Interesting question: how can dedicating or offering my practice to someone or something else help that other person?
If you believe in a purely Newtonian world, it probably can't. I am here and that person is over there, so how can what I do affect that person way over there? However, the universe is much stranger and more wonderful than Newton ever imagined. Let's try to look at some possible models that may explain how this could work.
First - there is the time honoured practice of prayer. Orange Blossom, you say that you consider yourself a compassionate person - have you ever prayed for someone else? If so, why? How could you affect that other person simply by thinking of him or her? And yet, prayer is a powerful practice in all the wisdom traditions and there are many anecdotal stories of how useful it is. Is there any scientific proof that prayer works? Well, curiously enough, there are some studies that show praying for someone can affect him, but not always in the way we intend.
[One 2006 study looked at whether having a group of people pray for someone who is sick would really help that person: they looked at cases where the people who were sick knew and cases where the patients didn't know that they were being prayed for. Those that knew they were getting prayers sent their way actually were worse those those who didn't know. Those who didn't know but were prayed for, did no better than a group who were not prayed for.]
Think of any of the recent horrific calamities: the earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan or Indonesia where 10,000s of people died. Did you think about them, wish them well in your heart or in any other way pray for them? Why?
In the Buddhist tradition monks and nuns will spend many hours practicing Metta Meditations - sending loving kindness to others. Anne Cushman has written well about this and you may want to read her article on how you can invoke
metta in your yoga practice.
Secondly, let's think about a possible (but I am not saying plausible) model that could explain how we can affect someone far away from us. Through a mysterious process called quantum entanglement, two photons can be connected across distances as wide as the universe, and yet when something is done to one photon, the other photon instantly reacts as well. There is no Newtonian way to explain this, but it has been proven to occur. Maybe we are all entangled in some mysterious way that has not yet been discovered. Many people believe they have experienced this spooky action at a distance.
Thirdly: even if you can't convince yourself that you are truly affecting someone else, you are affecting yourself. That may not be your intent, and if it was your intent, it may cancel out your dedication because you are now no longer offering the gifts of the practice to someone else, but in a sly, sneaky way, offering them back to yourself. But! Scientist studying the brains of the above mentioned Buddhist metta mediators have seen distinct differences in their brains compared to non-metta meditators. These people are truly happier than the average person.
Finally: like the Buddha once said - "put no head above your own". Try it and see for yourself! See if offering the benefits to someone else makes a difference, both in your own practice and life and in the other person's life. As long as you see any positive difference, it is all good. And perhaps, even if you only improve your own life, that alone will touch many other people positively as well.
Cheers
Bernie
