Ahimsa

Reading from Tuesday and Wednesday, January 14 & 15, 2015 yoga class

From the book "Guiding Yoga's Light" by Nancy Gerstein

Ahimsa refers to the practice of nonviolence.  The yogis believe that there is no higher virtue than to do no harm.  Violence isn't limited to killing or hurting another person or animal.  It can take many other forms, such as selfishness, anger, or negative words, or judgment.  The practice of ahimsa begins within.  To paraphrase an ancient Taoist proverb, "If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace between neighbors.  If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace in your heart."

Self-awareness is an important step for seeing how violence plays out in our existence, from the most subtle examples, such as self-criticism, to the most obvious manifestations, such as war.  Ahimsa in action includes the application of patience, compassion, and love.  Set your intention on inviting peace and stillness into the individual actions of the body and spirit and practice asana with ahimsa.

Be kind to yourself.  Listen to your edges.  Balance working with challenge and effort without working toward pain in your yoga poses. Smile.  Take pleasure in the pose. enjoy what the message of the pose means to your practice of nonviolence.  Ahimsa can be most challenging when we apply it to ourselves. Ahimsa comes from an awareness of action and thought.

The following is from the book "The Yamas and Niyamas" by Deborah Adele

Ahimsa, or nonviolence, literally to do “no harm,” calls forth from us our most brilliant and best self.  Our capacity to be nonviolent depends on our proactive practice of courage, balance, love of self, and compassion for others.  

Fear creates violence.  If we are to begin to address these fears, we need to know the difference between the fears that keep us alive and the fears that keep us from living.  The first kind of fear is instinctual and built in us for survival.  The second kind of fear is fear of the unfamiliar.  Most of ours fears of are things that will never happen and live only in our imagination.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to be afraid without being paralyzed.  Courage is found by facing our fears—the small ones, the fat ones, the embarrassing ones, and the really big, scary ones.   We often have to let ourselves be afraid and do it anyway.  If we keep ourselves safe, how will our courage grow?  Courage demands our best self and that is a self in balance.  Balance comes from listening to the guidance and wisdom of the inner voice.  When we are in balance, we automatically live in nonviolence.