The Foundation of Patanjali’s Eight Limbed Pathway to Yoga, the starting place for the practice is the Yama: Ahimsa.
Yama meaning a moral code or restraint, or perhaps the way in which you behave inwardly and outwardly. Ahimsa translates to Non-Harm or Non-Violence. Perhaps a fitting starting point to start looking at the way in which we treat ourselves, and the world around us.
Of course we know yoga to be about the physical, meditation, or the breath work practice but did you know that there are moral codes and ethics that underpins it’s essence which is essentially what makes yoga so expansive beyond just being exercise. It is a philosophy on living, one firmly rooted in understanding our human interactions and behaviors AS WELL AS the inner workings of the body, our energy and vitality. It is a journey from our heads - where the mind dictates our every step and movement to the heart where we find liberation from suffering.
So we start at the beginning and take a look at the thoughts we think, the words we speak, the actions we take - and this first (of five) yamas asks us to approach life with an understanding and awareness of what is harmful and in turn to minimize harm and suffering - internally and externally.
One of the things that I have always found fascinating in yoga is that although it is not the same as a religion, given the region that the philosophers and philosophy came from there is a connection that you can make with many myths, stories, histories and perspectives, making yoga and it’s context far richer and more expansive than one may at first give it credit for. It also means if you are a visual person, a kinesthetic learner or someone who finds understanding grand philosophical concepts easier through storytelling that there are other ways you can lean into the steps or pathways to the experience of ‘yoga’ in a really accessible way.
So many of the postures that we see today in a yoga class have been added over time as shapes that represent either the feeling or the story behind an auspicious Deity, God, Goddess or another key figure that is worshiped or a tale of a lesson learned through the body or energy or elements. The stories and experiences of yoga are SO VAST - and I hope that over time you come to know just a few of them because they will leave you pondering them for hours, if not weeks.
So I wanted to share the story of the oh so famous postures of the Warrior - Virabhadra! The Warrior pose itself is one practiced across many if not all lineages of yoga and the story behind it is one of love, hurt and despair, violence, compassion and forgiveness. A story that reminds us of our own humanness, that even the God’s don’t get it right all of the tithe love that sits at the depths of our being and apply it to the way in which we take steps forward.
I hope that you remember your heart, your compassion and above all else remember that you are not perfect, you are human.
All my love,
Kat
Ps. If you like this story, then you’ll love the practice that goes alongside it in my new Online Studio, you’ll get an email soon to officially open it’s online doors ready for these practices and stories to come to life in your own home. Stay tuned, 7 days to go!
Share this post