the Yoga of Kindness

Kindness is a component of any spiritual practice and is part of living your Yoga practice as well. Of course, in our Yoga practice, we learn to ignore the voices in our head, the ones usually put there by others, that say we're not being kind enough or that we're bound by a rule that defines kindness in a way that "counts", and which denies the presence of the self,

While we are making good karma when we are acting kind, we aren't looking to "score points".

Kindness loosely means giving to someone in need. Need is a loosely-defined word. Think of a time when you were extremely angry at the world and and some random person was nice to you, exactly when you needed it to happen.

Kindness comes in all sizes...

Such acts are powerful due to sincerity, not size. Maybe you were carrying a bunch of stuff through a doorway and you about to drop all of it on the floor, and someone held the door for you so you could get through, preventing an aggravating you certainly wanted to avoid. Maybe someone gave you a ride when you were stranded,

Whatever the act of kindness you witnessed or received, it made you feel alive again and reminded you that you weren't alone...

A gift of a flower, a hug or even just a good compliment can change a whole day and change the whole course of life for a person. To know that you have such power to change is in itself a great gift to you, and makes it easy to give without need of a gift in return.

Shanti Om!

Yamas of Yoga...Ahimsa-Non-harming

Deva Primal chants the mantra of ahimsa

lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu

"may all beings everywhere be happy and free"

Ahimsa is probably the most talked-about of the yamas because it is easier to define it as a concrete concept. Ahimsa literally means "non-harming", but is better understood as non-violence. Of course, this is where a bot of abstract thinking is necessary.

Violence has many forms and faces; the biggest example of violence when it comes to practicing Yoga is violence toward the self. 

We're all familiar with the term "beating yourself up". In our quest to be good, we become very critical of our own moral actions. We als may push ourselves too hard when working out because we don't want to let ourselves be "wimpy" or whatever other term we might use to say we're slacking. These are two ways we hold grudges against ourselves just as we might hold grudges against others.

If you can't forgive someone for something they've done against you, or if you can't forgive yourself for something you've done, this is an act of violence because it pushes love away.

Gia My Yoga

One of the most-popular ways yogis have sought to practice ahimsa in recent decades is to not eat meat. This idea seems simple but can be tough. Not everyone who has tried a vegetarian or vegan diet has managed to avoid health problems. To have a diet that makes you unhealthy means you are harming yourself. 

We can take a simpler view of ahimsa by simply seeking to avoid being unnecessarily hurtful toward ourselves and toward others. This doesn't mean lying as opposed to truth telling, but it may mean waiting until the right time to tell someone something. We can also avoid needless expression, such as reminding someone of a mistake they are already aware that they made and that you know they are already working to correct. 

RETURN to Yamas Index

Sources:

Gia My Yoga

Mind Body Green

Insight State