Yamas

They're often presented as a map of practice.

The names are Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Prachahari, Darna, Dhyana, and Samadhi.

Translations can vary and each term has more depth than one English phrase can hold, but we'll begin with a simple overview.

So first, the yamas are often understood as ethical commitments in how we relate to other people in the world.

And something that I share is that every month I change the name of the meeting instead of just calling it yoga session.

In fact, for the past few months, for example, every month I name the meeting one of the Yama and Niyamas.

So this month it is Saucha, which means it's the sixth month that we've been practicing the Yamaniyamas.

And those are the first two limbs of Raja Yoga, right? So it's not just about practicing the physical form of yoga.

Of course, I teach asana, pranayama and meditation every month.

So we're in this phase of the study where we're really going deep.

and spending time on every single one of the yamas and the niyamas, which are the first two of the eight limbs of yoga.

Yama, which are the restraints or moral observances of the yogi.

Ahimsa, nonviolence or to not cause harm.

Satya, truthfulness.

I'm just saying like, even there, even the people who have tens of billions feel not enough compared to the people who have hundreds of billions.

But I think that's exactly what it goes to, right? Like this, we, the human condition, I feel like pushes on us to feel not good enough.

And if I could just read one quick thing from Deborah Doe from the Yamas and the Niyamas.

It's not just exercise, right? Like it's one branch of eight branches of a whole body system of life.

Yamas and Niyamas.

So those are like guidelines for life principles as you would.

Right.

Saints can recognize one another.

But, uh, Patanjali said that this path, which is a universal path, begins with principles of Yama-Niyama, he called them.

Yama means, uh, well, in a very, in a vague way, we can say dos and, don'ts and dos on the spiritual path.

Literally, it means control and non-control.

And these are not really so much things to do as stages to arrive at if you want to be able to meditate deeply.

...

Yama, Niyama, but have not read the Yoga Sutra.

People talk about Karma yoga but have not read the Bhagavad Gita.

Does it matter?

'Cause I think it's like otherwise you're just hearing parroted knowledge.

Go to the source and sit, like, sit with the ch- first chapter of the Yoga Sutra, but just, like, sit, read it five times.

I think they're in the second chapter, the Yamas and niyamas.

In the s- [laughs] I'm not talking about the Yamas and niyamas.

In fact, Swami used to, on the verandas sometimes, you know, that whole scene comes to mind where Swami is standing on the veranda and talking to the students.

And one day he asked, how many forms of yoga are there? So Ashtanga Yoga, Yama, Niyama, Asana, Prana, Yama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi.

Swami said, okay, Ashtanga Yoga.

No, according to me, there are nine forms of yoga.

Let's talk about that.

So we look at the Maharishi Patanjali's eight limbs, Ashtanga yoga, which moves us from our outer limbs into our inner limbs, the outer ones being Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama.

And then we move into the inner limbs, crossing with Pratyahara, and Pratyahara is that fifth limb.

And then we go into Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi, and we go into the inner limbs.

So you just keep going, you keep aspiring, right? So anyway, Raja Yoga, uh, Raja Yoga is the same as Ashtanga, which is eight-limbed, or the eightfold path of Raja Yoga, right? Not to be confused with the eightfold path of Buddhism, which guides a practitioner from outer ethical conduct to deep superconscious absorption.

Yama, self-restraint, ethical rules, including ahimsa of non-injury.

Satya, truthfulness.

Don't lie.

Sorry, inside joke everyone, but yall get it.

You've read Deborah Adelle and the Yamas and the Niyamas.

But I think, um, one-

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