10 Yoga Guidelines for Life
Many people think of yoga as that awesome 60 minute flow class every week at the yoga studio. But yoga is so much more. Yoga is a 5,000+ year old discipline of bringing the mind and body into harmony. The actual postures we do in our yoga studio classes have so many benefits, but most of them are less than 200 years old and they represent just one part of the yoga story.
Yoga is actually a meditative practice of self-discovery and liberation. We can move in the direction of liberation by living in alignment with the eight-limbed path, articulated in Patanjali’s yoga sutras text dating back over 2,500 years. Most notable are the social values and ethical guidelines known as the Yamas and Niyamas which include 10 important Do’s and Don’ts for how we conduct ourselves.
The Yamas: the Don’ts, the social values
1 - Non-harming (ahimsa): Non-violence toward the self and others. Non-violence in thought, word and deed are the guidelines
2 - Truthfulness (satya): Yoga teaches us to see things as they are versus how we want them to be or through the lens of our own pain and conditioning. Being truthful to yourself and others while putting kindness at the forefront of how you express your truth
3 - Non-stealing: Clearly we shouldn’t steal things but this yama tells us to also be aware of stealing someone’s time, good will or even taking ideas and information
4 - Moderating the senses: Instead of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, we can turn our attention inward, away from our senses and toward our inner landscape
5- Non-possessiveness: We should avoid holding on to things and grasping for more
The Niyamas: the Dos, the ethical guidelines
6 - Cleanliness (Saucha): also known as purification, this guides us to bring good clean choices into our minds and bodies including food, thoughts and emotions
7 - Contentment (Santosha): to realize all that we have and practice gratitude will support this guideline
8 - Self Discipline (Tapas); this focuses on the ‘burning zeal’ of your practice, the idea of being an ardent practitioner showing up to practice yoga and meditation with an energy that purifies and transforms
9 - Self Reflection (Svadhyaya): reflection and meditation are key practices to knowing the self and aligning your actions and goals with your truest values
10 - Surrender to a higher power (Ishvara Pranidhana): this practice encourages us to trust in something greater than ourselves. We are never alone and always loved
The Postures (asana) and Breathwork (pranayama), Concentration, Meditation and ultimately Enlightenment make up the rest of the story.
Most importantly, yoga is a way of being. It gives us these guidelines to liberate us from the lower qualities of human behavior. In evolving toward unconditional love toward all, the yogi, maybe, just maybe, will experience glimpses of meditative states and transcendence beyond the mind and body. To improve your yoga practice, you can begin by living according to the dos and don’ts. Enjoy your yoga class, the movement and flow but also remember that yoga is a lifestyle. Yoga is a way of being. It calls us to bring forth the very best of ourselves so that we are strong, stable, loving humans in service to our fellow humans. If we can get that right, good health, insight and joy will follow.