AHIMSA - NON VIOLENCE - HATHA YOGA 101 by Mark T. Kinder Ahimsa - non-violence in thought, word, and deed, is the most important discipline within the yoga teachings. There are 10 yamas - ethical disciplines in Hatha Yoga, ahimsa is the first one. It is the foundation in which all other yogic practices are built from. Without it, it is not possible to to attain enlightenment that is free of karma bondage and attachment, so it must be understood in it’s entirety, in order to have true, lasting, and deep internal foundation for your yoga practice to blossom! Your subconscious mind cannot differentiate between a real action and an imaginary thought! If you punch someone in the face with anger and hate, if you talk about doing it, or think the same thing, then your subconscious mind perceives it as a real action, regardless of whether you did it or not! All karmic memory is recorded in your subconscious mind, therefore, whether you act, talk, or think it is no different. Even watching violence on TV, or at the movies can affect you, it is that subtle. Be careful what you do, say and think, as it will come back to bite you in the arse if you don’t work on it and check these patterns. Ahimsa is so important, that all other yogic disciplines that come after it will fall into place more effortlessly because of this practice. In addition, one of the Yogi / Yogini’s goals is to stop karma and end up with no karma, not good karma (karma with golden chains), and not bad karma (karma with iron chains), so ahimsa is a vital piece of the puzzle and probably the most important step you can take in truly expanding your consciousness and removing karma at the very deep level. BASIC RULES • Lacto vegetarian diet (with dairy products from ethical sources) • Do not kill or harm any living animal, reptile, or insect intentionally... • Avoid, and/or resolve violent conflicts with others. • Learn to still your mind, so violent thoughts or not racing around in your head. • If you find yourself thinking violent things, resolve it through internal contemplation as to why you are thinking this way and face it, don’t sweep it under the rug and pretend it’s not there... • Avoid passive aggressive behavior. This is worse than acting out your anger. Buy a punch bag and let it out if you have to, but you must find a release, or learn to speak your truth and stop all that politically correct, hipster, passive nonsense! * Speak your truth, in a conscious way, even if others don’t necessarily like it. * Be honest and fair, but not angry… * Do not send negative vibes to others who are not vegetarian… * Avoid vigorous, or flowing yoga practices, and hot yoga because they cause internal damage to your body! * There’s much more can be said here, but you get the idea… You can go far in your internal yoga practice, even reach samadhi, without following ahimsa, but your yoga practice will eventually fall if you do not seriously contemplate ahimsa, as you will still have subtle karma stored within your subconscious mind that is associated with your lack of compassion for this practice and will have to go and clean this up. A hard thing to do for a yogi that has experienced samadhi! Many yogis have fallen in India because they did not truly contemplate and practice ahimsa in it’s entirety. No one gets away with karma, no one gets away without practicing ahimsa, so you are going to have to face ahimsa in this life, or the next, whether you believe me or not, and whether you like it or not! What I find to be the saddest thing is that most yoga practitioners and teachers ignore, blow off, and make up a plethora of excuses as to why they should not, or cannot practice certain aspects of ahimsa. This is especially common when it comes to the vegetarian diet. I have heard thousands of excuses, and you would not believe some of them, as to why people claim they cannot do this. This true bollocks, it really is! You live in a world where almost every known food substance is available for purchase and consumption in your local supermarket. Meat, fish and poultry is no longer an essential part of our diets because of this, as we now have an abundance of proteins available in many other food sources. However, ahimsa is a lot more than just becoming a vegetarian, it is an essential way of life for all humanity, for the future of the planet, and for peace and harmony to all living beings. Our very survival depends on this! Please, no more excuses, especially if you are a serious yoga practitioner, or a yoga teacher. You are the very people that your students look to for influence. Be real, be vibrant, be happy, practice ahimsa all the way, and remove this dreadful karma from your life. It is important! Don’t think about it! Just do it! Much love to you all
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 19:11:46 +0000
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