Reading Assignment
-The Yamas & Niyamas by Deborah Adele:
Preface
Chapter One: What are the Yamas and Niyamas
Chapter Two: Ahimsa – Nonviolence
-Review the information provided in the section (also found in your training manual)

Journaling Assignment
Spend time reflecting on the yama/niyama; use the journal prompts to encourage self-exploration. (See how to journal tips below.)

Complete and Submit Review Questions
It is recommended that you use a separate document to complete your questions, and then copy/paste answers in the form provided.

 Month 1 Focus: Ahimsa
~ahimsa pratisthayam tat vaira-tyaga~
In the presence of one firmly established in nonviolence, all hostilities cease.
The Yoga Sutras 2.35

Nonviolence/Kindness – non-harming to yourself and others with your thoughts, words, actions
Be caring to yourself and others. Non-violence does not mean being neutral or not protecting yourself, but taking responsibility for your own harmful thoughts, words, and actions. When you are harmed by another, learn to stand up for yourself but let your response rise above the harmful action. Ahimsa also requires taking action when you see others being harmed.

How to Apply Ahimsa in Personal Life & Out In The World:

-Practice compassion, love, understanding, and patience in your thoughts, words and actions to yourself and others; and in the way you choose to live your life and move through the world.

-Accept yourself and others, as you and they are, with less judgment.
So what does it mean in the yoga world when you hear the phrase ‘no judgment’?
We spend our how life making judgments. There is a difference between discriminative discernment and divisive judgment. We all need to make decisions day to day from what food to eat, clothes to wear, car to buy, job to take, etc. We also might at times have to discern that a particular relationship or situation is toxic for us personally and remove ourselves from it. These types of judgments are necessary.
Making judgments about someone else’s lifestyle choices, or judgments based on how someone else looks can cause harm. Exploring how we use judgment and changing our relationship to it is the practice.
Notice when you make automatic judgments about someone or a situation. When you react to your judgments you’re only seeing your interpretation, you bring in your biases. Letting go of those judgments helps you see things as they actually are.

-Actively work to create a just world. Speak out and take action when you witness harm being done to others. Notice when your behavior is causing harm.

-Choose a life-style that produces the least amount of harm. Whether it is your choice of diet and its affect on your body, how you choose to consume materials and its affects on the earth, policies you support and how they affect society as a whole.

How to Practice Ahimsa in Class:

-Connect the concept of kindness to the body. Teach students to acknowledge when something hurts or doesn’t feel right and then to rest in child’s pose (or whatever pose works for them) without negative thoughts – non-judgment. (We establish this principle during the first child’s pose in class).

-Teach students to use their breath to determine if they are using force or being violent to their bodies. Short, choppy breaths indicates working too hard. A steady, free flowing breath indicates balance. 

-Take the focus away from how the pose looks and bring the focus to how the student feels in the pose. Try to get them to pay attention to what their body can do as opposed to how it looks in a pose or what they can’t do.

The Bhagavad Gita

‘Now, if you should not
undertake this battle,
which is in accordance
with dharma,
Then, abandoning
your own dharma,
and reputation,
you shall meet
with misfortune.’
~The Bhagavad Gita 2.33~
If Arjuna refuses to fight this righteous war, abandoning his social duty and reputation (dharma), he will certainly incur sin.
It is a sin to commit injustice, but it is a greater sin to tolerate injustice. 
If a warrior chooses to become non-violent on the battlefield, it will be dereliction of duty, and hence, classified as a sinful act. Krishna states that if Arjuna abandons his duty, considering it to be repugnant and troublesome, he will be committing a sin.

‘One absorbed in
the yoga of discernment
casts off in this world
both good and bad acts.
Therefore,
be absorbed in yoga,
for yoga is skillfulness
in action.’
~The Bhagavad Gita 2.50~
One who prudently practices the science of work without attachment, can get rid of both good and bad reactions in this life itself. Therefore, strive for Yoga, which is the art of working skillfully (in proper consciousness).
When learning of karma yoga, people often wonder that if they give up attachment to results, will their performance go down? Krishna explains that working without personal motivation does not reduce the quality of our work; instead we become even more skillful than before.

Important terms:

Dharma = one’s purpose; personal duty or moral obligation; to be in harmony with the nature of things; righteousness, duty

Adharma = to go against one’s dharma; out of harmony with the nature of things; betrayal, evil unrighteousness

Karma Yoga = path of dedicated work, while renouncing the results of our action; a selfless action with detachment from the results; actions for the greater good and welfare of the world without any regard to how we personally can benefit


Recommended Reading:

~ Bhagavad Gita commentary by Graham M. Schweig

~ Bhagavad Gita commentary by Swami Mukundananda

~ Skill In Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World by Michelle Cassandra Johnson

-Embrace Yoga’s Roots by Susanna Barkataki

TRANSCRIPT for ‘Month 1 – Ahimsa/Nonviolence’ audio lecture:

Hello! And welcome to the first month of our journey through the first two limbs of The 8 Limbed Path, the Yamas and the Niyamas.

These limbs, or guidelines, are designed to help us lead a life of fulfillment and help give us a sense of purpose. To not only be our best self, but to help us see the bigger picture – which is our practice is bigger than ourselves and it is also about contributing to the betterment of society as a whole.

The yamas and niyamas specifically help us to get along better with ourselves and others. They encourage us to examine our thoughts, habits, and behaviors. And to ask the questions: who am I really? what is my true reality? what is working in my life? what needs to shift? how am I contributing to society in a positive way?

There are five yamas and five niyamas.
This month will focus on the first yama of the first limb.

Yama, translates to ‘reining in’ or control. We go back to the chariot analogy. Think in terms of guiding a horse in the proper direction, controlling the reins. The first limb is often described as having characteristics that help us to find harmony with our external environment.
Just as a reminder, the five yamas are: nonviolence, truthfulness, nonstealing, nonexcess, and nonpossessiveness.

This month we will be focusing on the first yama, nonviolence. The Sanskrit term is Ahimsa. Ahimsa translates as non-violence or non-harming in everything we do. This means non-harming with all of our thoughts, words, and actions to all living beings – this includes human beings and all creatures living on this earth. And of course to ourselves.

We can go back to the meaning of yoga, taking control of thoughts, to understand how that is where this practice of non-harming begins. As thoughts lead to words, words lead to actions, etc. 

And yes, we certainly do not want to cause harm with words or actions. But by making it a habit to take notice of our thought pattern, we will deepen the level of our practice of non-harming and live with more compassion, understanding, and patience with ourselves and others. 

One way to do this is notice when you have thoughts of judgment. Accepting yourself and others with less judgment is essential for the practice of non-harming. Of course this does not mean we make excuses when we know we have messed up, it means we take ownership of, we do not blame others, and we do the work to do better next time. It also does not mean we never make judgments in life. It is how we use judgment. The difference between discriminative discernment and divisive judgment.
We can discern that a relationship is toxic and remove ourselves from the situation. That is a healthy, non-harming use of judgment. Judging someone by the way they look, or the lifestyle they lead is harmful.

Now with that said, what I really want to focus on with this particular yama is the too often misinterpretation of the concept.

Within the context of yoga philosophy it is reasonable to translate non-harming to mean the complete opposite of violence. However, an important point to understand is that it is does not necessarily mean passive either.

Being passive and not standing up for oneself, or allowing harm to be done to others without taking any action to stop it, in itself is a form of violence.

There’s is an Indian folktale that I like to share when I am holding teacher trainings to help demonstrate this concept. It’s called The Snake and the Villagers and It goes like this:

Once there was a snake with a rather bad attitude. The small village near where the snake lived was very fearful of this snake. You see, this snake slithered through the grass, silently, seeking its victims, and without warning would strike its prey. It was known to eat hens, dogs, and even big animals like cows. However, what was most upsetting to the villagers was that the snake was even attacking and biting their children.

The villagers wanted to be respectful towards all creatures but this snake had simply gone too far. They knew that something had to be done. The villagers gathered at the edge of the field drumming and shouting, holding sticks and stones, with their minds made up they started their search to find the snake and to kill it.

A holy man came upon this loud and angry crowd and asked, “What is this about?”

The villagers told him of the snake’s evilness and how the snake was even eating their animals and biting their children. The holy man asked, “If I make this snake stop, will you spare the snake’s life?”

The villagers argued amongst themselves. Some wanted vengeance and others were willing to let the holy man try. However, most of the villagers did not believe that the holy man would succeed and keep the snake from biting. However, reluctantly, they agreed to give the snake one chance.

The holy man entered the field and commanded the snake to come to him. And the power of the holy man caused the snake to crawl to the path and to the feet of the holy man.

“What isss it?” the snake hissed.

The holy man’s words were simple: “Enough! There is no need for this. There is plenty of food without eating the villager’s animals or biting their children.”

Now it was not so much what the holy man said but it was how he said it. There was a kindness and an authority in the holy man’s voice. The snake knew the holy man’s words to be true. The snake did not hiss a word but nodded in agreement and slithered away.

It was not long before the villagers discovered that the snake would not harm them. They were grateful that the snake no longer would bite. However, some of the villagers in their anger and hurt from what the snake had done and some in their meanness began to beat the snake with sticks and stones. Day after day the snake received more and more abuse until it could take no more and it hid underneath a large rock.

The snake hid underneath that rock, determined not to break its word to the holy man. However, the snake was very confused, and said to itself, “Why is this happening to me? I listened and followed the holy man’s words.” The snake was so fearful of leaving its hiding place it was soon dying from the villagers’ beatings and the lack of food.

One day, the weakened snake heard the footsteps of the holy man and with every bit of strength crawled out to meet him on the path. The holy man, seeing how terribly beaten and sickly the snake looked, asked, “What has happened to you?”

The snake with great effort told the story of the beatings and torment that it received from the villagers and how for days it had hidden underneath a rock to protect itself.

The holy man stood silently shaking his head. His voice was low as he said, “Oh, foolish snake, I told you not to bite but I did not say anything about hissing.”

And with this the snake understood and slithered away hissing.

I told you not to bite, but I did not say don’t hiss…
Or as I like to often say: Do No Harm, But Take No Shit!

Don’t cause harm, but certainly don’t allow yourself to be walked all over or taken advantage of.

Now this applies to not only ourselves but when we witness harm being done to others.

Up until this point I have been referencing the ancient yoga text, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Another important text is The Bhagavad Gita. 

The Bhagavad Gita translates as ‘The Song of God’, it is in the form of a poem and contains 700 shlokas, or verses, in 18 chapters.
The Gita, which is part of a larger text The Mahabharata, is dated around 200 BC and 100 CE, author unknown. Though it is only a part of this larger text, the Gita is considered one of the most important yogic texts ever to have been written.
The text itself is considered to be a map or guidebook for life; and explores the meaning of life and how to live a life of purpose.

The story itself is told as a conversation on a battlefield between a warrior prince, Arjuna, and his charioteer who turns out to be the God Krishna in human form.
Two sides of a family are preparing for battle against one another. It is a battle of dharma vs. adharma, or good vs. evil.
As the story unfolds Arjuna, who is on the side of good, is struggling with having to fight his family members.

Krishna speaks to Arjuna about the yoga of karma, or the yoga of action.
Karma yoga is a path of dedicated work, while renouncing the results of our actions. Meaning a selfless action with detachment from the results. We take these actions for the greater good and welfare of the world without any regard to how we personally can benefit.
Krishna goes on to explain that how as a warrior this is Arjuna’s dharma.

Dharma meaning his personal duty and moral obligation.
It is a warrior’s duty to protect the citizens of the country from oppression. To be righteous and uphold justice. 

One of the most famous lines in the text is when Krishna tells Arjuna: It is a sin to commit injustice, but it is a greater sin to tolerate injustice. 

So, if Arjuna chooses inaction, that in itself is a form of violence.

Now, a brief side bar here. Something to consider, from Krishna’s point of view, no one ever dies. Death refers to the soul leaving the body, but as we now understand in yoga philosophy the soul or Self is eternal and imperishable. Death destroys the human body, but the Self continues its journey. Krishna imparts this knowledge to Arjuna during their dialogue, as a reminder that in actuality he cannot really kill his family members as their soul will live on, and reiterates his responsibility as a warrior to fight for social justice.
So of course this goes back to the idea of reincarnation within yoga philosophy.

Ok, end of side bar. So, we learn from Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita that
practicing ahimsa is to actively disrupt systems of harm in an effort to to put forth an opportunity for peace.
If we remain quiet when we see harm being done to others, that in itself is a form of harm, a form of violence.
Krishna states that ‘yoga is skillfulness in action’. I just love that phrase: skillfulness in action.

There is so much more to the story of The Bhagavad Gita. It explores Jnana yoga, the yoga of knowledge; Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion; Raja yoga, which means Royal yoga and refers to the yoga of meditation from the Yoga Sutras; and of course, Karma yoga, the yoga of action.

I can only touch upon the surface. But I do hope that at the very least this is laying an understandable and solid foundation for you to build on.

OK! So in summary, the practice of the first yama, nonviolence, or in Sanskrit Ahimsa, is defined by non-harming to ourselves and all living beings with our words, thoughts, and actions. Practicing compassion, love, and patience. Accepting oneself and others with less judgment and more curiosity and understanding. It means taking responsibility when we mess up, to own our actions, commit to doing better – but doing it with compassion and understanding.
The practice of nonviolence means speaking up and taking action when we see harm being done to others and standing up for ourselves when we are being harmed.

As we move forward with this exploration, it is important to note that Ahimsa must be present while practicing all of the other yamas and niyamas. Which we will certainly address each month.

Ok so that is a wrap! I hope you enjoyed this first month’s mini lecture. I encourage you to spend time contemplating this principle in all of its different contexts. I have included tips on how to integrate the practice of non-harming both in life and on your mat practice. And a friendly reminder, as you spend time reflecting always do so with patience and compassion towards yourself.

Until next month!