Yoga, Anarchism and the School System

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I recently attended a captivating workshop on the Eight Limbs of Yoga. These principles were laid out in the Yoga Sutras by the sage Patanjali in the second or third century BCE. Click here is a detailed translation from the Sanskrit text. I generally steer clear of the label anarchist because I am very careful with the schisms of "isms". But, as a person that is actively exploring alternative systems that make the systems obsolete, the Eight Limbs of Yoga provide an ancient reference to anarchistic principles. They also provided me with a critical lens through which I am reevaluating my own choice of career.

Most of us are familiar with the Asanas (the Yoga poses) and some are familiar with Pranayama (breath control). Perhaps it's just me paying more attention to these topics, but I have noticed more and more people talking about the other limb of Yoga. Yama translates as bridle, 5 principles that guide and rein-in our behaviours.

The first is Ahimsa, which translates as non-violence or non-harming. It is the first and foremost thing you learn from a knowledgeable teacher, to be patient with your body and not push yourself through pain in order to achieve a pose. It is counter-intuitive for our competitive, capitalistic culture. I competed in Sprint Canoeing as a kid and played football in High School and University. I was taught to "take one for the team" and to push past your limitations through painful feats of athleticism. The victor is the one who pushes through the pain to get the prize. But how does this relate to Anarchism?

In a social sense, Ahimsa is the Non-Aggression Principle (the N.A.P.). While caring for one's self is important we must be careful that our freedom does not trample on the freedom of others. In Yoga, the more you practice mindfully, the more you become sensitive to what actually does harm to your own body and mind. This inward current of observation amplifies your perception of the negative, chaotic and destructive forces at play. Yoga helps heal these destructive forces and helps you avoid them altogether. This increased inward sensitivity expresses itself in an outward current because you are more conscious of the ways in which you may be harming others.

I am a school teacher in Nova Scotia, where education is being underfunded and teachers are being devalued. I am coming to the realization that the system in which I work is causing psychological harm to the youth and the teachers. I am seeing with more and more clarity everyday that the school system, though full of well-intending people, is an indoctrination camp that emphasizes compliance to the super-structure of the hidden curriculum. My inward current of observation through Yoga has allowed me to see my outward current of harm through my participation in the coercive tactics of teaching, which are necessary in over-crowded, over-burdened school environments.

The second Yama is Satya, or truthfulness. These principles are always applied inwardly and outwardly, so the practice of Yoga teaches the practitioner to be truthful to one's self as well as others. The truth that I am not happy in my role as a public school teacher has been staring me in the face for quite some time now, but fear has a way of blinding you from the truth. My fear of not having a stable job and of not being able to follow my passion to educate has clouded my judgement. I am learning to let go of those fears and to focus my intention in positive directions so I can get out of the school system and prosper in anarchistic domains.

The third Yama is Asteya, or non-stealing. Of course, this relates to the non-aggression principle in the sense that you are causing harm to others by taking their property or by taking advantage of their work. This can even relate to the Marxist critique of workers being used for the maintenance of a wealthy elite. I have felt like my talents are being squandered in the school system. The inefficiency of the large-scale bureaucratic school system reduces students to numbers, grades, age brackets and disability labels. It reduces teachers to automatons that spew out the government-approved curriculum. The government in Nova Scotia find it's inspiration from the corporate management culture of hierarchy and control. It is pushing a technocratic solution to everyone's favorite buzzword, "accountability", by imposing a tracking system called PowerSchool. This requires teachers to take extra time inputting data into the system. We are constantly expected to do more with less and this doesn't sit right with my new sense of Asteya.

The fourth Yama is Brahmacharya, or celibacy, but it literally means "walking with God". Many people have different interpretations of this principle. For some, it actually means abstaining from sex in order to channel their sexual energy to the devotion of God. For me personally, it means allowing my outward actions to be aligned with my inner nature. I understand that the natural world and the innermost self are interconnected and one. The school system was established during the industrial revolution in a time when nature was seen as a wild beast that needed to be dominated and tamed. This system of domination of nature and popular reliance on hierarchical, bureaucratic systems of control have little to do with alignment with nature. Are my actions governed by my own innermost values and intentions, or are they governed by capitalist values?

Finally, we come to Aparigrapha, meaning non-greed, non-hoarding or non-grasping. In the current educational climate, we still cling to the extrinsic reward systems of grades, rewards and pats on the back to motivate students to comply with our wishes. My favorite research-based thinker on this topic is Alfie Kohn. His article The Case Against Grades explains how grades diminish interest in learning and reduce the quality of students thinking. We put students through ridiculous batteries of tests and tell them not collaborate in the process because cheating is wrong. The ideal student is greedy for merit and is grasping for exclusive rewards. This worked well for a few generations, but our economic reality is changing.

Students are not seeing 21st Century culture reflected in the curriculum, and rightly so. We need to radically rethink the very purpose of schools and education. We need to reorganize our communities in ways that give our students the technological and creative skills necessary to adapt to a rapidly changing economy. We need innovations that will reinforce mutual wealth and prosperity, instead of encouraging exclusivity, elitism. The Yamas that Patanjali outlined in the Yoga Sutras are only the first step in process of well-being and I plan on applying anarchistic and yogic values to the principles and systems that govern my world, so much as I have control.