In my post earlier this month about there being More To Yoga Than Just Asana, I listed the eight limbs of yoga. Two of those limbs, the first two limbs have five principles or observances associated with them. The first limb is the yamas and they, as I mentioned in the other post, are sometimes thought of as restrictions. The second limb, the niyamas, are sometimes thought of as rules. But to me rules and restrictions are somewhat the same things. Many rules seem to be made to restrict people from doing things. So I am not sure that is a clear enough distinction for me. Yoga is so ancient and many of the text have been lost, so there are many translations to things. Another way of looking at the first two limbs: are the yamas are our attitudes toward our environment and the niyamas are our attitudes towards ourselves. That is from T.K.V. Desikachar’s translation of the Yoga Sutra in The Heart of Yoga.
The five yamas are:
Ahimsa – non-violence, non-harming
Satya – truthfulness
Asteya – non-stealing
Brahmacharya – celibacy, chastity
Aparigraha – non-possessiveness, non-coveting, non-hoarding, non-clinging
The five niyamas are:
Sauca – purity, cleanliness
Santosha – contentment
Tapas – discipline
Svadhyaya – study of self
Ishvara Pranidhana – surrender to the Divine
These rules, restrictions, attitudes, whatever you choose to think of them as, are meant to be applied to our thoughts, our words, and our actions. So, I am not really even sure there needs to be a distinction between whether it is a rule or a restriction. But I do like the idea that one is related to an attitude towards our environment and one is related to an attitude towards oneself. Although, I think all ten can be related to both. Sigh. I guess I will just stick to there really doesn’t need to be a distinction.
Each of these can be talked about in detail. I am definitely going to be writing more posts on these. Whether it is one post for all the yamas and one post for the niyamas, is yet to be seen, but I do want to share some of the ideas that were shared with me regarding them. I would like to shed some light on how they can be applied to life both on and off the yoga mat.
Do you want to share any ideas about them?
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