The Yama and Niyamas- The eight limbs of yoga

By studying yoga and its roots throughout my yoga teacher training course, I am learning so much about yoga philosophy and how it's more than just a physical practice. We must embrace the origins of yoga and see it as a 360-degree approach to how we live our lives, rather than purely postures. Not only to be respectful to all the teachers and practitioners who came before us but also to reap the full rewards of this life-changing practice. One of the easiest ways to do this is to learn about and follow the eight limbs of yoga. These are integral to yoga and provide a pathway to reach samadhi (enlightenment.) The first two limbs are Yama and Niyama, which I will discuss today. I will outline the other limbs in other blog posts to help you learn more about this beautiful practice.

Yam and Niyama are a guide to how to live a good life, it is understandable for them to come first in the pathway to samadhi as only those who live well can reach enlightenment. They are ways we can behave, as to change the world we have to start with ourselves! The Yamas and Niyamas are 5 rules each for how to live kindly. Even if you don't believe in samadhi, these are still a lovely guide on being nice and treating others and yourself well!

Yama- The 5 restraints

Ahimsa- non-violence/ non harming

The basis of ahimsa is not doing anything to hurt others, ourselves, or the world. This can be physically, mentally, or vocally. So to follow ahimsa you must not be violent towards anyone, you must not think unkind thoughts about someone and you must not say something unkind about someone- either to their face or behind their back. It is recognised that people will not be able to follow ahimsa entirely but trying as hard as you can to be kind is important.

To bring more ahimsa into your life try to be forgiving of yourself and others, treat yourself and others kindly and cultivate & spread kindness to the world. You can also do your bit to protect nature and slow down the rate of climate change.

Satya- truthfulness

Satya is described as speaking and understanding the truth. It is being honest with ourselves and other people. Satya goes much deeper than not just not lying, it is living a life that is aligned to your truth- where you are authentic. Another really important part of Satya is that you shouldn't ever say something unkind or unpleasant to others even if it is true. For example. this could be commenting on someone's appearance or how much money a person has. However, you should never say something untrue even if it is pleasant for someone else to hear. Got it? This is outlined in an ancient Hindu text called the Manusmriti that is an integral part of yoga.

If you want to practice Satya, you should not lie to other people or yourself, only say something when it is true, kind and necessary and live a life that is aligned to who you are and sticks to your values.

Asteya- non-stealing

This is the practice of not stealing anything, either physical objects or others' ideas. You should never steal anything from anyone, and there is a huge influence on asking and not stealing. It is about being grateful for what you have and let go of envy and greed.

If you want to practice Asteya you should not steal anything from anyone and respect their ideas, always ask before you take something, not take from the earth and respect nature and natural resources. You can also be grateful and appreciate what you have, without comparing yourself to others with jealousy.

Brahmacharya- integrity in relationships

Brahmacharya is often referred to as restraining from sex. However, its true meaning is going after gurus and following your teacher. This is all about learning more about the practice and getting to know yourself. Over the last 100 years, the meaning has changed from celibacy to being faithful and honest in your relationships, as the views around this topic have moved on. Now it is widely interpreted as having integrity in relationships, and only having sex with a person who you love and are close to. It is important, to be honest, and respectful to everyone around you and, of course, yourself. Brahmacharya is also used to refer to not overindulging in other parts of your life, such as with food and work.

To carry out Brahmacharya you can follow a guru/teacher that you respect and learn from their teachings, be honest and respectful in all of your relationships, eat until you are full and live in tune with your body. You can also adjust your work-life balance and make time to rest when necessary.

Aparigraha- non-possessiveness/non-hoarding

The concept of Aparigraha is not hoarding possessions and letting the number of things you have define your worth. It also encompasses the idea of not holding onto thoughts, feelings, or experiences. Non-attachment is a central part of yoga and letting go of people, emotions, possessions and social status. We use these things to define our worth and valuing ourselves in this way feeds the ego and can lead to feelings of superiority and singularity- rather than feeling united and as one. It is one of the hardest aspects to practice as we feel we need to hold onto positive experiences. Letting go of the need to cling to happiness and relaxing into the flow of life is incredibly important.

To practice Aparigraha you can focus on defining yourself by who you truly are rather than valuing yourself using external sources. Let go of possessions. people and experiences live in the present moment and stop clinging onto happiness and live life as it comes.

Niyama

Saucha- cleanliness/purity

Purity and cleanliness are physical, oral and mental. You should keep your body clean by washing regularly, brushing your teeth and wearing clean clothes. To achieve oral cleanliness you should speak kind and loving words and always be truthful (see Satya and Ahimsa). And to be mentally pure you should think pleasant and kind thoughts about others and yourself as well as practice meditation and pranayama.

To practice Saucha, you can keep yourself and your environment physically clean, eat fresh fruit and vegetables and avoid food containing toxins and try to eat anti-inflammatory food. Treat people with kindness and live a healthy lifestyle.

Santosha- contentment

Santosha is being grateful, content and satisfied with what you have and not wanting more. I was listening to a podcast episode the other day and the guest was talking about the equation for happiness being...

The experience - your expectations = total happiness

Therefore, if our expectations of life are lower and we don't expect too much we will feel happier. You should be grateful for what you have and not expect more as in the long run, this will bring maximum happiness and pleasure. That is not to say we should let people walk over us and never work hard for the life we want as we should fight for a life that brings us joy. But not being greedy and finding gratitude for what we have right now is key to feeling satisfied and content.

Try writing gratitudes, look within for happiness rather than seeking it from external sources and don't expect as much to practice Santosha.

Tapas- discipline

Tapas is about working hard, putting in the effort, pushing yourself and sticking to a routine. You should constantly be doing work, this does not mean never resting but rather doing something that is going to help you and of course, sometimes that is doing nothing. the idea of Tapas is to not waste a single day and to stick to daily routines without fail, and not making excuses. It encourages us to push our body to its limits and lean into our boundaries during our physical practice, but as always you must honour what your body can do and not push so hard that it leads to injury.

To add Tapas into your life you can stick to a daily routine, push your body by doing a challenging vinyasa class and not become lazy.

Svadhyaya- self-study

Studying yourself and learning more about who you are and what you want to achieve in your life is important on your journey to freedom and oneness. This Niyama is all about studying yourself to learn about what kind of person you are, your thoughts, your daily routine, how is your personality changing- is it for the better or worse? These are all really important things and can help us to find who we truly are. You can learn so much just from watching your thoughts and behaviour, try to come at it with no expectations and no judgment as this can make all the difference to what you find out.

To practice Svadhyaya you can watch yourself and show curiosity towards who you truly are. Maybe try yoga, meditation, pranayama and journaling as these can all help us to adventure within.

Ishwar pranidhana- surrender

Ishwar pranidhana is all about surrendering yourself and having complete faith in the universe, trusting that what is meant to be will be. This Niyama can be interpreted as surrendering to a god if you are religious, however, it also means placing complete trust in the universe. Whichever way you want to interpret it surrender yourself fully with no boundaries and fears, let yourself be completely free and go with the ebb and flow of life! Completely surrendering yourself to something bigger than you, whether that is a god, the universe, or life itself. It is about recognising that we are small beings and that the world is so much greater than us, letting go of the ego is essential to happiness and we can grow so much more when we truly surrender.

Surrender is very hard as we can feel fear, uncertainty and distrust but completely letting go is so important. Spending time in nature, especially in hilly environments often helps us to realise how the world is so much greater than us, be kind and respectful to others and the universe, deeply connect to ourselves.

I hope you enjoyed this quick guide to the first two limbs of yoga, it is so important that we learn about ad respect this part of the practice rather than just doing the physical asana. In learning, we are respecting and embracing the origins of yoga and making sure that it isn't white-washed and culturally appropriated- something we see far too often in the West. Asana (physical practice) is only an eighth of Pantanjali's eight limbs, we need to work with all of the other parts as well to achieve bliss!

Have a wonderful week,

Megan x

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