Ahimsa: Your Thoughts

Feb 1

Ahimsa- non violence/ non harm.

This is the first Yama for a reason. You can’t practice yoga and not practice ahimsa. Yoga is ahimsa. It flows into every limb on the eightfold path. Love and compassion is first.

With ahimsa, we practice living a life of compassion and empathy. It starts with you and your thoughts.

When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thought that you have? The first action? Is it made out of love? If you wake up and check your phone, that is not an action made out of love. Instead, not looking at your phone, and starting your morning intentionally and grounding, is made from love.

When you leave a yoga class, what is the first thing you do? Are you making judgements about someone in class? About yourself?

Be real with yourself, and write down some thought patterns you’d like to change this month.

Ex) I will stop looking in the mirror and picking at myself. Instead, I will say 3 positive affirmations.

Now, your turn:

Come back to these throughout the month for reminders and reflections.