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I know I said my next blog would be on Satya, the second Yama, “truthfulness”, but the truth is I’m still working on Ahimsa. This is not surprising, as Gandhi spent his entire life practicing Ahimsa, and made great political advances in the process.

Last night, Alanna came to our teacher training last night to share her knowledge and journey into yoga. Alanna is the JivaDiva. I wanted to personally thank her. Not only did she inspire me to continue my journey towards Ahimsa, but she has also inspired me to further investigate my interest in Jivamuki Yoga.

As in my last blog, Ahimsa means “non-violence”. A good place to start is to simply, be kind. With the simple practice of always being kind, you yourself are practicing Ahimsa. This may not be as simple as it sounds. As soon as you hop into your car in the morning, start thinking “be kind”, as your neighbor cuts you off, or a bus decides to put on his blinkers in front of you.

Start by being kind to yourself. One of my students related to this last week in class. I started the class with the simple notion of being kind to herself. She was stressed from a long week of working in the high-tech world. We started with grounding in child-pose, and recognizing that it’s OK to take care, spend the next hour focusing on yoga, and being kind to herself. In order to share kindless and peace, it must come from within, and being kind to yourself is the perfect foundation.

Be kind to yourself, your co-workers, your fellow parents at your child’s school, your neighbors, your x-spouse, your family and everyone around you. Be kind to your enemies, and they will learn from your kindness. Kindless comes from the heart. As your kindness spreads, good karma will return to you.

Namaste

PS: If you haven’t already, please visit Alanna’s JivaDiva website. It’s a wonderful educational resource on yoga, complete with Podcasts (yes, Yogi’s Podcast!), chants and meditation, and other great treats for yogis.