10/25/2020
Beyond the Mat with BFY:
What are the Yamas and Niyamas?
Often, the first images that come to mind when you hear the word “yoga” are ones of people bending and stretching their bodies in different ways or sitting quietly for meditation. Stretching, moving, and meditation are definitely an important part of the yoga practice, but they are not the only ways to incorporate yoga into your daily life.
According to old yoga texts and philosophy, yoga can be used to create a life full of peace, balance, mental clarity, and love. How? This is where the practice of observing the Yamas and Niyamas comes in to play.
What are the Yamas?
The Yamas are a set of practices that help to guide our relationships and interactions with the world around us and the world within us. These practices, also known as restraints, teach us to be mindful of our thoughts, words, and actions so that we end up cultivating a discerning energy and use it to help us walk the middle path.
What are the Niyamas?
The Niyamas are a set of practices and habits that guide us a bit deeper, deeper into our own internal growth and processes. Incorporating the Niyamas into your daily life is not as quick and easy as adding a fruit smoothie or taking your vitamins (I love smoothies btw 🥰), but the benefits of observing the practices over the span of a lifetime are immeasurable. Living a happy, healthy, and holy life is a human right - but it takes practice 🖤
Going forward, I’ll be sharing my take on each of these restraints and observances. I’ve spent many years with a body that experiences persistent and intense bouts of pain. On more days than I wish were true, the movement part of the yoga practice was just out of the question. Even as I write this post, I sit in pain that I’ve been hyper focused on since about Thursday of this past week. This too shall pass, but I had to go through many years of diving deep into my non-movement yoga practice to be able to even begin to see that truth. This too shall pass.
I’m happy to answer any questions, feel free to post them here or send me a message. I don’t pretend to be a scholar on this stuff, I only teach what I practice. I’m here for you.
-savanna