How to Apply the Five Moral Restrants to Your Yoga Practice

If you take yoga seriously, you'll want to be cognizant of the five moral restraints (the yamas) both while practicing on the mat and while living everyday life. Internalize each of the yamas so that it will best apply to your life circumstances. Think about the yamas as you move through the many poses in your yoga routine, and then look for ways to put these thoughts into action in real life.

The very first yama is referred to as ahimsa, which means practice of non-violence. This may mean practicing kindness towards a neighbor, a coworker, or a partner. Perhaps you will live this by practicing patience with a trying coworker or gentleness with a child, or maybe you will project global kindness towards all of mankind, recognizing our unifying humanity.

Yama number two is the decision to honor truthfulness, called satya. How you use this principle is up to you; you may wish to guard your tongue against anything but telling the truth, or perhaps you will internalize this to seek only truth and goodness inside yourself. You might embrace this principle by speaking words of truth or by honoring your integrity and the integrity of others.

The third yama is asteya, or refusal to steal. This can be anything as small as not reporting a bank error or as big as not stealing a coworker’s ideas. Another way to use this yama is to decide that you will not take more than you need from others, meaning the world at large and people with whom you interact.

Number four is brahmacarya, which is the moral restraint of moderation. You can practice this by thinking through what extremes tempt you, such as overeating, oversleeping, excessive drinking, or any other way you take too much or indulge too much. By living moderately and avoiding extremes, you will have the energy and resources to give to others.

The last yama is aparigrapha, or refusal to hoard for oneself. This principle leads us to never hoard our possessions, but to give freely, sharing with others in need.

The practice of the yamas leads to enlightenment and fulfillment, as is found throught he earnest practice of yoga.