About Ahimsa

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Ahimsa is the first of the 5 Yamas or Ethical Attitudes of Yoga and means “non-violence”. When we talk about violence most likely our first association will be physical violence or verbal aggression. While this is maybe the most obvious type of violence, it leaves out the subtler forms of it. What does Ahimsa look like in our daily lives?

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Towards others:

• respecting other people’s needs and boundaries

• not expecting others to take responsibility for our emotions or emotional baggage

• respecting other people’s time

• not stealing other people’s attention when they need to focus on something else

• and many more

 

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Towards ourselves:

• setting boundaries

• respecting your own limits and needs

• friendly and loving self-talk (it’s interesting how sometimes we say things to ourselves that we would never ever dare to say to others)

• work on limiting beliefs

• taking care of this body of ours that allows us to interact with this world

• eating healthily

• observing and accepting instead of judging

• taking time off to recharge our batteries

• and many more

 

Towards nature:

• contributing to stopping climate change

• reducing our waste

• respecting all living beings including plants

• not taking more from mother earth than she’s able to give

• and many more

 

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Very sensitive human beings are especially prone to underestimate Ahimsa towards themselves. We have these antennas that tune in to everybody’s needs at any given moment and it is hard to ignore the call of our empathetic heart and decide not to help when we just can’t afford to.

 

I invite you to observe yourself:

• What role is Ahimsa playing in your life?

• And how is the balance between Ahimsa towards others and Ahimsa towards yourself?

• Is there anything you would like to change or improve?