Practicing Ahimsa

I was taught growing up "to treat others the way you would like to be treated". That concept is sometimes how we explain what ahimsa means when we are teaching one of our character building words in class to our students. Ahimsa is a sanskrit word that means nonviolence or to do no harm. For our students we explain that when we are practicing ahimsa it means we are practicing kindness in our actions and our thoughts to ourselves and other living beings. It's a hard rule to grasp as a kid, at least it was when my sister made me mad or a friend said something that hurt my feelings. As I have gotten older and as I have studied yoga I have learned the depth of love and peace that exists when I can remember to be kind to myself and others. I am by no means perfect, compile a long day, traffic or stress and being kind to others is quickly forgotten. And it is unfortunately unleashed on those I am closest to.

I find it is equally opportunistic practicing on others as it is practicing on ourselves. I believe the gold in practicing ahimsa is when we practice it on ourselves first. Because doing so makes it easier to practice on others. When we do not feel good about ourselves, when we are mean to ourselves, we often take it out on others. How does it look when we are NOT practicing ahimsa with ourselves? We make ourselves wrong, we talk negatively thinking we are fat, stupid, lazy, ugly, no good, a bad _____(spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, friend, etc). When we think or internally talk to ourselves we are being violent to our mind and emotions. When we can remember to practice ahimsa, we practice kindness to ourselves, we are loving ourselves, encouraging ourselves. This practice allows and opens a deeper space of love and peace within. When we are loving and kind to ourselves it is much easier to love and be kind to others.

Ways to pracice ahimsa:

Look in the mirror and tell yourself you love your SELF
Forgive yourself for your negative thoughts and replace with positive ones
Give someone a compliment
When frustrated or angry take a few deep breaths before responding
Try to remember how you would like to be treated

Pose of the Month - Sunflower

Stand with feet double hip distance apart. Inhale stretching the arms up overhead. Exhale bend the knees, hinge at the hips and take the body forward bringing the arms down and sweeping the floor with the hands. Inhale straightening the legs and reaching arms back up over the head. This is a flowing pose and is best to do several times. Focus on breathing in when you come up and breathing out as you go down.

*This pose can be used to warm up the body.

5 Tips for Kids - Ways to Practice Ahimsa

Ahimsa means nonviolence. It means kindness in our actions and our thoughts to ourselves or to other living beings.

Sometimes our emotions can have a huge affect on how our day goes. If we get a good grade on a test or if we make a new friend, then we will be happy and cheerful. On the other hand, if we get a bad grade on a test or a friend doesn’t want to play with us at lunch, then we may get in a bad mood. No matter what situation arises, practicing ahimsa creates a more peaceful life. Although it may be easier to practice ahimsa when things have happened to make us happy and cheerful, but it is especially important to remember if we have had things happen to make us feel sad or angry.

Why should we practice ahimsa? Well, think about it this way, we can handle a negative situation in one of two ways: 1) Get angry and yell and scream and throw a tantrum, or 2) Try looking past what makes you angry by staying calm, peaceful, and loving. It takes a lot of work to practice ahimsa. It is important to stay strong so that we learn handle situations in a better manner.

Ways to practice ahimsa:
* Remember the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

* Do long, deep breathing when you feel angry or sad.

* Do your favorite yoga poses, or teach them to others.

* Do something nice for those around you.

* Practice ahimsa on small living creatures. When you see a bug in the house, help to take it outdoors instead of killing it.

WholeFoods sells Good Morning Good Night

It's exciting to see the Good Morning Good Night with
YogaBuddies CD set on display at the WholeFoods in
El Segundo, California.

Exciting Bedtime Stories video news

This afternoon we sent the YogaBuddies Bedtime Stories video and artwork content to our production folks and wanted to share the DVD cover with you.

Stay tuned - more info on the DVD release coming soon!!