The yamas and niyamas are two of the eight limbs of yoga, as described in my post “What is Yoga”. They are therefore an essential aspect of a complete yoga practice. Although they can be integrated as you practice yoga postures, they are truly practices to integrate into your daily life. The yamas and niyamas give us a framework for a way of living; They provide guidance on how to be in relationship to other beings , the earth, and ourselves. We can think of the yamas as the practices which cultivate a healthy external environment, and niyamas as practices to cultivate a healthy internal environment ; though in truth both are instructive about actions and mental states which are beneficial to the individual and society. As we go through life our experiences shape us to react in habitual ways, and many of these habits may not be very useful. Studying the yamas and niyamas helps us to identify habitual and often reactive behaviors and thoughts we have developed, and guides us to respond in ways which encourage harmony in ourselves and in the world.
We should remember that these are practices, and it can take time to create new habits to replace those which were conditioned through our personal experiences. Just like all aspects of your yoga practice, you come with imperfections to the practice, you begin where you are, and you continue coming into greater alignment each day.
It is helpful to think of doing these practices as you think of a meditation practice. Some days it is hard to sit and meditate, the mind is very busy. Some days the yamas and niyamas are also harder, it is perhaps harder to be compassionate (the first yama) for example, when you are having a stressful day. Sometimes when you meditate your mind wanders a lot, you cannot seem to concentrate on the chosen object of focus (e.g. the breath). Similarly, one moment you are behaving in alignment with the yamas and niyamas, then suddenly something happens which provokes some reaction in you which is unaligned with these principles. The solution with a wandering mind in meditation, and unaligned behaviors are the same, simply notice and bring yourself back to the focus, back into alignment. There is no need to judge yourself for your habitual responses, you have them due to conditioning from experiences, just as everyone else. Let them arise, be curious about them, and gently shift your behavior and thoughts into alignment with the yamas and niyamas,it is a practice to do everyday, over and over again.
Yamas: Recognizing and Honoring the Divine in All.
Ahimsa -Non-Violence/Compassion: Ahimsa not only means to avoid harming others, but also to treat others with compassion. We should try to understand the world through the eyes of others, to try to imagine what circumstances they may have lived differently from our own to bring them where they are today, to behave, think, and feel as they do. Compassion is different from empathy which involves feeling sorry for someone. Compassion rather puts us on the same level, we realize we are just like that person, only our social context/environment made our differences. In other words, had I experienced what they experienced, I too would behave, think, and feel the same.To generate compassion we can also imagine people as our own grandmother (or other family member you cherish); we are often selective with our compassion, but we can use that selectivity and expand it to others. Instead of judging and competing with others, we should aim to elevate others. This yama helps us confront our fears, because all acts of aggression are out of fear, and the illusion that we are separate. We should also practice kindness and compassion for ourselves, become aware of your internal dialogue. For some it is challenging to generate love towards the self, and to generate love for “enemies” even harder. We might begin by simply being curious to understand others and ourselves, this understanding is the root of compassion.
Satya - Truth: This yama is about living in complete honesty with others and yourself. When we lie or manipulate, through actions, words, or self deceptive thoughts, we miss the opportunity to be authentic. When we are not authentic we become disconnected, and this is the ultimate harm we can do to ourselves and to our relationships, with others and the divine. When we think, speak, and act in alignment with our truth, we accept and honor ourselves. When we have the integrity to stand for what we believe, practice these beliefs and take responsibility for our mistakes we come into greater alignment. Truth can be difficult, but truth purifies and frees ourselves and others. Lies, manipulation, spreading false ideas, speaking insults, are toxins which inhibit the evolution of your authentic self, authentic relationships, and therefore block spiritual development. Truth takes you directly to the divine.
Asteya - Non-Stealing: We should not take or desire to have that which does not belong to us. Instead we can trust we have what we need, become resourceful, creative to achieve that which we would like and learn to live with and value what we have. We must see what we have, is that which is meant to be ours right now. We have all we need to serve our evolution now. We receive what we are prepared to receive. When we desire that which we do not have, we are living under the ignorant belief that we are somehow incomplete and lacking.
Brahmacharya-Non-Excess: This yama is often attached to the concept of sexuality, and is often thought to mean celibacy, this is not accurate. Brahmacharya more broadly refers to acting consciously over impulse, and applies to all of our interactions with people, activities, and substances. When we are conscious of our emotions and know how to manage our energy we are strong, creative and productive, but when we are living unconscious of our emotions and unable to manage them our impulses rule us and diminish our vital energy. Brahmacharya really translates to “living in reality” , we often attempt to escape reality, avoid our unconscious suffering by excessive or inappropriate use of substances, or other people. Brahmacharya is not about prohibition of actions, but rather conscious action over unconscious action. You can eat chocolate cake, you can have sex, nothing is being prohibited by this yama. This yama simply asks that you do not use these things to escape reality, to escape emotions, to silence a deeper need in the unconscious. We might begin by very consciously doing every action, being sure our awareness is with us at all moments, to savor and honor all as sacred. Any behavior can be sacred or a compulsive/addictive behavior, it simply depends on the level of awareness with which you engage in it. It is important to treat bad habits with kindness, trying to push them away through prohibition only makes it worse. The key is to first become conscious if you are not treating the action, or substance in a sacred way. If observing it and trying to change it doesn’t change it, realize that there is something deeper happening in your unconscious leading to this, and as you continue working the 8 limbs of yoga elevating your consciousness you will release the control these impulses have over you.
Aparigraha- Non- Attachment: This yama teaches us to allow the natural ebb and flow of life, respecting the cycle of life and death in everything, the nature of change. We must learn not to grasp things, people, money, or ideas. Constantly making space for that which needs to come in, by not holding what needs to go out. It does not mean we should not feel hurt at losses, we can both grieve and let go, in fact this is completely necessary in the process to let go. In the end, however, we must recognize that everything is as it should be and we do not need to cling at that which is not. Grieve, be angry, be happy, love, allow the full spectrum of emotions, but don’t hold anything as if it should be so forever. As Buddha explains, the only certainty is there is no certainty, the only constant is change.
Niyamas: Recognizing and honoring the divine within.
Saucha- Purity: This niyama refers to cleaning both the physical body (externally and internally), and cleaning the mind by caring for our thoughts. We clean the physical body externally by maintaining proper hygiene, and internally through the practice of practicing asanas ( postures) and eating the right foods to keep digestion optimal, removing accumulated toxins from the body daily. On a mental level, we clean our thoughts through present awareness, meditation, and importantly through purity of thoughts. Keeping thoughts pure means seeing reality as it is and not imposing filters on it. It is quite normal and completely acceptable that what we observe is filtered by our previous experiences, but practicing purity means you constantly recognize the stories and come back to focus on reality. A helpful practice can be the “don’t know practice” ,when we are worrying about possible stories or outcomes we can simply say “don’t know” and it is a powerful way to immediately drop stories and come back present in reality.
Santosha- Contentment: Here we are asked to practice being satisfied with what our reality is. When we can acknowledge we have what we need, and express gratitude, this is Santosha. It is normal to feel sometimes we are missing something, or we want something else for ourselves or wish our partner would behave some other way, or our boss wasn’t such a way. Practicing contentment means we gently come back to what we value about ourselves, our work, our partner, and choose to keep that as the focus. This does not mean that you should never decide to make changes, but as long as you are still in the job you are in (for example) there must be something you value about it (even if it is only the money). Similarly with a partner you may feel frustrated, but ask yourself if in the end the frustrations are worth giving up that person, if they are not, you are better to focus on the positive things you see in them, you are with them for some qualities you do like. In cases where there is abuse in intimate relationships, or the workplace, seek help from a professional and make a plan to get away. Let us be clear that santosha is not speaking about accepting a situation of abuse; in this situation you could be grateful for your courage and the professionals who can help you break out of a toxic environment.
Tapas- Self Discipline/Commitment: Dedication to your own divinity, a commitment to the practice of all yamas and niyamas, and to all 8 branches of yoga. Tapas is a commitment to serving the divine (within you) over your own ego. . Tapas asks us to stay in integrity with our values when it is hard to do so. Tapas translates as fire and it is that which burns karma, karma is burnt when we do not sway from our truth. We do all of this work for serving our greater purpose, ignoring the selfish desires of the ego, we practice for the practice without searching for the fruits of our labor. Tapas is steadfastness in our daily practice.
Svadhyaya - “study conducive to self knowledge”- This refers to study of the scriptures (e.g. the sutras, bhagavadgita) and reflection on the application of these teachings in our life. The study, and reflection of the niyamas and yamas in your life is an example of this. The study of the scriptures also nourishes and elevates the mind. However, svadhyaya, does not only refer to the theoretical study of the scriptures but importantly as a means for self reflection. You can now for example practice svadhyaya by observing when you are aligned with the yamas and niyamas, when you drift from them and how you can gently bring yourself back into alignment with them.
Isvara Pranidhana- Surrender: We are called to: Let go of the life you thought was for you and make room for the one that is waiting for you. We let go of the need to control and accept the life being gifted to us. Our ego believes it knows what is best for us, and it suffers to control the outcomes. Accepting what life has planned for us is the practice of Isvara Pranidhana. We say to the divine “you choose, I am yours”. We devote our life to a higher purpose, instead of the desires of the ego. When we surrender to life, to the divine, we are in peace and we are transformed.
Niyamas and Yamas on and off the yoga mat.
Daily we can practice and reflect on the yamas and niyamas. We can, for example, practice being more compassionate, more honest, and more content. We can implement formal practices to do so as well, for example keeping a gratitude journal, and listing 3 things a day we are grateful for, a santosha-contentment practice. When we eat , we can practice brahmacharya -non-excess, and really focus on what we are eating mindfully, savoring each bite. When we are worried we can try saying “don’t know” more often to practice saucha- purity of mind. We can also begin a daily yoga asana (postures) to build our commitment-tapas practice.
Within our yoga asana practice we can also practice the yamas and niyamas. We practice satya when we are honest about our capacities, neither going too far in postures nor holding back where we can go deeper. We practice ahimsa when our ego relaxes, accepting where you are in your practice, that and it is completely okay if your posture doesn’t look like the teachers, you stop the violent chatter towards yourself and build compassion. When you are present with your practice you are practicing saucha-purity. You practice santosha-contentment when you enjoy the practice. When you let go of what your practice should be and simply allow the process of evolution to happen in its time in its way, this is the practice of aparigraha-non-attachment and ishvara pranidhana-surrender. Committment to practice-tapas is when you come back everyday, even the hard days, you just keep practicing.
The yamas and niyamas are an essential foundation for yoga. Practice them daily both on and off your yoga mat.
“Do your practice and all is coming”- P.Jois.
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