Ethical Policies
In the Yoga Sutras it is suggested that we cultivate certain attitudes to help us develop and maintain clarity. These suggestions - called yamas and niyamas - are there to help us avoid falling into states of confusion and misery! This way of formulating the yamas and niyamas comes from Peter Hersnack, to whom we offer our thanks.
In a very general sense, yamas can be seen as focusing on our relationship with others:
- how do we allow space for others?
- how can we be authentic in our own space?
- how can we avoid exploiting others?
- how can we retain our energies and our priorities?
- how can we avoid accumulating too much?
Similarly niyamas can be seen as focusing on our internal attitudes:
- how can we take care of ourselves (body, mind, spirit)?
- how can we accept ourselves irrespective of our state?
- can we take and maintain external support (diet, practice)?
- can we take and maintain internal support (attitude)?
- can we open to and trust?
Of course we are not able to do all of these all the time ...
But they are points of reflection to come back to and, we think, helpful reminders.