The 5 Niyamas of Yoga

By Kelly Smith, 300 hour Bali yoga teacher training student  

According to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, written nearly 2,000 years ago, the second limb of yoga is the Niyamas. The Niyamas are daily observances that guide us to show  full and gratifying life. These observances, which include purity, contentment, self-discipline, self-study, and surrender, show us how to be fully present to life in each moment. The practice of the Niyamas is like our yoga practice—we show up every day and do our best. 

Saucha, purity, invites us to keep our bodies, minds, and thoughts clean. In yoga we use cleansing not just for the physical body but for our thoughts so that we can cultivate mindfulness. Cleansing removes residue that has built up in our lives. Perhaps you need to cleanse emotional residue by letting go of grudges or past experiences. Or maybe you would benefit from giving up mental residue by living in the moment rather than the past or future. Saucha challenges us to look at all aspects of our life where we might be carrying unnecessary burdens or building up residue and to allow ourselves to be clean and pure. 

Santosha, contentment, challenges us to be happy and content with what we have. We live in a world that is constantly telling us what we don’t have, what we should have and how we will be happier based on material things. Santosha tells us to stop looking to the outside world and instead be content with what we already have in our possession. When you look inward, you see that you already have everything that you need. To practice contentment is to practice gratitude for each and every moment, quality, and experience you have every day. 

Tapas literally means heat but also means self-discipline. The Niyama of Tapas teaches us to slowly burn away our less desirable traits such as laziness, selfishness and ego to make room for growth. When we practice Tapas we are practicing the art of self-discipline by doing things like our daily yoga practice, eating nourishing foods, and practicing compassion. When we do these things we slowly dissipate what we don’t need to better enable us to live our passion and continue our journey of growth. 

Svadhyaya, self-study, teaches us to become an observer of our bodies and minds. When I think of Svadhyaya, I think of those Russian Matryoshka—you know, those nesting dolls that consist of a series of dolls in graduated sizes hidden within one another. When you start to remove the outer layers, eventually you reach the core, which is the original doll. We need to unpack the larger copies of ourselves until we reach our core, which is our divine essence. We practice self-study through our yoga practice and our meditation practice and being mindful throughout the day as we interact with others and ourself. Do not be afraid of what you might find or see when you practice self-study and do not shut out the unpleasant parts of yourself. Just observe them. 

Ishvara Pranidhana, or surrender, is more than the practice of savanasa at the end of yoga class. To surrender is to accept the creative force behind our life, our universal consciousness, at work. Through this Niyama we are taught to meet life with courage and to accept each moment with an open heart. Surrender teaches us that there is purpose in everything and to let go of attachments. We cannot control the moment and when we acknowledge this and  let go of control we can move through life lightly. 

The 5 Yamas of Yoga

By Kelly Smith, 300 hour Bali yoga teacher training student  

Nearly 2,000 years ago, Patanjali gave the world the Yoga Sutras. Also known as the eightfold path, the Sutras comprise eight limbs that collectively explain how to create a life of spiritual fulfillment. The first limb constitutes the Yamas, which are essentially a set of ethical standards. The Yamas are less commandments than they are reminders of the fundamental goodness of the human spirit and comprise traits that tend to come naturally to us with a dedicated practice of asana, pranayama, and meditation. The Yamas comprise Ahimsa (nonviolence), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (nonstealing), Bramacharya (nonexcess), and Apariagraha (nonpossesiveness). Though ancient, these principles still help us navigate contemporary life, almost like a moral GPS.

Ahimsa, or nonviolence, is the first Yama. It refers to embracing a peaceful manner with all living beings and forms the foundation of the Yamas as well as our entire yoga practice. As yogis, we tend to gravitate toward peaceful behavior. However, nonviolence doesn't apply exclusively to how we treat others. It also applies to how we treat ourselves. Too often we are our own worst critics, engage in negative self-talk and fail to treat ourselves with the same compassion and understanding we show to other living beings.  Ahimsa challenges us to extend that same love to ourselves.

Satya is truthfulness. This Yama goes beyond not telling lies to being honest in all aspects of life, including our thoughts and actions and not just our words. Satya is a powerful and sometimes scary act. Truth demands integrity, realness, and courage. Without truth, we will never live a real and fulfilling life. But being truly honest can be challenging. Satya asks us to look at why the truth can be so frightening. What is so scary that we decide to lie instead? Remember to not just to be honest with others, but to be honest with yourself. Do not be afraid or feel guilty about your truth. If we can find the courage to live and speak our truth then we can truly grow. Speak your mind but ground your truth in nonviolence. 

Asteya, or nonstealing, asks us to look at where in our lives we might be taking what is not rightfully ours. We can steal in many ways that aren't limited to taking an object that doesn't belong to us. Are we stealing from others by trying to be superior? Are we stealing from the earth by being wasteful? Perhaps we are stealing from ourselves because we aren’t living our lives fully? Asteya challenges us to look at all the ways we detract from our life by failing to lift others up or by selling ourselves short. When we stop these actions, we find fulfillment.

Bramacharya teaches us how to say enough is enough. This Yama is commonly translated as sexual restraint but also means restraint from any sort of unnecessary consumption in a world of excess. Bramacharya encourages us to gently reject the desire for overindulgence and to be satisfied with what we truly require in the moment. In order to achieve this, we need to become quiet, turn our gaze inward, examine our needs and find a place of just enough.  Any unspent energy can then be directed toward spiritual fulfillment. Achieving balance by taking only what we need, nothing more or less, will bring a life of clarity.

Aparigraha, or nonpossessiveness, teaches us how to let go. We live in a world that is rooted in material things. This Yama challenges us to let go of possessions and notions of “yours” and “mine" and travel through this world lightly. Aparigraha extends not only to mental and emotional attachments to objects but to loved ones, habits, and ideas. Feelings of vulnerability can surface when we let go of possessiveness, but this final Yama reminds us to live in the moment and teaches us the art of surrender in all aspects of life.