Non-Violence and Acceptance

What does it mean to treat oneself with nonviolence, or to adapt an attitude of nonviolence? The yogic texts speak of the importance of this principle of ahimsa: it is the first of the 5 yamas, or behaviors of restraint necessary for yogic study and living. I find that most students think of violence in terms of violent crime, and will initially assume that they are fine in this area. Let’s look more closely.

We often come to class wanting to feel better, wanting to look better, wanting to be better. We come in wanting to be opened and expanded; this will be a me that I can more easily love and unconditionally accept.. let me just stretch a relax a bit first. The only problem with this outlook, is that it neglects to acknowledge what is here, right now. We must start with where and who we are. We must start with treating ourselves as we would treat someone we love: by listening and accepting, and letting ourselves be our imperfect and natural self.

Acting nonviolently means that we begin a yoga pose by turning the senses inward: by carefully looking, feeling, and listening. We begin by gaining more awareness of the situation, rather than by immediately looking for a solution. A beginners mind makes no assumptions. A beginners mind approaches a pose as if it is the very first time. Instead of applying judgements and expectations onto the body, we will instead look to see how the body is in this moment. Hatha yoga offers a wonderful opportunity to witness the subtle ways we try to force ourselves to be who and what we are not.

The amazing aspect of a nonviolent attitude towards the self is that you never know what will happen. Some days you will work less deeply than usual, and then there will be the day when the body will all of a sudden open more that you ever thought possible. Our ideas about what the body can do are just ideas: the reality of the moment is larger and infinitely more satisfying.

Amrit Desai, the founder of Kripalu Yoga, used to talk about what he called the “Three A’s”: awareness, acceptance, adjustment. What you will find as you work with this map is that the adjustment happens on its own: it is not rooted in our ideas of ourselves, which are inherently limited. Working like this makes practice easier and injury free, but also makes the yogic path a constant journey of exploration. Enjoy, and Namaste!