(This is part of year long series, in which I’ll be personally diving into each of the yamas and niyamas. One per month. There are 10 so that leaves me with 2 months to review. The main text I’m using is this. I’ll be checking in over the month with thoughts, explorations, practices. I would love for you to play along.)
The first ethical practice of yoga is AHIMSA. It’s the ground of all other practices, and when we pay attention day to day — how much violence/harm/just general MEAN we feel toward ourselves, other humans, and the world — we can see why this is the ground of everything and why it’s so damn difficult.
The flip side of my depression is anger. When I’m out of alignment with my own inner gooeyness, I’m either depressed or angry in nonproductive ways.
And wow… over the last four years, WHO is NOT out of alignment?
So starting with this… it makes me roll my eyes, sigh, swear a little (or a lot), and say…yep, of course.
But I’m ready. (My inner grouch just flinched at that.)
Over the last month or so, I’d already started to add in more of my go to devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe (and other forms of the Feminine Divine that is unconditional love and compassion). I could already feel an enlivening of my inner gooeyness happening.
The other day, for example, I was having a conversation with a dear friend. We were talking politics…sorta… but in that very personal way about how it’s affected us and what can we do and all of that, and I found myself writing this:
”We are definitely a nation that is just on the survival end of things but THAT makes it even more vital for those of us who CAN choose differently to be JOYFUL about it. I've been thinking so much about this since before the new year... Like me living any kind of poverty does not make up for someone else's actual poverty. Like me being mad and sad all the time does nothing for anyone. Me denying the joy I DO have does nothing for anyone. Me trying to play down my own LUCK, as it were, does nothing for anyone. Capitalism is the current form of the enemy of humanity being fully human, but there's ALWAYS something BECAUSE we're human and we build shitty things and then we have issues with greed, war, division, etc., because so many have not been loved well or enough. And THAT is the REAL ISSUE right there: the lack of unconditional love (true community) in most people's lives.”
After I wrote it, I thought WHAT? WHO wrote THAT? ((ha)) It hit me that my practices were already taking root.
Here’s the thing…
If nonviolence is the core of yoga ethics, LOVE is the core of nonviolence, and in particular, self love is the very center because it’s from that space that we then react to the world.
The idea of self love can be difficult for some to really understand…what is it? what does it look like? How do we get there when we’re not feeling it?
And that’s the problem, we equate love with a feeling when it’s actually an ACTION.
So think of it this way: you are self loving WHEN you treat yourself with the same compassion, kindness, and grace with which you treat the people you care about the most on this planet.
If that space is rather empty, well, you get most current politicians — people not well loved, trying to fill some giant void, not understanding compassion for others because they’ve never felt it for self.
If that space is full, you get people like Gandhi and MLK and too many to name, but also quite possibly YOU. Or ME.
When we function from this space, we are trusting the world, trusting other people, trusting LIFE.
There’s so much to this, but I want to leave off for now with a quote about how much courage and love are entwined: