How do you want to live your life?  Explore yoga’s ethical principles- the yamas and niyamas- to understand what brings you back over and over to your practice.  The yamas and niyamas are guidelines for living a healthy life.  Yoga is a sophisticated system of practice that can help you live mindfully, making moment to moment decisions that reflect your inner self- your mind, heart, and soul.  Just what are these tenets?

The first five(5) observances are the Yamas.  In Sanskrit, “Yama” translates literally into the word “restraints”.  They include:

1.  Ahimsa- Nonviolence

2.  Satya- Truthfulness

3.  Asteya- Nonstealing

4.  Brahmacharya- Nonexcess

5.  Aparigrahah- Nonpossessiveness

The next five (5) ethical precepts are the Niyamas.  Sanskrit teaches us that these are the “observances” of a yogic life.  They include:

1.  Saucha- Purity

2.  Santosha- Contentment

3.  Tapas- Self-Discipline

4.  Svadhyaya- Self-Study

5.  Ishvara Pranidhana- Surrender