Inside Yama & Niyama with Swami Karunananda, Part 1

from others, when I express mine, it is anger, is it ever a problem for me, how could I do better? Any of those will resonate with anyone. I'll tell you when I started practicing Yama, new Yama, the first one was something of his, so I was a new beginner. and like a new beginner, I was totally excited, very excited and absolutely clueless as to my ability, those are the two signs of beginner's enthusiasm and lack of knowledge, so I decided that in the name of in hamsa I was going to be nonviolent and I thought. word and action and then Gurudev suggested in that retreat that if we set a resolution we should also set a consequence in case we slept that way we would always be asserting our dominance over the mind and the consequence should be something more good, something positive like a little more prana

yama

or maybe offering some extra service or a little more meditation that way you always move forward but again I was a total beginner so I said I was going to be totally non-violent and I thought in words or deeds what if I slip I fasted all day with no idea, absolutely no idea and I would say that my mind, the lower mind, was up to the challenge that I had given it.

I would wake up in the morning and within 90 seconds I would find something to get angry about that normally would never happen, but I would have had a break in ahimsa and wouldn't need to fast all day, so this went on for a month. It was probably not very pleasant to live with and I became much thinner, but I kept my determination because I had written a note to Gurudev telling him that this is what I was going to do, so I had to order. to lock him up with no room for maneuver there, but as the months went by I practiced, the other nine had learned so much that I decided to do another round another year there was my old friend ahimsa and I was a much wiser, more mature and experienced seeker in this.

So instead of having the nerve to be non-violent and think in words and deeds, my goal for this month and I tell you honestly was to eat. I wanted to narrow my goal down to a point that was so doable that I was confident I wouldn't do it. I don't have to fast, here you see the maturity of a spiritual seeker, so anyway it showed more discernment about my capacity, so I looked inward and my first step was that I immediately eliminated all thoughts. I'm not going to try to control my thoughts. so I thought I'm not going to try to control my words, what if something bothers me and something slips out of my mouth?

So I was like, “Okay, just on the physical action level,” and then I was like, that's too broad, let me do it again. more and I kept deleting deleting deleting deleting so until I got to one thing doors doors in the name of ahimsa all I had to do was not slam the door and I could eat that day so number one I would say it was absolutely humiliating I realize that this was where I was before, it was like I was trying to run a marathon when I didn't even know how to crawl, this matched the level of my work capacity and that's why I remember that month when I tried not to do it. closing doors as the true beginning of my spiritual practice in this life because when you think about it, we walk through doors all day, so every time I walk through a door I have to become conscious if we leave our spiritual practice on the mat or on the cushion?

How much time do we spend doing meditation or hatha yoga? The real skill the real art in spiritual practice involves finding ways to bring that practice into daily life and have it integrated into who we really are, so there were doors everywhere and not just that. I was going to close the window and I was going, oh my God, it's a sliding door. I'm going to cover a box. A door. I was going to close a zipper. It's another door. There were doors, doors, doors everywhere. It was fantastic. real learning experience, so I prepared a sheet on how to practice Yama ni

yama

.

Sam said he would make it available on the live stream and it will be available in the comprehensive yoga email magazine that comes out this week, maybe in other places where it doesn't. I don't know, but I'll just touch on a couple of points that are they explain. One of them is to set goals for practice. Don't overdo it, you'll only get frustrated. Don't end up starving for a month. Learn from my nonsense. Your goal makes your consequences doable, achievable but a little challenging, so if you put in the effort you will succeed. It's like building a muscle, if there is no work to do, the duty will not get stronger, if there is too much, it will fatigue you.

I'll give up out of frustration, so choose your goal wisely, basically, slow and steady, win the race, okay, the other thing, choose your consequence wisely, have fun with it, choose something that's really effective for you, do of your mind your ally instead of triggering its resistance if you are triggering its resistance in a way that is a subtle trick of the mind to undermine your efforts. I once taught a workshop and there was a classmate in the class who told us that he had a habit, he said it was a bad habit that he had tried for years. and years and years to overcome without success and then one day he decided to set a consequence that if he did it again this was the consequence and the consequence he chose was that if he slept he would have to make a large generous donation to a political institution. organization whose mission he hated that was his consequence he said he made a mistake once he sat down at his desk he wrote that check he put it in an envelope he nailed it and it was so unpleasant for him that he never made a mistake again so the idea is not one knows us better than we know ourselves and if we really want to grow we can make it fun, creative and enjoy, enjoy the process, enjoy the game and the third point I want tonight is to set your goal to find a consequence and then take a little. time every day, preferably right before you retire, to pause, reflect and see how your day went regarding what you're working on and make some notes, call it a spiritual journal, a spiritual diary, the simple act of reflection , writing it down and then taking a moment to absorb it is a powerful tool to keep us on the path to reaching our goal and gaining a deeper understanding of the power and benefits of what that quality or virtue has to offer, so I would encourage us to everyone, I would say if we care about ourselves and if we care about our world, we must make a new effort or a renewed effort to engage in this practice on a continuous basis, the entire world today longs for peace and what we are seeing is a polarization growing no matter what your situation.

Just political persuasion, no matter what your religious belief, I think we would all agree that there is increasing polarization, violence and greed cause so much suffering, falsehood and deception, confusing all the issues, the elements themselves, the Earth, water, wind, fire, are unbalanced, wreaking havoc everywhere. And instead of feeling helpless or hopeless when we read the news, we can do something to really help change things. These precepts go to the heart of what is somehow tearing us a

part

today. They help us recognize the unity of all creation, the interconnectedness of all life they help us overcome the violence in our own hearts and let love and compassion run deeper we are

part

of the world we are more powerful than we thought look what a Buddha did a Jesus when Swami like Ananda a Mother Teresa like that many great sages and saints one person can help change the hearts of millions and we can be part of that effort by supporting each other in our practice impacting others at our side. around in beautiful ways and never doubt that the ripple effects of our little Humber practice will circle the world, so if we care about the world, if we want to ensure a good future for our children and future generations, let it start with us in ways that they are more powerful than we can imagine and that they can make a real and significant difference, thank you.