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Understanding Yoga through Knowledge and Practice

 

 


YAMAS (SELF RESTRAINTS):

The Yamas as outlined in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras are a guide to how the practitioner interacts with their outer world. The are not 'commandments', but a road map to navigate the complexities of our relationships with ourselves, others and the world around us in order to reduce attachments and suffering and to help you lead a conscious and aware life.

Ahimsa:
Non-harming, non-violence in thought, words and speech towards yourself and others. This can also be seen as the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" but it relates more specifically to the level of awareness that one has about their own thought processes, speech, and habitual actions.

  • Asana Practice - Ahimsa in relation to the practice of asanas means that you do not push yourself beyond your limitations and respect your edges. Listen to the subtle signals from your body that you have gone far enough into a pose. Also, try not to judge yourself about how well you 'perform' the asanas.
Satya:
Truth-fullness, being honest with yourself and others, speaking your truth. This can also be seen as owning your thoughts, emotions and reactions to life. When you are faced with either speaking the truth to someone that may cause harm, temper satya with ahimsa.

  • Asana Practice - Sayta in relation to the practice of asana means that you are honest with yourself about how far you can go into a pose and still respect your body and breath. If you are in a pose and are struggling to breathe, you have gone too far and are not being truthful to yourself or in the presence of your classmates and teacher. When you find yourself acting without satya, it can be a reminder to let go of the ego.
Asteya:
Non-hoarding, non-stealing, not succumbing to feeling of jealousy, not coveting. In action, asteya can mean proper use of objects and time, letting go of material obsession, and making an honest living.

  • Asana Practice - Asteya in relation to the practice of asana means that you operate from the idea that when done correctly, the poses provide the energy required to practice them. If you tend to hold back in poses, or dissipate your energy by allowing your mind to wander, you are not practicing Asteya.
Bhramacarya:
Conservation of life-force, moderation, (some translate this as abstinence). In action, bhramacarya means exercising control over your emotional state, using your energy wisely, and making sure to save enough energy for yourself. In this time of business, many of us take care of others before taking care of ourselves. Remember what the flight attendants tell us about securing our own oxygen masks prior to helping others? Well this idea can also be applied to other areas of our lives, if we are so tired from being on top of our jobs, the errands, the family, and our friends, and we feel depleted and cranky, then we are not practicing bhramacharya.

Also, this yama can relate to over indulging in sensory pleasures such as food, drink, or sex. Moderate your enjoyment of all of these things so that the mind does not become obsessed. The goal is not to repress your desires completely, but to turn away from sense attachments so that you can feel more at peace with yourself.

  • Asana Practice - Bhramacarya in relation to asana means you should try to balance the amount of effort or tapas, with surrender in each posture. If you find yourself expending too much energy by trying to do the poses perfectly, forgetting to relax into the postures, this can be balanced by applying bhramacarya.
Aparigraha:
Greedlessness, non-possessiveness, and living simply. In modern life, aparigraha relates best to our relationship with material possessions. It seems sometimes that the more stuff we have, the more stuff we need and we can become obsessed with 'keeping up with the Jones'' or thinking that we need 'retail therapy' in order to make us happy. When our possessions begin to possess our minds in an unhealthy way, we are not practicing aparigraha. The idea is not to go completely without, but to choose wisely and not to fall prey to materialism and thinking that the objects that we own make us who we are.

  • Asana Practice - Aparigraha in the practice of asana means that you should do your own practice and not compare yourself to other students.  When you look around the room, the mind begins to compare what it perceives as your 'performance' with other students in the room. This type of judgement has no place on the yoga mat whether the comparison favors you or another.