Yama and Niyama are often called the Ten Commandments of Yoga, but they have nothing to do with the ideas of sin and virtue or good and evil as dictated by some cosmic potentate. Rather they are determined by a thoroughly practical, pragmatic basis: that which strengthens and facilitates our yoga practice should be observed and that which weakens or hinders it should be avoided. It is not a matter of being good or bad, but of being wise or foolish. Each one of these Five Don’ts (Yama) and Five Do’s (Niyama) is a supporting, liberating foundation of Yoga.
Yama means self-restraint in the sense of self-mastery, or abstention, and consists of five elements. Niyama means observances, of which there are also five. Here is the complete list of these ten Pillars as given in Yoga Sutras 2:30,32:
- Ahimsa: non-violence, non-injury, harmlessness
- Satya: truthfulness, honesty
- Asteya: non-stealing, honesty, non-misappropriativeness
- Brahmacharya: sexual continence in thought, word and deed as well as control of all the senses
- Aparigraha: non-possessiveness, non-greed, non-selfishness, non-acquisitiveness
- Shaucha: purity, cleanliness
- Santosha: contentment, peacefulness
- Tapas: austerity, practical (i.e., result-producing) spiritual discipline
- Swadhyaya: introspective self-study, spiritual study
- Ishwarapranidhana: offering of one’s life to God
All of these deal with the innate powers of the human being–or rather with the abstinence and observance that will develop and release those powers to be used toward our spiritual perfection, to our self-realization and liberation. Shankara says quite forcefully that “following yama and niyama is the basic qualification to practice yoga. The qualification is not simply that one wants to practice yoga. So yama and niyama are methods of yoga” in themselves and are not mere adjuncts or aids that can be optional.
But at the same time, the practice of yoga helps the aspiring yogi to follow the necessary ways of yama and niyama, so he should not be discouraged from taking up yoga right now. He should determinedly embark on yama, niyama, and yoga simultaneously. Success will be his.
[sc_fs_faq sc_id=”fs_faqywzzylfix” html=”true” headline=”h2″ img=”7171″ question=”What are the Ten Commandments of Yoga?” img_alt=”Ten Commandments of Yoga” css_class=”” ]Yama and Niyama, as follows: <br />Ahimsa: non-injury; <br />Satya: truthfulness; <br />Asteya: non-stealing; <br />Brahmacharya: continence; <br />Aparigraha: non-greed; <br />Shaucha: purity and cleanliness; <br />Santosha: contentment; <br />Tapas: practical austerity; <br />Swadhyaya: self-study; <br />Ishwara Pranidhana: dedication of the life to God.[/sc_fs_faq]
- Read more about Yama and Niyama, the “Ten Commandments” of Yoga, in The Foundations of Yoga.
- Also a free Kindle download at Amazon.com.