The Yamas of Yoga...Asteya (Non-Stealing)

We study the Yamas of yoga; the order of study depends on the student, for the most part. Don't worry much about which one you choose when you start to study the Yamas. If you are drawn to one in particular, chances are it was meant to be.

asteyapratisthayam sarvaratnopasthanam

"When abstention from stealing is firmly established, precious jewels come."

Yoga Sutra 7:35

We're talking about the the third Yama: Asteya, or “non-stealing”.

We can go really deep with this simple idea. It’s obvious why we don’t steal from others; it makes bad karma and makes us lonely as we lose the trust of those with whom we share our world.

We also must remember this when it comes to Asteya:  Don’t steal from yourself, either.

To steal from others is disrespectful and creates mistrust and adversity.

Stealing from yourself does the same thing.

If you deprive yourself of your own compassion and understanding, then you are stealing from yourself.

If you deprive yourself of chill time, time to do yoga and so forth, then that is also like stealing from yourself.

When we do this, we end up feeling as if we are “stealing time” to relax later, and we see our actions as “being bad” because we’re “taking”, or “stealing” from ourselves; we feel like children stealing cookies, or maybe a bit more guilty, and tell ourselves we “need to grow up”, a.k.a. make ourselves into people who don’t need what we really need, which is our own understanding, compassion and downtime.

We know why it’s uncool to steal from others-let’s learn, and remember, why we also shouldn’t steal from ourselves.