The Yamas and Niyamas: Ahimsa

Since becoming a certified yoga teacher, I’ve continued to do a lot of studying. Because it is such a complicated and deep subject, much of my studying has been focused on anatomy. But recently, I’ve been feeling like I want to also continue studying yogic philosophy, both for my own personal growth, and to better communicate with my students. So I picked up a book that has been recommended by several of my yoga teachers: The Yamas and Niyamas by Deborah Adele.

The Yamas and Niyamas are the first of the 8 limbs of yoga. They are “observances” and “restraints” to cultivate in your life. Principles for living and ways to become the best version of yourself possible. Adele takes these broad, lofty concepts and makes them more understandable for our modern lives. She also breaks them into their component parts, giving a more clear plan of attack for pursuing these virtues in our lives, and assigns different aspects of them for focus each week of the month. I’ve been immediately inspired and nurtured by this book. Adele’s book is written not just to be passively read, but the way it’s written, it begs to be engaged with. It would be a great book for a book club or group of yogis.

As I am in a new place, still working on making friends and finding my yoga home here, I don’t have a group to share and discuss with, but I do have a blog. So i’m going to be blogging about my journey and experiences as I work my way through the Yamas and Niyamas with Deborah Adele.

Ahimsa

We start with Ahimsa. Ahimsa is the first principle of the first limb of yoga, so you might say it’s the most important. Ahimsa means “nonviolence.” Some take this at face value, applying it to things like not killing insects and eating a vegan diet. The first time I ever heard of Ahimsa it was explained in the words of Dorna Djenab like this:

“The essence of ahimsa is non-violence of our own heart. The violence we inflict on each other is only the outward manifestation of the war raging inside ourselves and it is only by stopping the war within that we can stop the war without. Violence is manifested in actions, in words and in thoughts.

Thoughts of guilt, shame, resentment, disappointment all have a seed of violence within them. Words like should and must are the same. When we are unable to forgive ourselves or someone else, when we carry resentment; when we expect far too much of ourselves and put the responsibility of the whole world on our shoulders; when we expect the whole world to run according to our liking we are being violent towards ourselves and the rest of the world.”

This gives “nonviolence” a much more nuanced meaning that forces us to be more thoughtful and self-scrutinizing. The perspective that “nonviolence” not only means not hitting another person with my fists, but also not thinking unkind thoughts about myself, was a game-changer for me. So, I’ve always had a complex perspective on Ahimsa.

Adele adds to this, saying

“Our capacity to be nonviolent depends on our proactive practice of courage, balance, love of self, and compassion for others”

Those four items are how she breaks down Ahimsa, giving the reader one of those items to work on each week.

Week 1: Courage

Week 1 is focused on courage. The root of violence is fear. What we know scientifically is that our brains do not know the difference between a “real” fear, e.g. a tiger coming to kill us, or a man in an alleyway with a knife, and fears of the mind — something we might call “stress” — e.g. a project deadline, or worries about our social status and acceptance. Because our biology hasn’t yet adapted to our modern lives, many of experience real health threats due to being in a constant state of stress, or fear. (See the stats on the epidemic of anxiety in our culture, particularly in the younger population).

To fight this we have to change our perception, the way we think about the things with which we engage. As Adele says,

“We need to know the difference between the fears that keep us alive and the fears that keep us from living.”

To start, we go back to Djenab, and liberate our minds of “should” and “must,” reconsidering and re-framing the things we really need to do/say/think. This allows us to move on to Adele’s assertion that

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to be afraid without being paralyzed”

Ridding ourselves of “should”s and “must”s gives us more freedom to take action despite fear. Moving through fear helps us feel our own agency and strength, gives us the confidence to confront the things that scare us, knowing that we can come out victorious, or at the very least a little wiser if worse for wear. This in turn mitigates instinctive violent action, born out of paralyzing fear.

For week 1, Adele recommends doing one thing every day that you wouldn’t normally do. She encourages the reader to work on distinguishing real fear, with simply the unfamiliar. I can’t say I did something unfamiliar every single day of week 1, but I did a few things, and my awareness was significantly heightened around fear, how much of my life is dictated by fear, and how that emotion ripples out to other around me in various ways.

How do you define Ahimsa? How do you practice non-violence in your life?