There is clear relevance of the Yamas and Niyamas (summarised below) to all aspects of my life. They are definitely magical practices. I find in remarkable that although yoga has undergone changes in understanding, today (living in the contemporary western world) we are still doing the same practices as Patanjali, without any modifications.
Classical Ethical Guidelines
Yamas: (Behavior restraints.) Ethical guidelines for the yogi pertaining to her relationship with others in society, the outer environment, or Nature. All the yamas apply to actions, words, and thoughts.
Ahimsa (Non-harming): Loving kindness to others, not blocking or obstructing the flow of Nature, compassion, mercy, gentleness. Non-violence.
Satya (Truthfulness): Being genuine and authentic to our inner nature, having integrity, honesty, being honorable, not lying, not concealing the truth, not downplaying or exaggerating. Truthfulness.
Asteya (Non-stealing): Not taking what is not yours—money, goods, or credit. Not robbing people of their own experiences and freedom. Non-desire for another’s possessions, qualities, or status. Non-stealing.
Brahmacharya (Walking or having ethical conduct like God): Relating to another with unconditional love and integrity, without selfishness or manipulation. Practicing sexual moderation, restraining from sexual misconduct, and avoiding lustful behavior. Celibacy/chastity.
Aparigraha (Non-clinging): Non-grasping, non-receiving, non-possessiveness, voluntary simplicity, not accumulating things beyond what is necessary, non-attachment to possessions, greedlessness. Non-covetousness.
Niyamas: (Internal-restraints): Ethical guidelines for the yogi pertaining to her daily activities. Observances of one’s own physical appearance, actions, words and thoughts.
Shauca (Purity): Cleanliness, orderliness, precision, clarity, balance. Internal and external purification. Cleanliness.
Santosa (Contentment): Equanimity, peace, tranquility, acceptance of the way things are. Contentment.
Tapas (Heat): Burning desire for reunion with God expressed through self-discipline, purification, willpower, austerity, and patience. Self-mortification.
Svadhyaya (Study of the Self): Self-inquiry, mindfulness, self-study, study of the scriptures, chanting and recitation of the scriptures. Searching for the Unknown (divinity) in the Known (physical world). Scriptural Study.
Ishvara Pranidhana (Devotional offering to the Lord): Surrender to God, open-heartedness, love, “not my will, but Thy will be done,” willingness to serve the Lord. Surrender to God.
Relevance. Learning the lessons of the Yamas and Niyamas is a daily one. In particular, I have to consistently move my inner dialogue for being self-judgmental. I can get into the mental state where I draw conclusions about myself, and my self-worth from what I have achieved (at work, at home or on the mat). Ideally I should be able to honestly (Satya) acknowledge that I have not done by best (ie take responsibility), however stay present to consider and learn lessons why (but not then draw conclusions about myself for that situation).
I find that when I am slipping in manas, my internal dialogue that has nothing to do with my practice. I try to catch myself and shift my awareness to the higher end of the spectrum to buddhi. When I am able to I then gain a deeper access beyond the gross.
There is no question that on the mat, this experience provides a mirror to train myself for life when I am off the mat. It is what I take away from the mat, that is important and the value of Yoga.
I feel that awareness and adherence to certain qualities and ideas clearly have to ability to help uplift the human mind, emotions, character, psyche and personality. Each yama and each niyama will highlight a character of the human personality. If (when) I am able to develop the quality of ahimsa, ideally I will emanate compassion. If (when) I develop the quality of satya, I should will emanate love. If (when) I imbibe the quality of aparigraha, I will express simplicity and innocence. I would like to think that I will be able to work towards these Yamas and Niyamas characteristics. These characteristics are all encompassing and need to become part of my expression, understanding, actions, behaviour, attitude and life. They are not limited to when I practice or teach Yoga. Therefore, yoga is not only techniques, it is also a lifestyle.
However when reading some the literature, I doubt and question whether I wish to seek to live my life complying with the fullest extent the all of the prohibitions grouped under the heading of Yama. For example (Crowley, 1969), under the Yamas we learn that the aspiring Yogi must become 'fixed in the non-receiving of gifts,' which means that if anyone offers you a birthday present or even a drink of water, you must reject this offer. This doesn’t make sense to me today (living in the contemporary western world) as being relevant. I acknowledge nevertheless, that this probably wasn’t nonsense in the past. If you consider the class of people for whom this was relevant. This act of kindness to a native is liable to attach him to you, body and soul, for the rest of his life. In other words, it is going to upset him; and as a budding Yogi he has got to refuse it. But even the refusal is going to upset him quite a lot; and therefore he has got to become 'fixed' in refusal; that is to say, he has got to erect by means of habitual refusal a psychological barrier so strong that he can really dismiss the temptation without a quiver, or a quaver, or even a demisemiquaver of thought. However, I am not sure that these considerations do not apply to me ( in today’s western world).
There are a great many other Yamas (self-restraints) and Niyamas (fixed rules) all of which have to be examined independently in order to find whether they apply to Yoga in general, and to the particular advantage of any given student. In the interest of space and word count, I will not go through them all now. I will simply summarise that there are many lessons from the Yamas and Niyamas that I need to work through to bring into my daily life. There are different levels of knowing yoga, and in terms of Yamas and Niyamas I am in my infancy; aiming to go deeper into the practices and experiment with the changes that I feel and experience through yoga. I acknowledge that I operate principally from the lower mind and through practice clearly need to move up the ladder to seek clarity. Moreover for me, I believe that it is important not only to accept but also to be aware of emotions and thoughts not in accordance with these Yama & Niyama principles, such as anger, greed or aggression. Without this awareness, it is difficult to control these emotions. So in part my approach to incorporate the Yamas and Niyamas into my life and improve my awareness, is to consider (when operating from a higher aspect of the mind and instinct does beat me), these questions (which also help me think about the karmic consequences of my actions, behaviours, thoughts):
What possibilities are available in this situation?
How would I see myself in these possibilities and how I would feel?
What are there short and long term consequences?
What kind of consequences and changes in my live might I expect if they felt and behaved in this manner?
Which possibility is the best one?
Take action and review its effect.
The yama consist of Ahimsa - non-violence, Satya - truthfulness, Asteya - non-stealing, Aparigraha - non-desire and Brahmacharya - moderation. Niyama include the qualities of- Saucha - purification, Santosha - contentment, Tapas - discipline, Svadyaya - self study and Ishvara Pranidhana - surrender to God.
Sounds pretty basic. Let's look again. Take an inventory of the following questions.
Ahimsa - non -violence. Did you hurt anyone today? Did you possibly say something that hurt someone's feelings? Did you sit silent instead of responding to a question? Is the subtle violence any less violating than overt violence?
Satya - truthfulness. Did you tell a white lie to protect someone's feelings? Did you put on a pretense, afraid to let someone know who you really are? Do you know the edge of when speaking is better than silence?
Asteya - non-stealing. Do you feel jealous of the belongings of others? Do you show up for appointments on time? Do you honor time boundaries in your life? Do you want more than you have? Do you desire ... ?
Aparigraha - non-possessiveness. Aparigraha is not about owning possessions it is about the attitude towards belongings. Is there an area in your life you experience greed? Are you willing to let go possessions -- physical, emotional, spiritual? Can you expand to the point of witnessing ownership?
Brahmacharya - moderation. Do you moderate all sense pleasures -- eating, drinking, sleeping, dress, connection with others? Have you dropped your compulsion to seek pleasures? Can you find pleasure in the simplicity of Spirit?
Saucha - purification. Are you physically clean, neat and eat a pure diet? Are you in the process of purifying your emotions? Do you associate with company that supports a healthy mental diet? Do you include practices allowing you to be established in your "bliss" body?
Santosha - contentment. Santosha is not about being apathetic, it is living life with a passion, content and full each moment. Do you have gratitude for all you have? Do you learn and appreciate even the unpleasant experiences? Can you let go of preferences and receive life as it presents itself?
Tapas - discipline, being in the transformational fire. Do you keep your commitments, to yourself and to others? Can you disciple yourself to honor a healthy lifestyle, physically, mentally, emotionally and Spiritually? Does your breathing slow down, allowing you to breathe life, moment by moment? Have you found your self- creative consciousness?
Svadyaya - self study . Do you study the scriptures and apply them as analogy for living? Do you use your asana practice as insights for how you live your daily life? Can you be in objective self observation? Do you live in a balance with life energy?
Ishvara Pranidhana - surrender to God. Do you love God/Self? Are you willing to allow daily activities to be love manifest? Are you willing to dwell on the Beloved? Do ever feel absorbed in the Beloved?
These precepts are not unknown in other traditions. The Ten Commandments and the Ten Virtues from the Buddhist tradition represent the same concepts. We all must learn that more important than flexibility of the body, flexibility of Spirit reigns.
Do you live a life of loving kindness? Do you practice living Yama and Niyama?
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