Ahimsa - Non-harming
I love the physical practise of Yoga but the truth is, it is just a fraction of my Yoga practice and only a small part of what it means to live a Yogic life. My goal here is to share with you a gilmpse to my personal practice as well as my take on Yoga philosophy and how it relates to the modern-day life. Read more to learn about the first and the most important of the Yamas, Ahimsa (non-harming).
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali introduces a concept of the Yamas and Niyamas, the code of ethics for Yogis. The first Yama is called Ahimsa and it can be translated as non-harming / avoiding to cause pain through thoughts, words and actions. At first, it might feel like this one is very easy to write off but if you look at it closely it is not that simple.
Non-harming the mind
Of course, most of us don’t go out of our way to cause pain to ourselves or others but nevertheless we do it all the time. For example, you know that judgy, toxic voice inside your head that says “you are not good enough”, “you are not worthy unless...”, that’s your inner bully, the critic inside your mind.
For the inner bully to take control, you need to feed it with negativity, hate and judgement. To diminish it you need to replace it with your inner best friend who is all about positivity, love, kindness and compassion. It’s like those two little figures on your shoulder, the angel and the devil. You need to choose which one to listen to. So fill your inner dialogue with words of kindness! Give yourself a break, forgive yourself and don’t judge yourself too harshly. Because the thing is, to be able to love others we first need to be able to love ourselves. So one important practice of Ahimsa is enhancing the voice of your inner best friend!
Non-harming the body
But that is not all! We need to be looking after ourselves in a more holistic way: eating healthy, sleeping enough, engaging in activities that you value as well as all the other things that are important to your wellbeing. It means listening to the body when it tells us its time to take it easy and rest. It means acting from a place of kindness and compassion rather than pushing ourselves over the limits because of the extremely high, ego-driven expectations you have set for your self.
This one applies on your Yoga mat. We all know how it feels to move too deep into a posture, it hurts. You might have even gotten yourself injured. This is the opposite of Ahimsa. When you take a Yoga class, check your ego at the door and set an intention to listen and honour your precious body. Look after it, you’ve only got one!
Non-harming others
Even though Yoga is all about internal work, self-awareness and self-care it is not about the individual. The point of doing this work (Yoga) is to become better as people so that we can be better in the way we interact with the world. An ahimsic person is someone who puts conscious effort to being kind, loving, non-judgemental and compassionate. Of course there will be times in all of our lives in which we will make a mistake, we will cause pain or suffering to others. We are human after all. When the damage is already done the way forwards is to try to look for the most ahimsic approach to right the wrong.
Non-harming the planet
The practice of Ahimsa extends not just to ourselves and other people but also to our surroundings, animals and our environment. This is why many Yogis turn to veganism. For others, Ahimsa can mean eating a healthy well-balanced diet that includes some animal-based products. For example, minimalism, recycling, reducing waste and your carbon footprint or not supporting companies that use child labour or animal testing can all be practises of Ahimsa.
To me, the most important part, however, is the Intention of non-harming. Getting educated about environmental and human rights issues and putting effort to living life in a conscious way. We are all different, and based on where we live, our genetics, our socio-economic status and our life situation we all have different resources and opportunities to participate in this practise of non-harming. That’s why the way I practise might partly differ from the way you practise it, and that is ok.
To live a more Yogic life, take a moment to think about and write down how you already practise Ahimsa and then write down what else you would like to do to incorporate Ahimsa into your daily life.
Thanks for reading this post and let me know your thoughts and ideas below!
S x