Yama in Yoga: The Five Ethical Foundations
Yoga, in the form most of us know it, is about postures. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the best-known classical text, postures are the third of eight limbs. The first limb is ethical: the yamas.
What the yamas are
Yama is usually translated as restraint. The Yoga Sutras name five (2.30): ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha. They are about how you deal with other people and with the world. The text calls them a great vow that holds regardless of place, time or circumstance (2.31).
The five yamas
- Ahimsa, non-harming. Not hurting others, in action or in thought, and that includes yourself. It is not the same as being nice. Sometimes it takes firmness.
- Satya, truthfulness. Speaking and acting honestly, with care for what the truth will do.
- Asteya, not stealing. Not taking what is not given, including credit, time and attention.
- Brahmacharya, traditionally continence or celibacy, now often read as using your energy with moderation. Both readings are in circulation, and it is worth knowing which one a teacher means.
- Aparigraha, non-possessiveness. Not hoarding, not clinging, taking what you need.
Why they come first
The order is the point. The tradition puts conduct before postures and breath, on the view that a calm mind is hard to build while you are lying, harming people or grasping. You may not agree. But it is worth noticing how much of modern yoga skips straight to the third limb.
Yama and niyama
The second limb, niyama, is the companion list of five observances about your own conduct: cleanliness, contentment, discipline, self-study and surrender. Together they are often called the yamas and niyamas.
Using them in practice
Nobody practises five principles perfectly. A useful way in is to pick one and watch it for a week. Where do you cut corners with the truth? Where do you take more than you give? Where does “being nice” hide a refusal to be honest? You will learn more from the answers than from another hour of stretching.
I go through this in more detail on my YouTube channel, The Slow Initiation, which starts where the texts start.
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