Exploring the Yamas: Ahimsa (non-violence)

The first limb of Raja Yoga are the Yamas. Yama translates to “retstraints.” This is the inner-work, how we treat ourselves will ripple out to how we treat others. The first Yama is Ahimsa, “non-violence.” When I hear this word, there is a part of me that thinks back to the summer of 202. I was finishing my 200HR YTT amidst Covid and the Black Lives Matter movement. It was the first time, as a soon to be yoga teacher, I saw the other and ugly side of yoga. Many white yogis in the community used ahimsa as a way to gaslight a very serious issue: Black People being wrongfully murdered by police. I spent 10 months in a training where we learned how to use yoga to be the change in the world, yet a lot of yogis were choosing to completely ignore the issue. Many adapted the gaslighting phrase “Love and Light.” What a bullshit phrase. Others would say, “I practice ahimsa and love everyone.” Love is an action. Yoga helped me look at words differently and one of them is “violence;” may this episode do the same for you.