Ahimsa
Ahimsa is a beautiful sanskrit word meaning "non-violence toward living creatures" that has deep roots in Indian and Hindi culture. Imagine not causing any harm to a living being. I think this is such a wonderful rule of thumb and since I learnt about it I've been more conscious of the consequences of my actions and my words.
It shows a respect for all living things and avoid any violence. Naturally it's hard to avoid any kind at all, because we're not aware of everything that happens around us. Like one of my teachers said: "you say hello to a friend and then you step on an ant"! The thought is to not cause harm on purpose.
It's easy to think of violence as something you do to others. "I'm not a violent person because don't do any fighting". Ahimsa is not just describing physical actions, it also includes the words you use. Sometimes we say things out of spite because we've been offended, we're angry or we feel we've been wronged. Instead of seeing it first with a calm mind or from someone else's point of view, it's easy to go off on a tantrum and cause maure harm than necessary.
So now we know that ahimsa is not causing any creatures of the earth any harm by words or by actions, but what about yourself?
You are also a living being. If you practice the concept of ahimsa you should also avoid causing harm to yourself. Think about this during your next work-out session or during your next yoga practice. Are you hurting yourself? Pushing yourself is fine, but there's a fine line between that and going too far.
The last thing that can cause you hurt is your thoughts. Are you aware of the things going through your head during a day? What things you say to yourself? Do you constantly tell you that you can't do this, that you're not pretty, that your body is ugly etc?
Often we're not even aware of the bad things we constantly tell ourselves during the day. Would you accept it if one of your friends said all of these things to you? No one wants someone walking next to them saying degrading and rude things to them all day, yet we do it to ourselves way too often.
Be gentle towards yourself.
Ahimsa can according to Mahatma Ghandi be practices in all affairs of life. So try focusing on not causing any harm the next week and see how you feel. :)
Love
T
nice photos
Thank you kindly.
Beautiful expression of this energy. I love the scenery where you are practicing your poses.
Yoga pretty much saved me in many ways to be able to manage peace in a disrupted world enough to even feel that word. Self-love, indeed. <3
wow beautiful pics with great quality. Thanks for shared!!
Thank you so much. It's from a beach called Bore in Norway. :)
Hey, I loved reading this article. I had to read it three times to really get an in-depth feeling of what you were talking about. We all need to try to be non violent in our daily deeds. It's true the actions of people most times can stir up tempers and push in negative vibes but if we can have self control over ourself and control our thoughts then we'd be able to live happier lives.
Thank you for adding value to my life today xoxo:)
This made my heart smile. Thank you for this lovely comment! When I first heard about this I naturally thought about physical violence, and since I wasn't doing any of that I felt I was in the clear.
But then when I thought about how much I used to push my body and things I would think of myself, I realised that I wasn't practicing it at all. It's an important thing to be aware of, our minds. :)