#158 Karma, Samskaras & Clearing the Karma Shaya
Earth School, Spiritual Inventories, and Trusting the Process
“God gives the brightest students the toughest assignments.” Liz Gilbert writes in All the Way to the River how someone told her that at a twelve-step meeting, and she wanted to roll her eyes. But then she realized: what if it was true? What if the hardest experiences aren’t punishments, but lessons in Earth School, custom-designed for our growth?
That perspective resonates with how I’ve come to understand karma. Too often in the West, karma gets weaponized as a threat - “karma’s gonna get you.” But I don’t experience karma that way. I heard a beautiful St Finnikin song this year with the lyrics, “What if Karma’s More like a Loving Teacher?” (It’s one of my favourite lyrics of all time.) For me, karma is simply cause and effect, like Newton’s law of motion. Every action, word, or thought creates a ripple. Every ripple leaves an imprint. In yoga philosophy, we call these imprints samskaras - neural grooves etched in our subconscious.
Some samskaras are small and ordinary (and yet quite impactful) - like the automatic habit of reaching for Instagram each morning. Others are constructive, like my steady practice of reformer Pilates or meditation. Samskaras aren’t inherently “bad” - they’re simply grooves. And the deeper we repeat them, the more they shape our lives.
Yoga tells us that behind the samskaras sits the karma shaya - the storehouse of all our accumulated karma from this life and past lives. It’s like the curriculum binder for our current enrollment in Earth School. We don’t arrive here by accident. We’re handed the exact syllabus we need for growth, for awakening, for our soul’s evolution.
That’s why I meditate twice a day. The first practice is like doing a daily spiritual inventory, just as the daily inventory is done in Alcoholics Anonymous. It clears out the new samskaras I’ve picked up in the last 24 hours - resentments, fears, worries, or missteps - so they don’t calcify into deeper grooves. The second meditation goes deeper: dissolving samskaras from childhood, generational wounds, even lifetimes past. Slowly, as we do this daily, our karma shaya gets lighter, and the curriculum is taught, learned, resolved.
Liz Gilbert frames it as a question: what if even the people who wound us are playing their role in our awakening? What if their betrayal is actually an act of love, pushing us toward strength?
Yesterday, I read a reading in our weekly membership community meeting from Meditations from the Mat. When Rolf was complaining about his boss, one of his teachers and friends said to him, “Act as if you trust your God.” (I honestly wanted to get this tatooed on my body, which would be the first tattoo I’ve ever had, lol!) In other words, live today as if the curriculum you’ve been handed is not random or cruel, but intentional. Don’t wait for solutions - become part of the solution.
Both teachings point to the same truth: karma is not punishment, it’s possibility. Every samskara is a chance to choose - do we deepen the groove of fear, or carve a new path of love? Do we repeat old stories, or awaken to a fresh one?
This week, in my How to Meditate class, we’ll explore this together. We’ll look at karma, samskaras, and the karma shaya - and how twice-daily meditation clears space for growth. We’ll practice, sit in silence, and remember that Earth School is never against us. It’s always for us, if we act as if we trust the process.
🌸 Online Courses
How to Meditate Training
Three 90-minute workshops to learn the foundations of mantra meditation, inspired by the timeless wisdom of Patanjali. Together, we’ll explore how mantra works, how to handle thoughts, and how to integrate meditation into daily life.
Cohort 1
Tuesday Sept 30 – 6:00–7:30pm AWST (6:00–7:30am EST)
Wednesday Oct 1 – 7:30–9:00pm AWST (7:30–9:00am EST)
Thursday Oct 2 – 6:00–7:30pm AWST (6:00–7:30am EST)
👉 Book hereCohort 2
Saturday Oct 4, Sunday Oct 5, Monday Oct 6 – 7:00am Bali Time
Friday Oct 3, Saturday Oct 4, Sunday Oct 5 – 7:00pm EST (Toronto)
👉 Book here
After this training, participants will join a 30-day meditation challenge, and I’ll be hosting regular group meditations open to everyone who has completed the training.
Philosophy & Practice Circles
For members who have learned the practice, I’ll also be hosting 30-minute daily circles next week (I figure if I am practicing twice daily anyways, why not invite you all to join me!) There will be no check-in during these calls. Each session begins with a short reading from a yoga or spiritual philosophy text, followed by 20 minutes of mantra meditation. A space for community, contemplation, and inner stillness.
🕉️ Monday–Friday, 6:30am & 2:00pm Bali Time
🌸 Upcoming at Mindful Bali
200 Hour Yoga Teacher Trainings
NYE 2026: Dec 28, 2025 – Jan 17, 2026
Spring 2026: March 15 – April 5, 2026
Summer 2026: June 14 – July 5, 2026
Fall 2026: September 20 – October 11, 2026
300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training
July 5 – 25, 2026
Alcohol-Free Women’s Retreats
October 21 – 26, 2025
May 5 – 10, 2026
August 18 – 23, 2026
Everything at Mindful Bali can be booked here
October Membership Theme: Karma
You can join our online membership that meets weekly on Sundays at 8:30pm Bali Time (8:30am EST) (plus 20 minute meditations on Zoom Monday to Friday throughout the week at 6:30am Bali time and 2:00pm Bali Time). Heres the membership theme for October.
Session 1 (Oct 5): Karma — The Seeds We Plant
Karma means “action.” Every thought, word, and deed plants a seed that will one day ripen. In this session, we’ll explore karma as cause and effect, looking at how the choices we make ripple through our lives. After a short teaching, we’ll sit for 20 minutes of meditation to witness the seeds we are planting within.
Session 2 (Oct 12): Samskara & the Habit Loop
When an action repeats, it leaves behind an imprint called a samskara. Over time, these imprints create tendencies (vasanas) that shape our habits, personality, and destiny. This week, we’ll explore how both supportive and destructive habits shape our karma, and how meditation helps us break free from old loops. We’ll practice a 20-minute silent meditation.
Session 3 (Oct 19): The Gunas & the Color of Karma
According to yoga philosophy, all of nature is influenced by three qualities — sattva (balance), rajas (activity), and tamas (inertia). These gunas color how our karma unfolds. In this session, we’ll reflect on how our inner state influences the actions we take and the karma we create, followed by 20 minutes of silent meditation.
Session 4 (Oct 26): Beyond Karma — The Soul is Free
At the deepest level, we are not our karma. The Yoga Sutras teach that our true self (purusha) is pure awareness, untouched by action or reaction. In our final session of the month, we’ll explore how meditation helps us step back from our patterns, live with greater awareness, and connect to the part of us that is already free. We’ll then sit for 20 minutes of silent meditation.