Happy new year! And what does the new year bring for many people? Resolutions!!!! If yoga forms part of a new year’s resolution for you then you might find some of my previous blogs interesting or useful, especially the first one: Where to start?
Here's a bit more about yoga as a way of living. The physical practice of yoga is good for the body but the body doesn’t travel on an isolated path and it is heavily linked to what’s going on in our minds. Last time I talked about Yamas which are things, as yogis, we try to do less of. Life is hard. Life is not smooth. Yamas can give us permission to acknowledge the suffering and encourage us to move away from suffering one step at a time towards a state of acceptance or even bliss.
Ahimsa (doing less harm), I suggest, is a good one to revisit while resetting ourselves after the festive period that can play havoc with our routines (see previous blog). For example, you might practise ahimsa by doing dry January and letting your body recover from excessive alcohol consumption. Ahimsa might also be useful if you have set your sights high on a resolution that might not actually serve you.
The next Yama to consider is satya which means truth i.e. not lying.
‘When we speak and live truthfully, what we say and do manifests’ (translation from the Sanskrit)
So on the surface this seems simple enough and is probably already a point on your moral compass. But I invite you to think a little about what living and speaking truthfully means to you and how you can apply this idea of 'not lying' to your life. Other words to consider might be: honestly, integrity, decency, sincerity, probity. This is hard because speaking the truth might do harm. Speaking the truth might lead to conflict. In addition, we would ideally try to avoid conflicting with our efforts towards ahimsa. But speaking the truth with compassion and kindness might serve (but it might not). I leave it to you to work out what you do with this information!
Another challenge is applying this to yourself; less lying to yourself. How honest are you? What is your personal truth? If you listen to yourself what do you hear? What lies to you tell yourself? Being honest with ourselves is tricky and an example of this on the mat could be if we push ourselves into a pose to make the 'right' shape or to look good in front of others but if you're honest with yourself, it might do you more good to ease off. Maybe consider some of the consequences that lying to yourself might have for you at work, at home, in relationships...
In moments of stillness and calm, I invite you to consider your own truth and practise both satya and ahimsa. It might just help you to take a few slow, small steps away from some suffering towards acceptance and peace. It might and even help you keep new year’s resolution that poses too much of a challenge when you start to embark on it! Good luck!
Love
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