Finding Ahimsa On and Off the Mat

“To practice ahimsa, first of all we have to practice it within ourselves... If we want to head north, we can use the North Star as our guide. Our effort is only to proceed in that direction” ~Thich Nhat Hanh, The Path of Harmlessness

At times, through the course of your yoga practice, have you ever been so into the flow of your practice, so on your yoga “high” that you’ve pushed yourself too hard, too fast? You’re breathing, you’re moving, you’re “vinyasa-ing” and suddenly you can fold deeper and twist further than you ever have before. Everything is going beautifully. Then, without quite knowing when, or how it happened, you find yourself with pain, soreness or even an injury—from your yoga practice! Few non-yogis would think to associate yoga with serious injury, but for those it’s happened to, it can be all too frustrating. However, an injury offers a chance to return to the place of compassion and patience encouraged by ahimsa.

In the classical sense, ahimsa means non-injury, non-violence, or harmlessness. When we hear the word ahimsa, we most often think of non-violence toward our fellow human beings: no violence, no killing, no war. Of course, it is vitally important to avoid non-violence toward others in order to promote peace and understanding in our society; but in order to truly embody this ideal, shouldn’t we also apply this first of Patanjali’s yamas to ourselves? In terms of our daily lives and activities, including yoga, this means we must know, understand, and respect our Selves and our bodies. So often in yoga, we think we should push past our limits because that’s the only way to “progress” in a posture. Or, we see the person next to us can hook their ankle behind their head, and we feel that "surely I can do that, too." Unfortunately, it is this inner, almost subconscious, competition within our minds that goes against the principle of ahimsa.

When we have a deeper understanding of these things closest to us, we can know and sense our own strengths and boundaries. From here, we can work with our limitations, taking our practice to the edge without falling off it and into injury, and employing this same principle to our other activities and relationships.