Yama Tradition
Last week I introduced the concept of Yoga, how I strive to embody Yoga both in my life and in my practice, and my intention to continue to delve deeper into the concepts of yoga for the next few weeks in blogs and social media.
We will be following our yogic pursuits through the lens of Patangli’s Eight Limbs of Yoga. The First limb is the Yamas. The Yamas are essentially a list of 5 things that you do not want to be doing, or restraints. Each one of these focuses on a persons behaviour and how to conduct oneself. They could easily each be their own blog post, as they take up such a huge realm of personal work and development. For the sake of time I will say that if you have questions about any of these individual topics to reach out to me and let me know. I love a good philosophical conversation anytime. Each of these 5 restraints can be observed in the most literal sense but I will propose thought provoking questions just to begin to get the wheels turning in your own relationship to the Yamas.
Ahimsa - Nonviolence. This includes both to others and ourselves, and in thought and deed. Your dark thoughts towards others and self are dark looming beings. When we give something our thoughts we give it our power. Make sure you are using your thoughts and actions for cultivating safe spaces for yourself and others.
Asteya - Non Stealing. I am sure most us know that stealing is a general no-no. But have you ever thought how you steal someone’s time when you make them wait? Have you ever thought about how you steal someones power when you cut them off mid thought? It is important to sit down and think about all the different kinds of stealing that can exist.
Satya - Truthfulness. Again we know, in our heart of hearts that lying never leads to anything good and the secret itself can eat us alive. However are you aware of the way in which the brain protects itself with our detrimental thought patterns? When in moments of frustration or anger do do you ask yourself if your perception of the situation is the whole truth of the situation?
Aparigraha - Non Possessiveness. This could be thought of in terms of greed. Beyond that have you noticed that the harder you try to hold onto something the further it just seems to degrade? When we become rigid with our possessions and beliefs we cut our selves off from the world and our own personal destiny.
Brahmacharya - Non Excess. This in the traditional sense speaks of celibacy, which if you have committed your life to a spiritual path and choosen this, then more power to ya. However for the rest of us working a 9-5 (in the Kripalu tradition we would be known as house holders) we can think about this in terms only taking what we need. This could be in relationship to the things you use, using glass v.s. plastic, turning off the lights when your not home, reducing reusing and recycling, and in general only buying things you need.
If any of these topics really speaks to you and you want to explore it further please reach out. It may be that one of these restraints or paths is the beginning of your life’s work of finding your Mindful Tradition.
