Thinking about rules
What a difference a fortnight makes. Last time I wrote how I’d been feeling overwhelmed and needed to take a step back to look after myself, which is exactly what I’ve been doing. I’ve been setting a daily affirmation and working with mindfulness and meditation. Each day I have a mindful intention and at the end of the day I reflect on how I’m feeling. And it’s great – I feel more focussed, calmer, happier, more in control. Yes, there’s days when being in lockdown gets to me and I feel isolated but it’s not for ever. Although my yoga practice has been so stretchy and relaxing, I now need to bring in some stronger work or I’ll be too wobbly!
Today I went for a walk in a deer park near my home. It was a beautiful day, perfect temperature for being out and about in the fresh air, the park was quiet save for deer, ducks geese and one excitable puppy. But the stand out thing was I was there with a friend I haven’t seen in person since mid-March. We’re in touch all the time by text and spend most Saturday evenings on a zoom call together so I’ve not felt disconnected but we haven’t been able to meet up within guidelines and in a way we’re both comfortable with until today. And it was lovely, and I felt so cheerful for the rest of the day.
I’ve been thinking about the rules and guidelines which govern our behaviour and as a result our emotions. So, avoiding public transport and busy places even in the brief period when lockdown restrictions lifted has kept me very safe but meant for seven months I’ve only seen a friend who lives fairly locally, online. On the other hand, the affirmations and daily intentions I’ve been working with are giving me a framework for the day, which is helping me find peace and calm.
Rules, guidelines, frameworks help us navigate the world and our place in it. From this we get our laws, our moral code, our social norms, our individual behaviours, thoughts and feelings. The first two of yoga’s eight limbs are exactly this – rules, guidelines, a framework for our practice. From this we get the third limb – asana, the physical postures, and the fourth – pranayama, breathing practice. So the framework comes first.
The first two limbs, the Yamas and Niyamas, give us direction on how to bring yoga into our lives. The yama are about us as individuals and our actions, our thoughts, words and deeds. The niyama, how we relate to the world around us. I want to look into these in turn over the next few weeks.
I’ll first be working with ahimsa, which underpins all of the yama and niyama. It translates as acting with non-violence, non-harm or love and kindness. This could be towards others, all living beings, the environment but also to ourselves. So over the next fortnight I’ll be paying specific attention to ahimsa in my interactions and see what happens…
More information
Deborah Adele (2009), The Yamas and Niyamas, Exploring Yoga’s Ethical Practice
Rachel Bonkirk (2020), Flex your mind, 10 powerful Yoga principles for less stress in a busy world.