In my ongoing yoga teacher training I am now reading about yoga philosophy and I wanted to share something from a book called The Yamas and niyamas by Deborah Adele.
The first of the five yamas in the yogic ethics (or guidelines) is Ahimsa – non-violence. Exercising yoga with this in mind means that you should not do any harm on yourself when practising. Meaning be careful in your poses. Meaning do not do twists or backbends deeper than your body allows you to. You will feel when you have reached the limit, you just need to listen to your body. As always:) Exercising ahimsa in general also means finding balance, being brave and courageous, and loving yourself.
In the same way, if living according to the guideline of Ahimsa you should not push your ideas or thoughts on to someone else. It is easy to assume that you know what is good for them, or what they want. You don’t know that. 🙂 This is the same as being violent to others, trying to fix, or help, or worry about someone else on the wrong assumptions. So the best way is to not try to fix others or worry about others. Instead, if you want to do something for others, you support them if and when they ask you.
How can you live to follow the guidelines of Ahimsa? Maybe you do already? Or by reading this, you got some ideas on what to be careful with or to change in future. It may sound easy at first, but when you give it some more thought and reflection, you can see there is an opportunity for a nice and developing challenge. If you wish and if you are up for it. The choice is yours.
Wish you the best. Take Care. Namaste 🙏
Beayogawoman 