A Guidebook On How to Live

How you choose to live your life is totally up to you. When we find ourselves in “sticky” situations it is nice to have a guidebook on how we should act. If you are religious you might follow the ten commandments or whatever religious doctrine within your religion gives you advice. Many traditions in yoga follow the Yamas and Niyamas.

These are 10 ethical guidelines that act, in a sense, like a how to manual for your life. The Yamas cover how you should act, towards yourself and to others. The Niyamas are more about you personally and how you should take care of yourself. They are quite simple, but their meaning, and their impact if followed, can have a significant outcome.

The Yamas are how we treat others, and to some extent ourselves. This can be through speech and our actions or inaction. This can apply to people, animals or our planet, basically anything living. Some people base their diets (vegetarianism is one) on the Yamas.

Ahimsa: non-violence, be kind.

Satya: truthfulness, don’t lie.

Asteya: non-stealing, don’t take what isn’t yours.

Brahmacharya: non-excess, only use what you need to survive, this one is hard for those who like to shop.

Aparigraha: non-possessiveness, share with people.

The Niyamas are how we treat ourselves. In order to be happy, we need to treat our body, mind and soul with respect. The Niyamas help us to do that.

Saucha: purity, take a shower and clean your home regularly.

Santosha: contentment, do things in your life to be happy, but not at the expense of others.

Tapas: self-discipline, don’t let yourself run wild.

Svadhyaya: self-study, introspection, find out what is going on in your head.

Ishvara Pranidhana: surrender, give up to a higher power those things that are out of your control.

Most of these are pretty self explanatory. I’m not going to go into great detail here, but in later blogs I will cover each of the Yamas and Niyamas. If you want to explore deeper before then, there are numerous books and online articles out there.

If you are religious, you will notice the Yamas and Niyamas are pretty similar to other religious doctrines. The basic goal is to be good to yourself, your community and the environment. If this is something that you are interested in, don't feel the need to make the change overnight. Start with one Yama or Niyama and work your way through. It may be hard at first, but eventually it will just be the way you live. People will notice and perhaps even follow suit.