flow state. We are often preventing ourselves from entering the flow state with the stories we have about our lives and what we think it should be. If we can let go of all that, all that’s left is flow.
Many people try to achieve the flow state with external substances or people, but that only suppresses the body’s natural ability to produce the flow state and leads to additional problems like addiction.
Seeking The Truth
Meditation is hard. If you try it out on your own you will encounter a number of challenges. Get proper guidance from a teacher that can show you the way. This will allow you to build the foundation for feeling good and achieving it naturally from within.
These practices actually change the physical structure of your brain. Studies from Harvard have shown the healing capabilities of meditation and yoga.
Dashama’s Takeaway
Once you start, make it a consistent daily practice. Realize that you are not just doing it for you but by healing yourself you can make a greater positive impact on the world while also creating the life of your dreams.
Links:
tiktok.com/@flow.state