Non-Violence
Non-Harming
The first of the five Yamas (observances) is central to the others. They all hinge on our capacity to live without animosity toward anyone or anything, to transform our adversarial nature. This is no small feat.
It is said in the texts that to the one who lives AHIMSA even the wild animals are friends.
It requires a powerful willingness to self-observe to find the obvious and subtle ways in which we intentionally or unintentionally do harm to self and others. Such observation will cast awareness toward intentions, thoughts, feelings, and behaviours as they arise, as they escalate or at the consequences that arise as they move outward from us.
Each time we facilitate a yoga teacher training we explore the subject of the Yamas and Niyamas. It always leads to lively enthusiastic discussion. People live often unaware of the subtle ways harmfulness lives within us. Even more astonishing is the degree to which we remain complicit in harming through the many ways in which our societies and nations do harm.
A few years ago, as part of this study within a Yoga Teacher Training conducted in Gujarat, India we decided to hold a debate on the subject. The students within the course presented the debate to the entire school body of the resident Sanskrit school and all the resident community.
The debate was themed “Is it possible to live AHIMSA while living and participating in today’s societies.” One team argued for ‘Yes we can’ the other against ‘No we can’t’. The arguments were well thought out, penetrating in observation and the result was a draw. Ultimately, it became obvious it was up to each and every individual and their effort within a society to evolve their community beyond harmfulness.
At a personal level, we can pay attention to our intentions, observing the self-serving influence that may be at the root of intention. At the level of intention is it driven by selfish desire and need? Intention is at the root of thoughts, feelings and deeds. If we can weed out the harmful or mainly self-invested aspects of intention, we find ourselves living without adversarial nature. This is a huge evolution for any individual.
In our world that is highly image, reputation, power, ambition, acquisition, conquest, and success driven it is not easy to separate or evolve beyond the self-serving, aspirational nature of contemporary life focus. Our society so highly values success at any cost. That cost may be at the expense of our own health and wellbeing, which is perpetuating a form of self-harm. It could be our internal meter or conscience and ethics that is sidelined. The cost may be to others, in that honesty may be compromised as we drive our pathway forward. Self-observation at this level is cast toward all forms of relationships and associations we establish.
It is important to remember the yogic method of self-observation. It is simply to cast the witnessing nature of open awareness toward our inner tendencies. It is NOT to engage in self-judgement, guilt, shame, interrogation, analysis or commentary. All these tendencies are of the mind. The mind thinks about what is being observed. This will not bring us to a place of pure awareness. The simple act of witnessing without commentary or dialogue enables another level of transformational force to awaken. It is unlike the training we receive in our learning forums be they education, self-development, psychotherapeutic models or more ‘new age’ individual or group processing methods.
It is like all other forms of yogic practice that evoke the witness forward. The witness is always in the background of thought and life experience. It is with us from the day we are born and remains through the passage of death. It observes, it can be described as the ONE that is watching. It does not age whether its view is through the perception of the two-year-old or the eighty-year-old. It does not see through the eyes of gender, culture, or time. It does not change, is ever-present, and sees by light and knowing, not by thinking. It has an eternal and essential quality.
It takes a little training to learn to develop this power of observation. When this quality of light and awareness is caste upon the tendencies and habits of our adopted personality, we grow larger than any fabricated version of ourselves. We also gain the power to step through the tendencies of our conditioned mind sets.
So back to AHIMSA!
At the level of intention, we seek to free ourselves of all animosity, and selfishness. It has become ‘cool’ and ‘hip’ to indulge in selfish speak particularly in the space of social media platforms. It has become so prevalent to chase people with opinions and comments about their personal appearance or thoughts and utterances. Social media platforms have become a powerful stage for harmfulness to be perpetuated without seeming consequence. People are being greatly harmed as a consequence of unfiltered verbiage.
In our work we often meet people who are experiencing the trauma of bullying or unconscious comment. Women particularly endure comments about their personal appearance, are body shamed or experience sexually explicit comment.
When participating in social media platforms we can be aware of our own tendency to thrust opinion into such spaces. Is it possible to be a benign loving presence within the social media world? A question I leave for reflection. Bear in mind any comment, even a loving one often attracts critical, negative response.
It is somewhat easier to witness Ahimsa or the lack of it at the level of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. We can observe thoughts in a detached way and reverse or disengage in thought that has a non-beneficial flavour to it. If the thought does not catch us and take us along its thinking pathway it is disempowered to a degree. We can simply catch such thought as it arises and choose not to engage. We can train ourselves not to believe in our thoughts. Or practice the Yoga of reversal and consciously cultivate the opposite quality of thinking. It is better for others and ourselves to find ways of thinking that are kind and loving. In our unkind or unloving thought streams we are generating powerful negative energies that impact our internal environment in ways that sabotage wellbeing and sense of Self. Yoga would have us realise that unconscious thought streams diminish energy (prana) and break connection with essential nature.
The same approach is directed toward feelings and behaviors, we can choose otherwise once we become conscious of any harmful, non-beneficial or selfish intention at their root.
In relationship to the societies we live in, Ahimsa is challenging at every level. In countless ways our societies have stepped a long way from non-harmfulness. Consider present day politics and policy making, medicine, research, profit driven industry, treatment of animals and extinctions, statistics when driven by vested interests, advertising, defense, agriculture, energy sources such as fossil fuels, resourcing from other countries, treatment of indigenous or immigrant communities, earth care or lack thereof, to name but a few, are all hefty and challenging topics. Harmful behaviors in all of these areas are predominant. There are always a few good souls in all areas of human work and interface yet in this overpopulated economy driven world there is a lot of harm keeping the engine of our nations running. As is our society so are we. We are complicit by geography and culture, Yoga views both as samskara. Samskara is a memory or impression. Our karma determines culture, place, and circumstance (samskaras). At the level beyond culture, we are all embodied souls and beyond the soul level we are absolute consciousness experiencing itself.
At the level of participation within our societies we can balance karma by two means - INTENTION & REGRET. We can become conscious at a personal level of intention when participating in the governing forces and ‘values’ of our societies. For example, we can transform intention when consuming. We can choose to know how the product we wish to purchase has been generated. Is harm inherent in the process? Can we choose otherwise or influence sustainable ethical change in that space. When we become conscious we may experience genuine regret (not the same as guilt or shame) and through that revelation or insight choose ways that differ from our culture’s attitudes and behaviours.
Other ways we can balance the conscious or unconscious harmfulness perpetuated by our societies and cultures is the yoga of the opposite. Find ways to generate kindness and compassion where our cultural practice or personal disposition may be otherwise. For some of us, it may be our dharma (natural life path) to become active and raise awareness toward issues and situations, for others of us it may be more natural to educate or live by example. It is important to find the way that is natural, the organic expression of living a life of exemplary balance that is true for each of us. In our times, laziness is not an option. There are so many issues (calls to restore balance) worthy of attention. We must each choose wisely if we intend to lend our energy and effort. And in finding that area in need of change, then find peaceful means to address it. If in the process, we fall into adversarial practice we are adding to the harm not transforming it.
To genuinely alter the ways of our society we must find the path that is both wise and expresses skill in action. Joseph Campbell expressed it this way- throughout his lifelong work researching and teaching the power, maps and purpose of cultural mythology he stated, “I cannot change the world, but I can influence the change within one person at a time”. This is how we approach our work, through the sharing of yogic foundational knowledge, philosophy, principles, and practice. We enjoy seeing the ways in which each soul finds their own path toward evolving body, heart, mind, and consciousness when they interface with the ancient and relevant path of human transformation that is YOGA. As one person at a time awakens from the forgetful amnesia our societies perpetuate all others within their sphere also benefit. One by one, individuals find a way forward that generates non harmfulness and compassion and joyful participation in the world.
We seem to live in violent times. We each can find our way to uncouple from the fear, anger, righteousness, harm, and indignation such times foster. Each of us can begin where we are in our own family and circle of friendship, in our own street and neighbourhood, within our work environments and social media spaces to practice kindness and compassion as well as in direct relationship with ourselves.
PRACTICE: As we end the day, as we prepare for sleep, we can review our day backwards paying attention to any moment, encounter, intent, thought, feeling or action that may have generated harmfulness and practice giving that moment full loving attention changing the energy of that moment in a way that counters the energetic within ourselves or directed toward another. Love as a force is so powerful it heals. The reflection may inspire a counter action to be followed through with.
A yogi who had been practicing sadhana for several decades was once asked by a student, “where are you now in your sadhana after so many years of practice”; the yogis answer was “if I make it through one day living AHIMSA it is a good day”.
The next four Yamas extend from and are relational to AHIMSA. If we can pay attention and change our nature at this level, we can make powerful change with the other observances. Satya, truthfulness is the next. Non harming and truthfulness have an interesting relationship with each other. This will be the subject of our next conversation.
Ultimately Ahimsa is living compassion. Compassion is an evolving quality. At first it may be empathy. For example, we may feel what another is experiencing but we do not like how it makes us feel, it makes us uncomfortable and so we choose to look away. It is a beginning. The next is - I see you, I feel you but I do not know what to do to assist and so I look away. The next is, I see you, I feel you, how can I help.
The greatest way we can heal another and ourselves is to see only wholeness, to not perceive another or ourselves as broken or deficient. If we can love another and ourselves with this awareness and view toward essential wholeness, we hold space for that to be experienced directly? By our feeling we can find wholeness, beauty, and value for ourselves and each other. To become such a powerful benign loving presence, we must take courage to self-observe, an act of attention and consciousness. In this way we grow larger than our unconscious tendencies and habits. The levels of intent, feeling, thought and behaviours will be brushed with the light of compassion and consciousness.
Our world, our times need AHIMSA as do we. Meditation eludes those who carry animosity. It is an energy expressing self-preservation that must be transformed if we are to evolve and experience peace, Shanti!
Sadhana Pezet
Co-Founder Shantarasa Yoga Darshana
200h Yoga Teacher Training 2024
Commencing 24th February 2024
The course of study is a unique entry into the cultivation of a genuine personal practice with deep training into the requisite skills to guide and teach others in asana (postures), basic levels of pranayama (breath control), and yoga nidra (yogic forms of relaxation).
