Ahimsa: Incorporating Non-Harming Into Your Life

I remember my mother's voice quite clearly telling me as a kid to just be nice. Whether I was being rude to a friend or trying to annoy my brother, my mother was teaching me about ahimsa. Now that I'm a mom I find that I am teaching this to my daughter as well, but not just with how to treat her friends and family, it involves every aspect of her life.

Ahimsa means non-violence or non-harming. This is a broad definition as there are  numerous ways in which we find to hurt ourselves, the people around us and the planet. From the physical activities we do, the diet we eat, how we talk and act towards people, the products we buy and the amount of trash we produce, it all has an effect.

Ahimsa is a Yama which is part of the Niyama's all of which are 10 ethical guidelines that you can choose to live your life by. They are the first two limbs of the eight fold path found in many yoga traditions. They are like a how to list on how to live your life and take care of your body.

Some of the ways we harm are pretty obvious, but what about the subtle ones. The bad thoughts that play over and over in your head telling you that you aren't good enough. Doing something at work that saves you time but will make more work for another person. Not recycling. Eating meat from farms that are cruel to the animals. These are all things that hurt someone or thing.

Fully practicing ahimsa takes awareness and patience. You need to take the time with each action or conversation you have to see if it is going to hurt someone or thing, even if it is inadvertently. Some choices, like the food or clothing we buy, are affected by the amount of money we have. Buying organic and locally sustained products isn't cheap. You can't beat yourself up if you can't be pure ahimsa, but you can feel proud if you at least try. You can only do what you can do.

My mother taught me ahimsa, even though she didn't realize it at the time that she was. I will pass this on to my daughter. The lessons I am teaching her are also a daily reminder to me as to what choices I chose to make and why. Nothing is more pure than a five year old asking you why you do something. The yama's and niyama's give me a pretty straightforward guide book to follow. It's the best parenting advice I've received so far.