AHIMSA: Choosing to Live With Love & Compassion

*Disclaimer - As you begin to learn and understand each of the Yamas and Niyamas, you may begin to think that you are a “bad” person. I know this because I’ve witnessed it. Felt it. Let me remind you now that you are not. I ask that you become self aware and that you observe how you feel without judgement. When reading, notice if your judgement extends towards yourself or others. Also, please do not expect to change how you think and act overnight. With a lifetime of conditioning, it is not possible. Your journey is about you and when the time is right, you will begin to evolve, following a more pure and enlightened path. A path to freedom and peace. A path guided by love. It takes persistence, patience, and grace.

Phew! Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s begin discussing the first of the four yamas, Ahimsa. In my first blog post, What is Yoga??, I discussed the 8 limbs of yoga. The yamas and niyamas, being the first two limbs, were essentially created as a guide to help us live life more ethically. The yamas are our restraints or our attitude towards our environment.

Himsa is a Sanskrit word meaning harm or violence. Ahimsa therefore means no harm or non-violence. When hearing the word violence, we may immediately start to think the worst. Thoughts revolving around killing, sexual abuse and so forth. Although most of us wouldn’t do such awful acts of violence such as these, we still carry out harm to ourselves and others almost daily. Breaking it down further, chances are, it’s happening every few minutes. Maybe you can’t help yourself and it’s happening right now.

Recently on my social pages, I posted a challenge for a person to write down three things that they loved about themselves. I knew this would be a difficult task. It was for me when my yoga instructor had us do it before class almost two years ago. My mind went immediately to how others have complimented me. That was because l couldn’t come up with anything on my own. At that time, I’m not sure I even liked myself. If I did, it wasn’t very much. The thing is, looking back, I have been harming myself for years. In all honesty, it happens still today. Not just to myself but to others as well. Violence or harm can happen in many ways. From minor to extreme acts, to yourself and/or to others. So what are some acts of violence that you may carry out?

• Physical and mental harm

• Negative self talk

• Gossip

• Judgment

• Manipulation

• Greed

• Criticism

• Backlash

• Sarcasm

• Ignorance

These are just a few of the many we see or do. Let’s dive in. Somehow, we are never good enough. We are not tall enough or well endowed enough. Our hair isn’t short enough or long enough. We are not fit enough or skinny enough. We have too many tattoos and piercings or not enough of them. We’re over qualified or under qualified. We make too much money or not enough money. The list goes on and on. Not only do we think this way of others, we think these things about ourselves. It’s less about evolving to live our purpose and more about changing ourselves to meet societal standards. We have been conditioned to do so. This goes back generations. Decades even.

We have been told it’s ok to be violent. That if someone didn’t do the things that we didn’t like or agree with, that we can put them in their place. I’m not talking about respectfully disagreeing. It’s when the voice and facial expressions start to change. It’s thinking that this person is stupid or dumb and that we are better than them. How about this one, “I only thought it. I never said it to them.” That my friend, still counts. The words were spoken. They were spoken to yourself and put out into the Universe. Someone hurts you or makes you angry so you lash out. Maybe to them or to someone else. The violence continues.

There are exceptions. For example, when someone is in an abusive relationship or someone is being physically attacked so they finally fight back to get out of harms way. Unconditional love is not unconditional tolerance. It doesn’t mean staying in abusive relationships or cowering when you are being assaulted. Self defense can be an important piece in freedom. Sometimes, we don’t have a choice but to be violent when we need to stand up for ourselves. But before you show violence, what if you asked yourself, do I have another option? If not, then you take action. Afterwards, you recognize that your choices were limited and you did the best you could. You learn from it and you grow.

Many times we hurt others just because we ourselves are hurting. It’s like we are trying to regain control. Finding out the root of the hurt and why we act or feel that way is a good place to start in order to heal and grow. Is it fear or is it something else? Recognizing that when we hurt another person, we are also hurting ourselves. We are pure love, pure light, and pure energy.  We are all connected. So what if we started creating peace within ourselves?

Ahimsa is considered the foundation of the first two limbs of yoga and possibly the most important. The goal of yoga is peace. Freedom from whatever burdens us or hurts us. But while seeking freedom, we are to be considerate of those around us. What if we stood in love and compassion. We would then be love. In return, we could give love. The goal of ahimsa is to do no harm. Think before we act and act solely out of love and compassion for all things living.

“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” – Lao Tzu

Things to ponder:

• What does ahimsa mean to you?

• What are some things that you may say or do that hurts others? What things do you say or do that hurts yourself? What is the root cause of this pain? How may you be less reactive and more proactive?

• Harm or violence is not limited to people. Another way to do no harm is by taking care of our planet and living sustainably. What does this mean to you? How can you make a positive impact to maintain balance?

Stay tuned for the second yama, Satya - living our truth.