This entry was posted on Nov 14, 2024 by Charlotte Bell.
In a latest publish, I wrote concerning the Eight Limbs of Yoga. The Eight Limbs are a framework for training all elements of the system of yoga. The primary of those limbs known as yama.
I take into account yama to be the muse of the entire system. Yama means “restraint.” On this context, restraint refers to utilizing smart discrimination to think about your actions on the earth, so that you just create an moral floor from which to behave. The yamas will not be commandments, nonetheless. They’re tips for making a peaceable life by your actions on the earth. The yamas ask us to think about whether or not the actions we want to undertake are more likely to trigger hurt or to result in happiness—for ourselves and others.
Like all of the limbs of yoga, yama is a apply that we refine as we evolve in our lives. Making use of the ideas of the yamas in our lives requires that we take into account them anew with every scenario we discover ourselves in. So, being conscious is essential. The truth that there are not any hard-and-fast guidelines makes the apply dynamic, and permits us to deepen our understanding as we transfer by our lives.
What follows is a quite simple, very quick synopsis of the yamas. Each is worthy of a lifetime of research and apply. In case you’re fascinated by inquiring additional, my first guide, Conscious Yoga, Conscious Life: A Information for On a regular basis Observe, devotes a chapter to every yama, and contains methods you’ll be able to incorporate the yamas into asana apply. The data under can maybe act as a springboard for additional inquiry.
The 5 Yamas
Ahimsa (Non-Harming)
If yama is the muse of the Eight Limbs of Yoga, then ahimsa is the muse of that basis. All the opposite yamas are refinements of the idea of non-harming. Ahimsa asks us to think about the doable penalties of our actions. It additionally asks us to pay attention to our intentions. Alistair Shearer defines ahimsa as “dynamic peacefulness.” I like this fashion of describing it, as a result of means we’re not merely avoiding inflicting hurt. We’re deliberately cultivating a peaceable manner of being, in order that over time, performing with kindness and care turns into computerized.
Satya (Truthfulness)
Truthfulness is the muse of all our interactions on the earth. To ensure that any relationship to develop and thrive, it should be based mostly in reality. Being untruthful harms us by strengthening untruthfulness as a behavior. It harms others as a result of they’ll by no means really feel protected after they can’t belief our intentions, phrases or actions. Right here once more, mindfulness is essential. To be able to acknowledge—after which act from—reality, we’ve to know what’s true within the first place. We do that by wanting deeply at our beliefs, habits and motivations.
Asteya (Non-Stealing)
Asteya asks us to chorus from taking what shouldn’t be supplied. This contains materials items (cash, valuables) and likewise mental property. So we don’t “assist ourselves” to others’ possessions if we aren’t invited to take action. In the identical vein, asteya guides us to ask permission and to credit score others after we share their phrases and concepts.
Brahmacharya (Clever Use of Sexuality)
Our sexual power is the supply of our creativity. It’s a highly effective power that has nice potential to result in happiness, or to trigger hurt if we misuse it. Sexual encounters should all the time be consensual, and should not be employed merely for our personal self-aggrandizement. The misuse of this power, particularly by individuals in positions of energy, is ubiquitous in all walks of life—together with the yoga world. Like the opposite yamas, smart apply is difficult. Donna Farhi’s guide, Educating Yoga: Exploring the Trainer-Pupil Relationship, delves deeply into the teacher-student relationship, together with the apply of brahmacharya.
Aparigraha (Non-Greed)
Based on Buddhist apply, greed is among the three sources of struggling. (The others are hatred and delusion.) It’s a supply of struggling as a result of it might probably by no means be glad; it might probably solely be quickly quelled. Once we get no matter it’s that we wish, we might really feel glad, no less than for some time. But it surely’s not lengthy earlier than another need arises, and leads us to pin our hopes on the subsequent object we predict we will need to have. Greed applies not solely to materials possessions, but in addition to relationships, experiences and the necessity for consideration. The true sources of happiness is contentment, gratitude and appreciation for our lives as they’re. This doesn’t imply we shouldn’t attempt to attain our aspirations. It merely signifies that we perceive that all the things in our lives comes and goes. Happiness is obtainable to all of us, and its potential is already within us. The antidote to greed is to apply generosity. Once we domesticate a behavior of giving, we perceive extra deeply the enjoyment of letting go.
Straightforward Does It
Generally it might probably appear overwhelming to attempt to incorporate all these ideas into your life. I counsel committing to apply one by one. It may be useful to decide to, say, a 12 months training a single yama. The deal with one precept may help you incorporate it into your life extra simply. Resolve which of the yamas resonates most deeply for you. Then start to use it to the alternatives you make in your life.
About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and commenced educating in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Conscious Yoga, Conscious Life: A Information for On a regular basis Observe and Yoga for Meditators, each printed by Rodmell Press. Her third guide is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and people sextet Purple Rock Rondo, whose DVD gained two Emmy awards.
