Video blog: The first Yama that we'll take a look at is Ahimsa.
Non-Violence
Ahimsa is translated as non-violence, and typically when you see the letter "A" in Sanskrit, it is a negation of the rest of the word. So in this case, the word "himsa" in Sanskrit is translated as violence, and therefore Ahimsa is translated as non-violence or non-harming.
Non-Harming
In other words, Ahimsa means not causing any physical, mental, or emotional harm to our Self and to others. This might seem fairly obvious, and to the extent that we're not causing harm directly to ourselves or harm to our neighbors, it will probably keep us out of trouble! But considering this in the scope of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the eight limbed Ashtanga model, the eight limbs intend to create an environment that is peaceful, harmonious, and conducive to a deep state of meditation, and finally a deep state of absorption into the Self (the capital S Self).
So Ahimsa is a really nice starting point and there are some areas of Ahimsa that have a more expansive definition than it may seem on a surface level. Considering the capital "S" Self here, this definition includes all living beings, including plants, and animals, as well as our overall environment.
Ahimsa in Food
Ahimsa is one of the tenets which lead a lot of yogis toward vegetarianism. Now I'm not necessarily giving any dietary advice in this blog post! In fact, I know quite a few people who have tried vegetarianism for moral and ethical reasons, as well as the environmental impact and they actually found that vegetarianism wasn't quite right for their constitution. They mentioned how they felt low in energy and vitality, so in a sense, they could make a case that vegetarianism for their specific makeup was actually creating harm for themselves in that they were not getting the nutrition that they needed. Again, I'm not giving any specific dietary advice, and I don't want to share too much discourse about my own beliefs around vegetarianism and the impact on our environment and animals but this is more to pose this as a question or a point of reflection. I think that's the case with all of the Yamas and Niyamas, and many other concepts from yoga philosophy; instead of giving a dogmatic list of what to do and what not to do, it's more about framing the right questions to ask for each individual's situation and needs.
Ahimsa On & Off the Yoga Mat
The moral and ethical principles of the Yamas and Niyamas have so much application in day-to-day life, and likewise, they also show up on the Yoga mat in a physical sense. The Yoga mat is a fantastic laboratory for discovering certain qualities about ourselves that also tend to come up as we engage in the world off the Yoga mat.
In the case of Ahimsa and non-harming, this can come up quite often in an Asana practice. An example of this might be when you find yourself going deeper and deeper into a pose which can go from a feeling of sensation, to discomfort, and perhaps finally into pain. Practicing Ahimsa might mean backing off that pose a little bit, particularly backing out of pain and returning back into the space of sensation (and/or possibly some discomfort).
But with that said, it's worth considering if there's always a tendency to always back off in every pose to avoid any discomfort whatsoever. Are you finding the balance of surrender alongside building strength, capacity, and resilience through your practice? What would happen if we never challenged ourselves to develop the capacity and resilience to handle some discomfort? And how would this translate off the Yoga mat where we face challenges in day-to-day life? What if we never prepared ourselves for challenging situations? How does this translate to non-violence or non-harming in the bigger picture?
The Golden Rule & Your Inner Voice
Included in Ahimsa is the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and do unto yourself as you would for others. Now I think the second part of this statement is so important here because it's worth considering our inner voice.
Consider whether you show up for yourself in the same way that you would show up for your best friend. An example might be if a best friend comes to you and says "Oh man! I just bombed this thing at work and I just feel awful about myself!" As a good friend, you would probably offer some words of encouragement and help them feel better. But if this same situation happened to yourself, how do you show up for yourself? What would your inner voice say? This is often when we can have negative self-talk. So considering the question of whether we show up for ourselves in the same way that we show up for our best friend is creating this inner landscape of non-violence. Can we instead show up as our own best friend?
In an earlier blog post about Karma, I mentioned a concept called Vasana (the essence or imprints we're left with from our thoughts and actions) and whether the things we carry lead to bondage or liberation. To the extent we're kind and compassionate toward ourselves will affect our Vasana, and allow us to travel a bit lighter.
Ahimsa in Self-Study
Lastly, Ahimsa is a really nice starting point before looking into the next set of Yamas and Niyamas because as we start to look closer at various qualities and aspects of ourselves, they might uncover areas where we notice we're not exactly perfect. We're human beings, right? We're perfectly imperfect. So to the extent that we're kind compassionate and patient with ourselves as we engage in any kind of self-study or self-work, I think this attitude of kindness toward ourselves creates the right environment to be able to look at these different dimensions of ourselves with honesty and sincerity. Only when we look at ourselves through this lens can we truly use these tools to help bring ourselves into alignment with personal truth, connection, and the deepest essence of Self.
About the Author:
 Jason Wright
Jason has been an educator for over 20 years and is passionate about the wisdom and transformational power of Yoga. As a lifelong learner himself, he has completed trainings all over the world including 18 months of full-time Yoga studies in college. Jason facilitates 200hr Yoga Teacher Trainings in Sydney, Australia, specializing in Yoga history and philosophy.
If you would like to learn more, Jason has published several online courses about Yoga Philosophy which can be found at www.flowcollectiveyoga.com/courses
Topics like this, as well as the other Yamas and Niyamas from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are explored in more depth in the course Yoga's Code of Morals and Ethics.
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