Yama, freedom in relationship : Peter Hersnack

In a recent seminar in England I took some time to speak of yama and niyama, and the idea has been put forward that it could be useful if I share my thoughts about these aspect of yoga with the readers of IN.
You find below a brief distillation of my view on yama, and in a later issue I will write about niyama.

The 2nd chapter (pada) of the yoga sutra deals with our way of being in the world.
The first half of the chapter explains how our way of seeing the world and seeing ourselves creates confused relationships at every level of our life.

The second half, with the beginning of the third chapter, presents the means for reducing confusion and moving towards relationships based on freedom.

These means are the eight limbs (angas) of yoga practice and each anga aims at dissociating and clarifying the interacting parts of a particular relationship :
Our relationship with another person, with ourselves, with the body, the breath and so on, until the very interaction between our being and our perception is explored by meditation.

The first anga, yama, has five parts and concerns our relationship with another person.
What is very important ,I think, is to examine the five parts from inside of the relationship, and not focus on the person who enters into relationship.

The five yamas are not attributes to be achieved or commandments to be held, but are five points of view which can help us to deepen and clarify what happens between ourselves and another person, so that we are not confused about who is who.

I see the first two parts, ahimsâ and satya, as forming a pair which sets out the basis of the relationship.

Ahimsa is an examination of the space that I am ready to give to the other. Can I offer him a space of security and freedom, where that which is vital in him can express itself?

Satya is a constant examination of the space that I am ready to occupy myself. Am I able, with what I am, to take support on what is?

Ahimsa opens a protected space for the relationship, and satya allows for simplicity and direct interaction.

It is only when we begin to explore ahimsa and satya - the basis of relationship - that the next two yamas reveal their importance.

Asteya : how can I enter into relationship - interact - and yet not take advantage of the other ? How not to use the relationship ?

Brahmacarya : how not to loose myself in the relationship ? How to give myself and yet not loose my priorites in life ?

Asteya allows what is precious in life to reveal itself,and brahmacarya preserves and rekindles our energy for staying with whatis essential.

While the exploration of asteya and brahmacarya deepens the relationship and allows each person to be what he is, the fifth yama, aparigraha, points beyond this particular relationship :
Aparigraha is to explore the possibility of not accumulating, nor being attached to what has been found in a relationship based on freedom. Aparigraha is to accept the difference between Life and the forms by which life reveals itself. This is why the sutra says that the effect of living aparigraha is a deep understanding of “the why and the how” of life.

Staying IN touch,

Peter Hersnack