The yama we’re focusing on today is Satya or Truth. What we usually think about this yama: I don’t usually lie about things. What this yama is all about: the imperceptible truth. Be truthful about situations. Are you really over-weight, or are you comparing yourself to an impossible image in the popular media. Are you making the most of your time orf just looking for an excuse not to attend my yoga class :)? Are you actually trying hard enough to eschew negative thoughts in favour of positive ones? Practice looking at yourself and your environment truthfully and objectively. Today look at how your days pan out. And think about something that you’d like to fit into your day such as a workout, or reading the paper…or meditating. Ask yourself if your ‘I don’t have the time’ excuse is really true. If it is, then accept this truth and live with it. You don’t have the time for a short workout, or to read a bit of the paper, or to sit quietly for 5 minutes. Period. Stop whining about these things NOW. But if you find that you can pencil in some time by waking up just 10 minutes earlier, or turning the TV off and sitting in silence before sleep – then change your life today by making time for these activities.
The first yama we’ll look at is ‘Ahimsa’ or non-violence. The person who comes to my mind when I hear ‘Ahimsa’ is Gandhi. But eons before 1947, the great sages of the Indus Valley civilization realized that a truly fulfilled individual (healthy in body as well as mind) had to consciously follow the practice of Ahimsa in their day to day life. Most of us think, well I don’t go around beating people up and have never killed (or come close to killing) anyone…so I’m good to go with this yama. But in the kind of world we live in, there is a LOT more scope for Ahimsa (believe me). Today, think about how you can go beyond the usual things such as physical violence and vegetarianism as illustrating Ahimsa. Think about your mind. Do you sometimes feel irked with yourself because you believe you are lazy/overweight/weak/under confident/unsuccessful etc? If you direct any of your energies towards putting yourself down (even if its only in your mind), then you are violating the principle of Ahimsa. Non-violence extends to the people around you, but I feel that now there is a great need to ensure that we are non-violent towards ourselves as well.
In a society which is largely consummerist in nature, do we think about Ahimsa when we buy our vegetables and clothing? If you buy your vegetables from the closest Big Bazaar, have you given a thought to whether the farmers employed to grow the vegetables are suitably compensated? Is your money going to the farmer who sweats it out to grow the produce, or is it going to the spectacled guy sitting in his AC cabin, reading data about his supply chain off of his laptop? Important disclaimer: I have no idea how Big Bazaar obtains their produce, but I do read about farmer suicides in the paper every day (and no I’m not saying Big Bazaar is responsible for it!!!). When you sit down to eat, do you think about the people who grow your food? Today, send a thought out to the faceless person who watered and watched your potatoes grow, who planted the palak and the methi, and who is fundamentally responsible for the food in your plate. Instead of thinking about the taste of the food, hope that your food is sourced with Ahimsa.
The clothes that we wear – do we think about the garment worker who sat down to stitch the buttons? At a superficial level we all know that garment factories employ a lot of little kids who should be going to school, that they don’t give adequate compensation, that there are no employee rights etc. But when you try on a shirt, do you spare a thought about the living breathing person who took a pair of scissors and ensured perfect measurements? Who perhaps accidentally jammed a needle into their thumb stitching a button on? Today, instead of looking at your clothes as disposable commodities, hope that your clothes are made with Ahimsa.
So practice these three things today: 1. Stop directing negative and critical thoughts towards yourself. 2. Before you sit down to eat, take a second to hope that it was responsibly sourced. 3. Be grateful for the clothes you’re wearing and hope that the person responsible for them is ok, wherever they are!
Yoga is a holistic practice. I keep on saying this, but I feel my voice gets muffled by lots of people peddling ‘perfect’ yoga pictures made even more perfect with the help of iphone filters. Asanas are an important part of yoga, but the …other eight steps of yoga are also mandatory for a complete practice. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to take a little time each day to practice a Yama. Traditionally, yamas (yogic principles that must be followed) were practiced and inculcated before starting the practice of asanas. Times have changed, and yoga classes now follow a different pattern. However, the yamas are easy to integrate into your regular life, you only need 5 minutes each day. Join me tomorrow for the #5daysofyama challenge. Trust me, a little bit of reflection for the next 5 days has the potential to change your life
I met Louise in Wellington, when I first started teaching yoga. After a couple of months, I held her up as an example of ‘balance’ to the class. She is in her early 40s, has two beautiful childern, a rocking career, wonderful marriage…and she still found time for her yoga, tennis, hiking, reading etc. The credit for making her life so rich and full goes to no one but Louise. After all, she could also sit back and complain that she had wanted a career/tennis/amazing body/(fill in the blank) but had to give it up because of: children are too small/husband has a transferrable and demanding job/has other familial obligations/(fill in the blank). Granted Louise comes from a culture and country different from 95% of my students, and many who are reading this are thinking “well you know in our culture (fill in all the perceived limiting factors of being a married woman with kids in India)”.
Now I have an example of an Indian woman (yes, married to a man who has a demanding and transferrable job; yes, has two 
growing children who demand/want time/attention; yes, has all the familial obligations that come with being from our culture) who reminds me of Louise. Sharmishta Vardhan has been regular in my class from Day 1. When I got to know her better, I found out that she’s a Bharatnatyam dancer. When there’s no yoga she goes for a walk. She’s an amazing swimmer and has been swimming since she was 8 years old. (Incidentally, she taught me how to swim within 10 days. I’m confident standing on my head on land, but 10 days ago I would list drowning as my biggest fear.) Here’s an Indian woman, in her 40s, married for 9 years, two crazily energetic boys (I’ve seen them in the pool), who defies the ‘Indian woman married with two kids’ convention. She reads, sometimes travels to pursue her hobbies, gets in her daily swim before heading home for dinner, cultivates her own friends circle with whom she goes for movies, exhibitions, fairs etc. You can see the results of daily yoga in her before-after.
So next time you think you don’t have time for yoga remember that there are women like Louise and Sharmishta who are busy living the lives they love, and making time for yoga as well! 🙂
Today is the last day of our gratitude challenge. Today lets take a moment to appreciate all the mistakes we’ve made in life. After all, mistakes teach you a lot about yourself and the world around you. Mistakes help you understand what you actually want in life. They take you on adventures that make you who you are. If it weren’t for mistakes we wouldn’t have so much to be grateful for!
