How can we use the Principles of Yoga in 2021?

The Yamas are primarily concerned with the world around us, a guide to how we can best act towards ourselves, and others. By considering these aspects in our daily practice on and off the yoga mat, all of our decisions and actions come from a more considered, aware and ‘higher’ place, and this enables us to become more authentic towards ourselves and others.

There are 8 limbs to yoga, not just the asanas or physical poses. The first limb is made up of the ‘Yamas’; a kind of moral values or abstinences – There’s no mistake that the Yamas come first; after all, if you want to change the world, you have to start with yourself!

1. Ahimsa (non-violence)

Ahimsa can be interpreted as: non-harming to others, ourselves, or nature; not thinking negative thoughts about others or ourselves

I believe the majority of the world has come so far away from this principle that the explosion of yoga in the world is no mistake. I often use the example of the yin/yang symbol to explain what i mean by this, if you imagine the fattest part of the yang symbol just about to burst, that is where we have been and now the smallest part of the yin symbol is starting to come to life to create balance, to restore harmony. Nature knows what to do to sort itself out, we are nature, and whatever you believe about the current affairs of the world, there is a far greater picture playing out.

I study the planets above and the earth below us and it is fascinating to realise the connectedness of everything. Just like the apparent external world outside of our bodies I believe that we have the same ecosystems, cycles and intelligence inside, we may not be aware of it but it is working for us all the same. We will not see this in the surface behaviour of the majority, most folks have unwittingly had their senses dulled, their mental and emotional intelligence controlled by a system that goes against nature, against God if you feel that word, it is all the opposite to love. I have, however, noted over the past few years, the gradual emergence of the divine feminine energy, which may seem like trends and some egos may even think it was their idea, (yangness!) but it is definitely here. When I started self-love workshops 5 years ago people looked at me like I was crazy, but now you can buy a sweatshirt in Primark with The Self Love Club written all over it! I noticed that Topshop were selling zodiac sign jewellery, Oms and Hamsas on bracelets, Be Kind slogans and hearts just about everywhere! In fact the obviousness of the narcissistic, psychopathic, lack of compassion in those who believe they have the power to control nature proves to me that yin energy is gaining momentum as the push back against the rise of the feminine comes to a peak point.

I see polar opposite paths forming as we are being squeezed into making a choice, inorganic versus organic, will we be opting to genetically modify ourselves or return to our natural state, we will we continue to fill up the sea with discarded masks and kill our microbiome with antibac or will we stop filling the pockets of those enforcing, coercing and shaming people into buying such things on the pretence that it is safe and start to trust our own amazing abilities to heal. Will we start to notice that keeping us in such a low frequency state is killing us or will we defiantly start to dance, sing, gather, heal and raise each other up instead of judging people into suicide?

Being locked up for a year has led many to discover yoga, maybe as a way to keep fit at first, to meditate to deal with homeschooling, to grow vegetables to alleviate the fear of food shortages, to make their own products to save money, to start up an online business for fear of losing their jobs, some of us have even studied the true law of mankind so we do not fear the governments. So some may see this as coincidence but I see it that the dawn of realisation in what we have collectively created cannot continue, the drive for success has killed our search for meaning, take away all the material things and all we have left is ourselves. Who are we? Well I believe we are magical, if we can do this to ourselves and an entire planet then it stands to reason we can do the opposite? As much as we know it has been just a few that have steered the pirate ship to this point, I believe blaming is a waste of energy, a cop-out, it really isn’t our fault that we ended up here but it is our responsibility to clear it up.

So maybe we could start with Ahimsa, non-harming others, ourselves, or nature; not thinking negative thoughts about others or ourselves, maybe we can bring the ancient wisdom into the now and learn to live in a state of love again...

I’m filming a series of videos for my channel on the Journey Into app, exploring yoga’s ethical and moral codes, on and off the mat, applying Strala principles. Subscribers receive a free Live class via Zoom on fridays at 10am to ask questions, connect and chat. Or you can just show up on Fridays for a donation.

Find my channel here: https://app.journeyinto.com/teachers/kellie-jones