Practice the eight limbs of yoga to the best of my ability

I’ve read my entry about yama several times, trying to figure out how I can work on this consistenly and without putting too much pressure on myself to be perfect (and hence losing motivation and failing instantly).

With Ahimsa (non-violence) I shouldn’t really struggle with physical violence and I will try to watch my tongue, consider how what I say makes others feel – think before I speak and only say things that make people happy, because I wouldn’t want to knowingly upset or hurt anyone.
The really difficult part is the bit about thoughts. Even thinking bad thoughts about someone is violence. This is going to be hard! When I think about it, though, I realise that negative thoughts about others are kind of stupid because, really, the only person they hurt is myself. The person I think about, is not going to hear them (though they might be reflected in my actions?) the only person that the negative thoughts hurt is myself as any kind of negativity is bad for the soul, tiring, depressing and just generally exhausting. When I think about it like this, it seems kind of stupid to waste energy on thinking negative things about others. Still, I know I will struggle with this a lot!

Satya (truthfulness) is not going to be as hard for me as ahimsa, because I am extremely honest. I think honesty is one of my best traits, actually. I do need to watch it though, make sure I don’t exaggerate (or how ever you spell it?), boast or twist the truth and other such things that can happen without you even really realising it.

Asteya (non stealing). OK, I don’t shoplift or steal things from people, so that’s easy. Envy, sweet talking, taking advantage of someone, having hidden agenda etc are also stealing. Again, I’m not a saint, so I have to work on these things. I must not sweet talk the husband into making me a cup of tea when he’s busy doing something, buying me things, going to the shop for me etc. I do that quite a bit, to be honest… I know exactly how to look at him to get him to do what ever I want. Shame on me!!

Brahmacharya (sense control) this is not one that I’m going to concentrate on, like I said in my last entry.

Aparigraha (non-posessiveness) I would love to say that this is easy, that material things don’t matter to me, that I’m never greedy and that I don’t care about money. I wonder if there are any people living in a western society who can say that? There most certainly aren’t any in the southside of Dublin! _{Or are there, Evenstar?}
I don’t value material things over everything else, but I still value them to certain extent. I think it’s not necessarily completely wrong to give some value to material things and to want a comfortable life, but it shouldn’t be the most important thing in life. I have met so many people in the recent month who know the price of everything but the value of nothing. They define people based on what they own, what they drive, where they live/how much their house cost. They never say that someone is nice or tell anything about their personality, hobbies etc. It’s sad and I find it stressful at times. There’s a lot of pressure on people to keep up with their neighbours. I don’t want to fall into that hellish trap, thank you very much, but I know it’s an easy trap to fall into, so I really need to work on this.

So, to begin this journey, I will start being more considerate, kind and loving towards my fellow human beings. I think that’s where it all starts from. Always considering how what I say or do makes others feel and trying to make sure I make people happy. I only want good things for others, I want to be happy for others and I want to help people to be happy.

I’ve also started new goals ‘be happy for others’ and ‘daily reflect on five things for which I’m grateful’ because I thought they would help me work on this goal.

The first limb, Yama, has five sub-limbs. They are: ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha. I’ll just write a brief explanation for each of them here. I took the info from the book Yoga Mala (by Pattabhi Jois) and also from the website http://yoga.iloveindia.com/limbs-of-yoga/index.html.

Ahimsa means not causing injury or showing cruelty to anyone, including animals, in any form, at any time, or for any reason, in word, thought or deed. It means kindness, friendliness and thoughtful consideration of other people and things.

Satya is truthfulness. One should always tell the truth in thought, word and deed. The truth must be pleasant to others; an unpleasant truth should not be uttered. We have to consider what we say, how we say it, and in what way it could affect others.

Asteay means not stealing the property or possessions of others. Being envious or begrudging another; cheating someone with sweet words; gaining selfish ends under the guise of truthfulness: all are to be abandoned. This also means that if we are in a situation where someone entrusts something to us or confides in us, we do not take advantage of him or her. We are to refrain from taking that which is not ours by right of consciousness and karma.

Brahmacharya means controlling our senses. It is used mostly in the sense of abstinence, particularly in relationship to sexual activity. This rule, if taken literally, is very strict (and hence impossible to follow) but it can be partially practiced by behaving responsibly and being faithful to your partner.

Aparigraha is concerned with non-possessiveness and neutralising the desire to acquire and hoard wealth. Take only what is necessary and don’t take advantage of a situation or act greedy. We should only take what we have earned; if we take more, we are exploiting someone else.

These all make very much sense to me. They’re all about how to live in peace with your fellow human beings, to show respect to others, be considerate and kind. Treat people like you would want to be treated. Practicing yama gives you peace of mind, your heart is lighter when you treat people well and only speak kind words. Your karma is better too and everything will work out better in life. Problems and obstacles will disappear. This is what I truly believe in – you get what you deserve: treat people nicely and people will be nice to you and vice versa. Do good and good will be done to you.

Knowing something and believing in it is one thing. Living it is another. Believing is easy; living according to your beliefs takes effort and is often a struggle.
It’s easy to get distracted and let the negativity that surrounds you get to you, allow your environment to influence your behaviour and thoughts. It takes a very strong person to only ever say positive things to and/or about people, to never hurt anyone, to not feel jealousy, to not want more and more… I am weak. I wouldn’t even expect myself to follow these rules perfectly. It would almost be foolish to say that I am going to live these rules 100%. Just saying that would be breaking the rule of satya/truthfulness.
I would like to really try and do my best. Little by little make changes. Even a little makes a big difference. Just reading about Yama gives me comfort and makes me feel peaceful, happier and somehow lighter.
I’m going to start by considering how I can practice yama and where I can make improvements. That’s something for me to think about tonight.

I’m starting to have enough of idle chatter, talking for talking’s sake and all the negativity that is so catching. My head feels polluted and my heart feels like it’s about to explode. By the time I get home from work, I just want to scream ‘shuuuuuuuuut uuuuuuuuup!!!’ to everyone and go somewhere where I don’t hear a sound.
I talk too much too. I try not to, but when people around you are chatting, I find it extremely difficult not to participate. It’s ok when the conversation is good, you might learn something from it or get closer to people though it and/or it’s relaxing. But when the conversation does none of these, when it’s just people gossiping about others, trying to show off, being negative, complaining, arguing etc. I really don’t want to take part. If a conversation is likely leave me feeling anything else but happier than I was before it or more relaxed, then I don’t want to take part.

Thinking about this last night, I remembered my yoga teacher in India, who said that we must try to avoid idle chatter, too much pointless talk is polluting, only speak when you really have to speak. This got me thinking about all the other teachings of yoga and how many of them make your life a bit easier, so I should really start working on them again.

There are eight limbs to yoga, the physical practice is just one of them. The limbs are:

Yama – moral codes
Niyama – self-purification and study
Asana – posture
Pranayama – breath control
Pratyahara – sense control
Dharana – concentration
Dhyana – meditation
Samadhi – contemplation, enlightenment

The first four, or even three are the important ones to begin with. Really, they say that you can’t work on your mind (i.e. yama and niyama) until your body is strong and hence you start with asana, and that, I think, is how most of us get started.
i’m going to work harder on my asana, as I do feel that it is through that that everything else comes. I’m also going to start working on yama and maybe at some point niyama too. Once I get my asana back to normal, I might start doing my pranayama video again…
I am not too concerned with the last 4 limbs as they are quite advanced and will come eventually, most likely not in this life time. The last one, samadhi, is most definitely something that takes lifetimes. Enlightenment is so far out of my reach that I can’t quite even think about it and hence am not that bothered at all. I might still write about these limbs at some point as there’s no harm in considering them.

Lastly, I want to do this ‘to the best of my ability’, I’m only human and cannot expect myself to be perfect. I wouldn’t even want to at this point in my existence. I just want to do my best and be as good as I can.