Yoga is much more than what it has been reduced to here in the West. Usually when we hear the word ‘yoga’, most people think of the physical postures or asanas. Yoga is thought of as a form of exercise, ways to bend the body. The more bendy the body is, the ‘better’ or ‘advanced’ at yoga one is.  In reality, the asanas are a very small part of yoga. Traditionally, Yoga is a spiritual path focused Self-realization, a process to connect to the Truth of who you are.  So, if you’ve connected with yoga through the asana or pose practice and have found that it’s created more changes for you than just physical benefits like feeling more calm, connected and aware…

Then read on to learn about how to start the lifestyle practice of yoga.  Making it more than just an hour class a few times a week to a way living life.

LIVING YOGA

One way of connecting to the greater benefits of yoga, and bringing them into daily life, is through the ethical practices of yoga. These are called the Yamas and Niyamas.  These practices are listed in Patanjali Yoga Sutras (PYS), which is a “how to” guide that was compiled prior to 400 CE. PYS is typically the yogic text that is referred to most often in modern yoga teacher training, though it is only one of many yogic texts.

The Yamas and Niyamas are a guide to interacting with the world in a more loving, responsible and compassionate manner.  They guide one to questioning the fear-based mindset that our minds tend to default to and recondition our reactions to be more love-based. Instead of viewing ourselves as ‘good or bad’, these principles encourage us to cultivate self-awareness, curiosity, and discernment.

The first Yama, or restraint, is Ahimsa. Himsa, literally means “to kill” and the ‘a’ makes it opposite,  non-killing.  So, Ahimsa can mean non-killing or less literally, non-violence, non-harm, or non-injure.  Most times when we think of non-violence, we think of the physical world, for example to not hit or strike someone. This is only part of Ahimsa.

Since yoga is a spiritual path, non-violence goes much deeper into the emotional and spiritual realms.  Practiced to its fullest means “entire abstinence from causing any pain or harm whatsoever to any living creature, either by thought, word, or deed. Non-injury requires a harmless mind, mouth, and hand.”  

The practice of Ahimsa is about refraining from not only words and thoughts of harm towards other beings but also ourselves.  Of course, this can be a hard thing to do, which is why it is a practice.  So, how to practice Ahimsa?

PRACTICE AHIMSA

There is a saying that ‘one can only love others as much as one loves themselves.’ I believe the heart of the practice of ahimsa or non-violence begins within. This is done by catching the negative thoughts and beliefs that we say to ourselves all throughout each day.

We are our own worst enemy.  This is addressed in the Bhagavad Gita, another well-known yoga text. BG chapter 6.5 states:

A person must elevate themselves by their own mind, not degrade themselves. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and their enemy as well. (Bhagavad-gita 6.5) Inspired by the translation from krishna.org.

It is not another person that is our true enemy but the way we think of ourselves and limit ourselves.  “I’m not ___ enough,” “I don’t deserve___,” comparing ourselves to others, thinking we are failures, consumed with self-doubt and self-judgement.

So how do we change this and lift ourselves out of this falseness and violence that we do to ourselves everyday?  Here are a few practices to start with:

1. Self-compassion.  We are human, we will make mistakes. Mistakes are an opportunity to learn, not a place to beat ourselves up.  The negative beliefs that we hold about ourselves and the world come from others. Generationally, negative beliefs get passed down from parent to child, over and over. Beliefs about not being good enough or something is wrong with us.

The Yoga Sutras were written down before 400CE and it addresses this limiting beliefs that were causing suffering back then! Our human minds have a long history of this pattern.  So, when you are aware of negative self-talk, let’s try a different tactic. Instead of beating yourself up, continuing the pattern…celebrate it! You just caught it happening. Now you can consciously decide if you want to continue to go with that thought or cultivate a more true, fact-based thought. This brings us to…

AWARENESS

2. Awareness.  We can’t change anything we aren’t aware of, so start noticing your thoughts.  When an emotion comes up ask yourself, “what thought is fueling this?”  When you have a reaction to a situation or a person, ask yourself, “why, where is this coming from?”  Own the reaction so you can become aware of the thoughts and beliefs that fuel it.

Let’s take an example of this with driving. We’ve all experienced someone cutting us off, which is annoying in the least and frightening at worst.  Let’s look at our reaction. Most likely there’s anger and with that comes cussing, yelling, and maybe the urge to speed up to confront the person who cut us off.  Before we let this take over, let’s pause and breathe.

First, have you ever cut someone else off? I know I have. I feel horrible and if I could I’d apologize but in a car you can’t.  Second, what does continuing with anger do?  Does it solve anything, change the situation?  No, it may cause us to escalate the situation and it ends up sticking with us for minutes and maybe much longer afterwards. It ends up harming us far more than the event.

Third, what is underneath anger?  Most likely either an expectation that it should never happen, even though it just did. Or with fear, thinking about the worst case scenarios of a crash getting hurt or even killed.  So, we can keep going with these reactions or we can choose something else that helps to start calm the body and mind, and allows us to move from the event rather than getting stuck in it.

DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Maybe after owning ‘I’ve done this in the past and not on purpose,’ we can start to think most likely that person did not purposely do that to us. They just realized they were in the wrong lane to exit the freeway or there is an emergency they are trying to get to. Or maybe they were on their cell phone and not fully even aware of driving.

Most likely, the best thing to do is to slow down a bit ourselves, breathe, hope they and everyone else gets to where they are going safely, and it is a reminder to us that driving can be dangerous if we aren’t fully present and aware.  For me, these thoughts help me to let go of anger, calm fear and my body reaction, and be present where I’m at and with what I’m doing.

Again, awareness is the first step of creating change, going from Himsa to Ahimsa.

3. Gratitude. Gratitude is one of the easiest ways to connect with a more loving and abundant mind state.  I use this all the time with my reactions to my husband. When he does a behavior that gets under my skin or I’m already creating a story of how he will react or not do something I asked, I now pause and remind myself of all the wonderful things he does. I remind myself what makes him a loving human being and why I’m grateful he’s in my life.  It has really helped me meet my resentments and enjoy our time together.

GRATITUDE TOWARDS MYSELF

Towards myself, when my mind starts to get stuck in worrying…and it loves to do that…reminding myself what I’m grateful for shifts the worry. I focus on what is going well and what the facts of a situation are to invite my mind to expand from the limits that worrying creates. It leaves me feeling empowered and okay where I’m at. It also reminds me of what I can and can’t control, since worrying tends to be about trying to control the future, which I can not control.

These are just a few of the many practices out there to cultivate non-violence and non-harm to ourselves and, in turn, to others.  The more compassionate we are within, the more naturally it ripples out to how you interact with the world.

Can you IMAGINE what our world would be like if all of us practiced this?! Start with yourself since that’s all you can change and have control over. This is how to create a world full of the energy of ahimsa.

Shanti.