A is for Ahimsa

Three more days will mark the day that my life fell apart five years ago and lately I have decided to pick up the pieces of some of the things that I was doing at the time but never managed to finish when my life veered of its tracks. Five years ago, I had just started the Blogging From A-Z Challenge, an April blogging challenge where you write every day about the topic associated with a letter of the alphabet. At the time I successfully finished four blog posts and then disaster hit so I never finished.

I'm a few days behind but this year I am going to start anew and finish it. Yesterday I blogged about how I wanted to explore the 8 limbs of yoga, which are the philosophical underpinnings that guide the system of yoga. One the first limbs are "Yamas", which are restraints and ethical considerations in life. There are five yamas, of which ahimsa, or harmlessness, is the first yama/restraint that should guide the behavior of people engaging in yoga.

The word ahimsa means nonviolence or harmless towards yourself, towards other people, and towards your environment. Do not harm, in other words. By practicing ahimsa we engage in nonviolent behavior, speech, thought, feelings and actions. 

It's always been said that all change starts from within. We often are so harsh with ourselves in the ways that we push ourselves too hard, don't respect our own boundaries or don't put ourselves first. Lack of ahimsa manifests itself in the tendency to overwork ourselves or be overly critical of ourselves. We often beat ourselves up for mistakes that we have made and aren't as forgiving of ourselves as we are towards others. We don't listen to our instincts or what our bodies are telling us. We are sometimes surrounded by toxicity. We engage in dysfunctional coping mechanisms. And if we aren't peaceful and loving with ourselves, we won't be able to be peaceful and loving with others. 

Lately I have been thinking about my practice of ahimsa. I've noticed that one of the ways in which I am not practicing ahimsa is that I tend to overuse the word 'crazy' when describing something about myself. I say things like: This might sound crazy but (insert an innovative idea), I hope I don't sound crazy but (insert my opinion), I have a crazy idea! (insert a sentence about a great or unconventional idea), Why do people look at me like I am crazy? __ thinks I am crazy because I ____. Would you think I were crazy if I (insert fun or unconventional idea). 

Now that I noticed this pattern, I am going to work hard at replacing this type of language with more loving and compassionate language such as:

• I have an innovative idea. 
• I have a great idea! 
• I have an alternate opinion

For the next few days I am going to pay more attention to what I am saying and if I do say something about me saying or doing something "crazy", I am going to immediately correct myself and say, "No, that's not crazy, it's _____". 

There are so many aspects to ahimsa but I think that the first thing that I need to do is start with the words that I am using towards myself. It's no wonder that three people within the last week have suggested that I shouldn't do this or that because people might think I'm crazy. Of course people would say that sort of stuff to me because I say it about myself. So it's time that I change that and stop speaking so harshly about myself. 

In addition to being conscious of the language that I am using towards myself, this week I am also going to practice the following forms of ahimsa:

• Not thinking a bad word if someone cuts me off in traffic 
• Send a random card to someone
• Telling someone that they are special to me
• Honoring my body and coming out of a yoga pose if I feel fatigued or don't want to do it 

Etta Hillesum, a writer who lost her life in a concentration camp during the Holocaust, said it best:

Ultimately, we have just one moral duty,                                                                            to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves,                                                                  more and more peace,                                                                                                       and to reflect it towards others.                                                                                       And the more peace there is in us,                                                                                     the more peace there will be in our troubled world.  

You can find more letter A blog posts from other blogger by clicking here.