The Yamas & Niyamas: Your Guide to New Year's Resolutions
We have reached the New Year!
As many will, you might enter this new year (and decade) with desires for your life and future. Things you want to do, ways you want to be, and impacts you want to have may all be factors that influence your “resolution” decisions.
When it comes to creating new habits, or changing old ones, we can look to the practice of yoga to help guide us in what we choose to do and how we choose to do it.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is a foundational yoga text that tells of the true purpose of yoga – beyond the warriors and the handstands. It teaches about the definition, purpose, practice, and results of yoga. While The Sutras can be used in many ways to help create change in 2020, the second chapter, “Sadhana Pada” is one to focus on.
A Sanskrit word meaning routine spiritual practice, having a Sadhana is committing to doing the same exact thing at a regular, set frequency, for the sake of learning more about yourself and the way you interact with the world.
Two subjects covered in Sadhana Pada are the Yamas & Niyamas. These are sometimes referred to as yoga’s ethical guidelines or yoga’s moral code of conduct. Below is a brief overview of these philosophies with suggestions on how you can use them to create desired change in 2020.
The Yamas
Often translated as “restraint,” the Yamas are universal moral vows. They help us act towards our external world and ourselves more skillfully. The five Yamas are:
Ahimsa: Non-violence
2020 Resolution examples:
Only do poses that will help heal your aches, pains, and injuries.
Become a vegan or vegetarian (unless doing so would be harmful to you).
Start each day saying five compassionate things to yourself in the mirror.
Satya: Truthfulness
2020 Resolution examples:
Spend ten minutes each day observing your thoughts.
Take a resting posture in class any time your breath becomes labored.
Before you speak to others, ask yourself “is what I’m about to say true, kind, and necessary?” If it isn’t, don’t speak.
Asteya: Non-stealing
2020 Resolution examples:
Restrain from doing handstands at the end of class while everyone else is resting (to not steal others’ peace)
Don’t buy any new clothes for the year.
Go to therapy to resolve issues you’ve been avoiding so as to not steal your chance of emotional/mental freedom.
Brahmacharya: Energy management
2020 Resolution examples:
Commit to 8 hours of sleep each night.
Don’t use technology from 7pm-7am every day.
Practice being silent one day each week.
Aparigraha: Non-attachment
2020 Resolution examples:
Keep track of the clothes you wear. Donate any clothes you have not worn at the end of each season.
Start doing something that you’ve wanted to do – a new hobby, instrument, sport, or language - simply for the joy of experiencing something new.
Every time someone compliments something you are wearing, offer it to them.
The Niyamas
Often translated as “positive duties,” the Niyamas are practices concerned with ourselves, our spiritual practice, and our inner-world. The five Niyamas are:
Saucha: Cleanliness/Purity
2020 Resolution examples:
Use a Neti pot every morning.
When yoga class ends, neatly roll up your strap, fold your blanket, and put your blocks away.
Make your bed every morning.
Santosha: Contentment
2020 Resolution examples:
Every time you are on your mat, take time to appreciate your body for all it can do.
Reach out to someone with whom you have conflict for the sake of finding forgiveness and/or resolution.
Write 5 things you are grateful for in a journal each morning.
Tapas: Fiery discipline
2020 Resolution examples:
Take one yoga class/week that you are resisting.
Give up smoking or drinking.
Think of something you’ve been putting off trying because of fear. Start doing that thing this year.
Svadyaya: Self-study
2020 Resolution examples:
Commit to reading 6 yogic/spiritual/self-help texts this year.
Go on a meditation, leadership, yoga, or coaching retreat.
Start a daily meditation practice.
Isvara Pranidhana: Surrender
2020 Resolution examples:
Start going to a place of worship each week.
Begin a regular Restorative Yoga or Yoga Nidra practice.
Meditate on the Serenity Prayer.
Whether it is a “New Year’s Resolution” or just a way in which you desire to create change in your life, yoga can help guide you in choosing what to do and how to do it.
If you are interested in learning more about the Yamas and Niyamas, Kimberely Copeland and Kristen Brunello are offering a weekend intensive January 11-12!