Today I’ve been musing on nonviolence (ahimsa) as it relates to teaching and practicing yoga. Nonviolence refers to more than overt displays of physical harm. I believe it’s present anywhere one entity malignantly suppresses the healthy expression of another entity. This can happen between groups and individuals, and it can also manifest between parts of a single person’s psyche. When our inner critic relentlessly batters us, as it is wont to do, we inflict a form of violence toward ourselves. There is an inner struggle for power and domination over aspects of ourself that are conceived of as “less than” or “not good enough.” Violence manifests in many ways that are sometimes obvious and sometimes insidious.

Ahimsa is often touted as one of the most important of the yamas and niyamas (the ethical guidelines outlined in the 8-limbed path of ashtanga yoga). What does it mean to practice yoga in such a way that upholds ahimsa as a core value? As instructors, to what degree might the way we teach yoga actually perpetuate violence? Is ahimsa something that can ever be fully achieved? If not, to what extent can we grow toward it as an ideal?

I have a lot of questions that I want to explore. Some of them include:

1. How does white, western appropriation of yoga harm the cultures from which the tradition(s) originated?
2. How might we unconsciously cause harm to our physical bodies through our yoga practice?
3. How might we unconsciously cause harm to our psyches through our yoga practice?
4. And, (importantly): How can we further move in the direction of ahimsa?

I want to take a moment to talk about the third question listed above. Can yoga practice really harm our psyches? Our mental health? I think the answer is yes! If not attended to with discriminative awareness (viveka), we might rehearse patterns of violence every time we step on the mat, causing them to become more deeply entrenched habits. Instead of practicing yoga, we might primarily practice sabotaging ourselves for not being “_______ enough.”

However, question 3 also prompts an inquiry into some ideas that are potentially more contentious. Are some practices dangerous for certain people? Again, I think the answer is yes. For those with trauma, it appears that mindfulness practice sometimes does more harm than good. As someone who has been attached to the idea of mindfulness as a panacea for all of society’s troubles, this has been a hard one for me to accept. What are some of the other assumptions we make about our practices that could use revision? How can we better meet the diverse needs of our students (while also acknowledging the reality that we can’t be all things to all people)?

I don’t at all wish to undermine ashtanga yoga as a profoundly intelligent and largely effective system for growth and Self-realization. I do, however, want to explore the ways in which we as students (and teachers) can more fully integrate the values that are expounded in this 8-limbed path… starting with ahimsa.