Asanas

Although the best way to teach the yamas is to live them, here are some practical ways to incorporate their lessons into an asana class. Learn how to seamlessly incorporate the five niyamas into your hatha yoga class. [Aadil Palkhivala]

Yoga teachers have two choices, either they can simply stress on the practicing of asana or teach it as described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. If you select the complete yoga then first two steps of the eightfold path are the yamas and niyamas. These moral and spiritual practices aid in building the depth of human qualities.

The first limb of the eightfold path is known as “yama”. Generally this refers to as “bridle” or “rein”. It has been depicted as a constraint Patanjali that we agreeably and happily lay on ourselves to concentrate on our attempts, similarly the way a rein permits the rider to direct his horse to the way he wants to go. In this context, self-control acts a positive influence in our lives, the essential ability to complete one’s tasks enables one to move ahead in the direction of the realization of our dharma or as you may say “purpose of life”. There are five yamas namely; kindness, truthfulness, abundance, continence and self reliance focus on our general conduct with publish and enable us to live together peacefully with others around us.

Karl Menninger said that, “What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches”. The good approach is thus that one should live yamas in order to teach them. If we exercise them in our actions and manifest them in our behaviour, we will turn into an example for our students. Therefore, we teach without making an effort. But there are certain ways to embody yamas into an asana class.

In classical yoga, Patanjali placed yama and niyama before asana on the eightfold path. Most modern students learn asana first, without reference to the other essential limbs on the tree of yoga. If you teach hatha yoga, it can be difficult to ground the teaching in classical philosophy. Here we offer ways to seamlessly incorporate the five niyamas into an asana class.

Ahimsa n Saucha

Featured Yama - Ahimsa

In traditional form, Ahimsa refers to “do not hurt or kill people”. It can be thus inferred from it that we should refrain from having a feelings, thoughts, actions or words pertaining to violence. The fundamental meaning of it is to preserve sympathy for yourself and others. It intends to being good hearted and dealing everything with care.

We often get to see in class that in many cases students push themselves pretty hard when they should pull back, fight when they should give up, push their bodies through when they are not yet ready for doing things. When such instances are witnesses it the best time to raise the topic of ahimsa and elucidate to them that by being violent to their body implies that they are no more paying attention to it. Violence and awareness can not exist side by side. We don’t emotionally sense when we are pushing through. In an opposite manner, when we feel things we can not force. The development of feeling and awareness in the body is one of the chief purposes of Yoga, where violence produces opposite results.

Featured Niyama - Saucha (Cleanliness)

The most common translation of saucha is “cleanliness.” But saucha, at its root, is concerned with keeping different energies distinct. Saucha ensures and protects the sanctity of the energy around us. We can teach saucha through focusing on the grossest physical concerns (such as asking students to come to class without strong body odours and to wipe off sweat-drenched mats) as well as more subtle energetic issues.
There are several ways to incorporate the teachings of saucha. The first is to teach students put away their mats, props, and blankets in an orderly manner, with all the edges aligned, so that no one else will have to arrange them. This practice will help students cultivate an awareness of their surroundings.

Tell your students to be mindful of other students’ mats and to refrain from stepping on them as they cross the room to get props or go to the wall. Not only is this a hygienic practice, it also teaches the importance of keeping the energy of their own practice distinct from the energy of others. In asana practice, the mat represents the world-the way we treat our mat reflects the way we treat our world. As we teach our students to handle their mats with care, we are helping them learn the essence of respect for all things.

Tell your students that when they sit in straight lines or circles, the energies around them flow in an orderly fashion, and this keeps the energy of the room clean. If the mats are not arranged in an orderly way, one student’s energy interferes with the energy of another. When students are positioned neatly, a synergistic effect takes place-the effect of one student’s work and energy helps the rest of the class do the pose. Likewise, the energy of the collective group helps each individual do the pose.

Chanting Om or leading similar chants at the beginning of class creates a separation between the outward focus of the normal day and the inward focus of the yoga practice. Chanting Om again at the end of class seals the energy of the practice before moving back out into the world. Such a separation of energies is, once again, saucha.

This article is excerpted from a book called Living the Yamas and Niyamas, by Aadil Palkhivala.