This entry was posted on Nov 14, 2024 by Charlotte Bell.
In a latest publish, I wrote in regards to 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 is named yama.
I contemplate yama to be the inspiration of the entire system. Yama means “restraint.” On this context, restraint refers to utilizing clever discrimination to think about your actions on this planet, so that you just create an moral floor from which to behave. The yamas aren’t commandments, nevertheless. They’re pointers for making a peaceable life via your actions on this planet. 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 contemplate them anew with every scenario we discover ourselves in. So, being conscious is vital. 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 via our lives.
What follows is a quite simple, very quick synopsis of the yamas. Every one is worthy of a lifetime of examine and apply. In case you’re concerned about inquiring additional, my first ebook, Aware Yoga, Aware Life: A Information for On a regular basis Apply, devotes a chapter to every yama, and consists of methods you may incorporate the yamas into asana apply. The knowledge beneath can maybe act as a springboard for additional inquiry.
The 5 Yamas
Ahimsa (Non-Harming)
If yama is the inspiration of the Eight Limbs of Yoga, then ahimsa is the inspiration of that basis. All the opposite yamas are refinements of the idea of non-harming. Ahimsa asks us to think about the potential penalties of our actions. It additionally asks us to concentrate on 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 automated.
Satya (Truthfulness)
Truthfulness is the inspiration of all our interactions on this planet. To ensure that any relationship to develop and thrive, it should be primarily based in reality. Being untruthful harms us by strengthening untruthfulness as a behavior. It harms others as a result of they will by no means really feel secure once they can’t belief our intentions, phrases or actions. Right here once more, mindfulness is vital. In an effort to acknowledge—after which act from—reality, we now have 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 isn’t supplied. This consists of materials items (cash, valuables) and in addition 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 once we share their phrases and concepts.
Brahmacharya (Clever Use of Sexuality)
Our sexual vitality is the supply of our creativity. It’s a highly effective vitality 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 vitality, particularly by folks in positions of energy, is ubiquitous in all walks of life—together with the yoga world. Like the opposite yamas, clever apply is sophisticated. Donna Farhi’s ebook, Instructing Yoga: Exploring the Trainer-Pupil Relationship, delves deeply into the teacher-student relationship, together with the apply of brahmacharya.
Aparigraha (Non-Greed)
In keeping with Buddhist apply, greed is without doubt one of the three sources of struggling. (The others are hatred and delusion.) It’s a supply of struggling as a result of it might by no means be happy; it might solely be quickly quelled. Once we get no matter it’s that we wish, we could really feel happy, no less than for some time. But it surely’s not lengthy earlier than another want arises, and leads us to pin our hopes on the subsequent object we expect we should have. Greed applies not solely to materials possessions, but additionally 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 implies that we perceive that the whole lot in our lives comes and goes. Happiness is accessible to all of us, and its potential is already inside 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
Typically it might appear overwhelming to attempt to incorporate all these ideas into your life. I counsel committing to apply one after the other. It may be useful to decide to, say, a yr training a single yama. The concentrate on one precept might 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 instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Aware Yoga, Aware Life: A Information for On a regular basis Apply and Yoga for Meditators, each printed by Rodmell Press. Her third ebook 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 folks sextet Pink Rock Rondo, whose DVD received two Emmy awards.