SATYA

Reading from Tuesday and Wednesday, January 20 and 21st yoga classes

Continuing on with the yamas.  The second yama, Satya, truthfulness

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

What is truth?  It seems we each have a personal version of truth and what it means to us.  For instance, if three people witness a car accident, each person may have a different account of the same accident.  Truth is more than just not telling lies.  The guiding principle in adhering to satya is to remove what the yogis refer to as "the veil of self-deception."  By removing this veil, satya also translates as avoidance of distortion, embellishment, or ANY fabrication of the truth. 

Look at your life.  Do you put your worries, anxieties, and fears into the things people say to you?  Or do you listen without attaching to past conversations you may have had with that person?  How truthful are you to yourself?  Do you often embellish or exaggerate? 

You may want to consider how the yamas help you formulate your daily life.   Take a look at the first yama, nonharming.  What happens when your best friend who has just spent a week shopping for the perfect dresss buys it and asks you whether you like it?  You feel the dress is not attractive on your friend.  Do you tell her this?  Our yoga philosophy suggests that if truthfulness brings more harm than good, our choice is to remain silent.    Like everything in our lives, we must weigh and balance thoughts, speech, and action in order to achieve a harmonious existence. 

Practice satya, working with honesty.  Keep honesty present in your practice.  Do you tell yourself that you can't do a pose even if you've never tried it?  Do you tell yourself that a pose doesn't cause pain when it does?

From the book, "The Yamas and Niyamas" by Deborah Adele

Carl Jung said:  'What is true at one time for us, at some point no longer serves us and eventually becomes a lie.'  He understood that truth changes over time; what was true when we were 2 years old is no longer true or even relevant when we are 17!

Can you trust yourself?  Can you risk telling yourself the truth?  Can you keep the promises you make to yourself and others? 

Truth rarely seems to ask the easier choice of us.  In the moment to moment details of our daily living, truth asks us to pay attention and to act correctly the first time. 

Truthfulness isn't safe, but it is good!!

Why do we lie?  Are we afraid to hurt someone's feelings or afraid if we told the truth we would not be liked or admired any more?  I have a friend who said: 

         ' I always show up differently with different people.  My biggest fear is that everyone I know will be in the same room at the same time and I won't know who to be."