Yamas and Niyamas

Reading from Tuesday and Wednesday, January 6 and 7, 2015 yoga classes

For the next 10 weeks, I am going to talk about the Yamas and the Niyamas, the first two limbs of yoga.  What are the Yamas and Niyamas?    The following is from a book entitled: "The Yamas and Niyamas: exploring yoga's ethical practice" by Deborah Adele.

"The Yamas and Niyamas are foundational to all yogic thought.  Yoga is a sophisticated system that extends far beyond doing yoga postures; it is literally a way of living.  Yoga is designed to bring you more and more awareness of not only your body but also your thoughts.  The teachings are a practical, step-by-step methodology that bring understanding to your experiences, while at the same time pointing the way to the next experience.  They are like a detailed map, telling you where you are and how to look for the next landmark.  The Yamas and Niyamas may be thought of guidelines, tenets, ethical disciplines, precepts, or restraints and observances.  I often think of them as jewels, because they are the rare gems of wisdom that give direction to a well-lived and joyful life. 

The first five jewels, the Yamas, a Sanskrit word which translate literally into the word "restraints" are:  nonviolence, truthfulness, nonstealing, nonexcess and nonpossessiveness. 

The last five jewels, the Niyamas, are "observances" which are: purity, contentment, self-discipline, self study and surrender. 

I have a favorite mug that sits on my desk filled with pens and pencils.  It was given to me by one of my brothers many years ago, and I still look at it daily and chuckle.  The mug says:
                                 Things to do today:
                                 1. Stop the Arms Race
                                 2. Floss
I mention the mug because not only does it keep me tuned to both the lofty ideals of my life as well as the practical components, but it also speaks to the essence of the Yamas and Niyamas.  These ten guidelines sit as both a vision of the possibilities of human existence, as well as providing the practical guidance to make skillful moment to moment choices in our daily lives. 

We all want to live well.  At the end of the day, it's not how much you have or  how much you have accomplished that counts.  What matters is how well you have participated in your own life, both the ordinary routines and the extraordinary surprises.  It's how you feel inside when you lay our head on the pillow.  Does a feeling of joy and well-being accompany you to bed?  Or does your head touch the pillow with thoughts of anger, bitterness, helplessness, frustration, self-disappointment, or whiny complaints?  Being human is a complicated thing.  We live within confusing choices and contradictions.  Gaining the skill to choose our attitude, to choose what we think, and to choose what we do, may be the grandest adventure we can take as a human being.

The result of a skillfully lived life is nothing less than joy.  Not the kind that comes when things are going our way and disappears just as quickly, but the kind that bubbles up from within.  The kind of joy that comes from our own sense of mastery in life that no matter what life brings, we are ready.  Maybe there is nothing to figure out ahead of time, there is only a life to live well, or not.  Which are you choosing for yourself?"