THE NUMBER 1 SELF CARE PRACTICE FOR YOGA TEACHERS IN LOCKDOWN
You can employ ahmisa in all aspects of your life. On and off the mat, through your diet, in your thoughts, how you communicate with the people around you.
But during lockdown, with all the new stressors and uncertainty, with increased fear around our health, the stability of our jobs, and the wellbeing of others, it might have been especially difficult to stick to this particular practice.
I don’t know about you, but this time has certainly been a challenge for me when it comes to keeping up with certain elements of my personal yoga practice. Yes, my morning meditations have been more consistent, as I’m not up and rushing off to teach a 6:30am yoga class. But my adherence to principles such as ahimsa, or some of the other eight limbs? Well, that’s a different story. For me, I’ve been struggling to have the self-awareness of when I NEED to employ ahimsa, let alone actually doing it.
This is a time when a lack of certainty has and continues to challenge so many aspects of our lives. For me, ….
HOLD UP. Let’s wind it back a step. A quick refresher on ahimsa for those whose philosophy brains have exited the building during this global pandemic - I know mine has.
What is Ahimsa?
The practice of ahimsa, translating to ‘non harming’ or ‘non-violence’, comes from the writing of Patanjali, a big dog sage from way back when. The eight-fold path that is found within Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra - widely regarded as THE authoritative text on yoga - offers students of yoga clear guidelines (mm, debatable) for a meaningful and purposeful life.
Ahimsa comes under the first of the eight limbs known as the yamas, which deal with one's ethical standards and sense of integrity. The yamas focus our behaviour and how we conduct ourselves, guiding us to live in a way that cultivates a sense of peace with ourselves and with the world around us.
I tend to focus on a more positive definition of this principle. To me, ahimsa is more than just a lack of violence; it is the abundance of an active state of love, forgiveness, and acceptance within our behaviour and our wider lives.
In addition to being a yama in yoga, ahimsa is also a foundational principle of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
Ahimsa in life
During ‘normal times’, there are many practical ways of incorporating ahimsa into our daily lives. Not causing physical harm to any other being on the planet, whether that be avoiding conflict with other humans or removing any animal products from our diet. Ahmisa can be as easy as riding a bike instead of driving a car.
However, the more subtle practices of ahimsa, outside of the physical, boil down to the recognition and prevention of what one might dub ‘violent’ thoughts. And, just to be clear, I’m not talking horror movie style violent thoughts here.
For example, when our thoughts contain negative responses like disappointment, resentment, or guilt, or perhaps even when we feel shameful about something, we are subtly creating violence towards ourselves.
Additionally, if you can’t forgive someone for something they’ve done against you, or if you can’t forgive yourself for something you’ve done, this is also an act of violence because it pushes love away.
Simply put, ahimsa is the act of cultivating love, gratitude, and positivity in reaction to, or in avoidance of negativity or violence. The practice of ahimsa plays out in our physical actions and well as our internal monologue, guiding our daily interactions with ourselves and in relation to others to release ourselves of these harmful traits.
In the wise words of the Buddha:
“The thought manifests as the word; The word manifests as the deed; The deed develops into habit; And habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care, and let it spring from love born out of concern for all beings… As the shadow follows the body, as we think, so we become.”
Ahimsa during lockdown
To understand how non-violence, ahimsa, can manifest in our lives each day, we must first acknowledge how our daily actions and responses contain elements of violence not just in our bodies, but also in our minds.
The thing is when it comes to my thoughts, oftentimes I don’t even realise when I’m being violent. Especially when those thoughts are centred around me. I have found my self-awareness faltering during lockdown times in particular. Ahimsa, therefore, is a value of my yogic practice that I’ve been struggling with a lot.
So if during this time you are struggling to recognise these violent thoughts in yourself, here are a few lockdown scenarios where ahimsa employment might have slipped away for you, too:
Expecting too much of yourself or putting all responsibility in your own hands is a type of violence, as is expecting that the world will run according to your design. You’re being violent towards yourself and the world at large with these kinds of mindsets, especially when something like a global pandemic is completely out of your individual control.
During asana practice, ahimsa urges us to be kind to our bodies, not pushing ourselves past the point of overexertion for example. It is easy to go too far, at any point when we are practicing, but especially now in this time of lockdown. You may not be as active as you usually are, but this does not mean you should punish yourself on your mat. Or at any other time or for any other reason, I might add.
Maybe you have seen other teachers transitioning to the online teaching world with ease and grace, yet feel you are not there yourself and have taken this to heart. In addition to adhering to this ideal on a physical plane, embracing ahimsa means accepting what we are as perfect at that moment. The avoidance of harsh expectations of ourselves or any comparison to others is key.
We inflict violence on others daily in subtle ways, but this is simply an outward expression of the war that goes on inside of ourselves. For instance, when we resent others, even though this is something we are dealing with internally, it often creates a negative atmosphere. Especially in lockdown when we are in and amongst our loved ones (or not) during this time, these negative atmospheres can be both prevalent and hard to remove ourselves from, affecting us and those around us in equal measure.
Conclusion
When it comes to self-reflection, we are often our own harshest critics, condemning our outcomes on the yoga mat or magnifying our weaknesses within the home. This judgment limits our ability to witness ourselves and ultimately, to grow.
My advice?
Be kind to yourself, no matter what may arise in our bodies or minds. Ahmisa is not always easy, and it definitely is not always intuitive. Maybe you relate to and acknowledge the above scenarios in yourself. Perhaps you can think of a thousand others that you would do differently with a more heightened state of awareness. This is a time of complete uncertainty. Whether it is the seemingly crazy decision making of our politicians or the unknowing nature of the virus itself, there is a lot of unknowing and a lot that is out of our control. It is no wonder that so many have been struggling with negative, violent thoughts towards ourselves and surrounding our connections to one another.
Yama practices such as ahimsa are likened to cleaning techniques for our minds, bodies, and spirits, helping us instead to live more conscious, liberated existences. Something we can all be striving for during this time of instability, and again when the craziness does eventually begin to cease. Because it will.
It is easy to start once more with this practice. Simply listen out for this critical chatter, and see if you can apply a little ahimsa to soften the edges. You might find that you’re better able to balance, in more ways than one.
Can you think of any other moments where you should have OR did employ this practice of ahimsa, in your lockdown life? Or maybe you have a great tool to share to encourage more ahimsa during any of these experiences listed above. Comment below, I’d love to hear them.
