build presence, seek truth
 

The great debate: Is REAL yoga ethics first?

Hey. I’m standing on my head at the beach. Is this yoga? (um, this actually felt great)

Images of supple (usually) women doing seemingly impossible yoga poses in pristine environments with accompanying inspirational quotes are rampant. You’ve seen them. I’ve created them. They might make you feel motivated, or they might induce eye rolling. Regardless, yoga often begins in the physical (“asana”) practice. But yoga (or the experience of a mind-body-soul union) really happens at deeper layers of self-awareness and outward action.

The problem with bendy-ness

Don’t get me wrong. The discipline and mental focus it takes to work up to challenging poses in a safe way is a key part of the practice. But the way poses look and what challenging actually means varies so widely between people and body types. When people find out I teach yoga, sometimes they say, “Oh, I could never do that. I’m so inflexible!” News flash: it doesn’t matter. A well-rounded practice slowly builds your strength, flexibility, and mobility. A good teacher meets you where you are, and does not try to turn you into Gumby, because that’s not the point. And, too much flexibility can spell trouble for the health and longevity of your joints.

Eka pada equality pose. Just pretending to be the Statue of Liberty. Really, it’s not that serious.

 Please, I’m not into dogma

I just want to open up my tight hamstrings because I’m a runner, and not be told how to live, you might say. I get that. As a yoga teacher, I’m just happy that people show up to class and want to move. They might not be into a side of philosophy with their triangle pose. We all come to yoga for different reasons. But if you stay open, in spite of the resistance, you may find something valuable. Leave the rest.

 Yoga philosophy basics: The yamas

The full experience of yoga is known as the eight-fold path as defined in the classical yoga text, the Yoga Sutras. The yamas is the first step on that path, and can be understood as ethical guidelines that apply to your relationship with yourself and to the outer world.

The yamas (five in total), listed below, are open to interpretation and approach:

  • Ahimsa is the practice of non-violence to self and others. Violence can be physical, mental or emotional. It can come in the form of negative self-talk or in reaction to events in the outside world. Often times, when we start to notice how we speak to ourselves or others, we will begin to see how we use words as weapons.
  • Satya, or truthfulness, teaches us to live from authenticity, and speak our truth as long as it is not in a way that is harmful to others. It is not permission to say exactly what you’re thinking but rather encourages us to take a mindful, honest approach in our lives.
  • Asteya, or non-stealing, is the idea that we should not take what is not freely given to us. It may come in the form of not taking what is not ours or not taking more than we need.
  • Brahmacharya, or continence, is often the one that induces panic. It could be interpreted as the need to abstain from sex. But I’m guessing if you’re reading this, you don’t plan to move to a cave anytime soon. Another approach is to look at it through a lens of non-excess. This yama encourages us when we are ready to move away from addictions and toward a more balanced relationship with ourselves and the outer world.
  • Aparigraha, or non-coveting, teaches us not to cling to possessions or even to things that we once were (e.g. young). Material goods do not define us. This yama encourages us to be content with and grateful for what we have.

How to bring the yamas into your daily life

It’s not easy to work on all of these at the same time. Choose one, read more about it (I’ll be sharing more in the future), and start to notice how it shows up in your day-to-day life for a defined period of time. You do not need to “act perfectly.”  We all make mistakes. Sometimes we take a few steps back; I know I do. This is also not meant to induce anxiety because you had a bad experience with some dogmatic system in the past. It’s not that serious, and we don’t need to be that rigid. The idea here is to help you be the best version of yourself, and the yamas are one set of tools to help with this.

 Upcoming: Follow @themindfulrebels for some ideas on how to practice.