The Yamas on 2020

Another year will soon be over, for some this year has been truly devastating, and for others an opportunity for more time and reflection. Some people have had to make really big life choices and change the way they live entirely. 

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we take so much for granted. I hope that 2021 is brighter for us all and we can ‘get back to normal’, but I also really hope that people remember this time and appreciate more of the small things that life offers, but also absolutely take advantage of being able to go anywhere and do anything again.

Ahimsa - Nonharming

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you feel like someone or something is having a negative impact on you, it’s perhaps changing you in some way, it’s stopping you from feeling like you can be yourself, then that person or that thing is not serving you.

If someone or something, ever makes you feel undervalued or unappreciated, and in any way not the special, sparkly, unicorn, fairy that you are, then that person or that thing needs not be in your life.

Constantly living a life feeling undervalued, unfulfilled, unappreciated is not a life - if you’re feeling like this and you’re unsure what to do, please refer to the next section of this blog. 2020 has taught us to value the little things, if you’re striving for something or someone that’s not right for you, you’re wasting your energy and time that could be spent elsewhere.

The same can be said for your yoga practice, you can try and try and try with a posture, but sometimes you have to step away, approach it from a different angel, try some different preparatory postures and be kind to your body in the process.

‘If your compassion does not include yourself it is incomplete’ - Jack Kornfield


Satya - Truthfulness

Unlike the unfortunate tree you do not have physical roots. If you’re not happy where you are, then being mindful of how and when, ..leave, move, go wherever it is the wind takes you. Quit the job. Buy the dress. Just make sure you do it before you can’t.

When you look back on your life, you should look back with a smile. You should look back and be happy about how you lived, and what you did. Yes you’ll have made mistakes along the way, thats life, thats’ learning, ..but we shouldn’t look back with sadness or regret of wasted time. If you feel like, that if you looked back now, you wouldn’t be happy, then now’s the time to change.

Within our yoga practice we learn very early on to be truthful on the mat, to not practice with any sort fo ego, because it won’t help us, our bodies or our practice in the long run.

‘Decide what your truth is. Then live it!’ - Kamal Ravikant

Asteya - Nonstealing

When we start the journey to become a yoga teacher, you learn one almost straight away, and that is not to steal from people ..I don’t mean tangible things - but time. It’s very easy to do it when you first start teaching because your mind is busy concentrating on remembering your sequence, and checking your students, and trying to help them all in every posture, that time can literally run away from you and before you know it, you’re 10minutes over, and then next class is due to start and you’ve not even got them into Shavasana. They’re now not relaxed and enjoying their practice because they’re thinking about the fact they’re going to be late picking the children up, or getting back to start dinner.

This year, we’ve had time stolen. Time with loved ones has been halted and there’s nothing we’ve been able to do about it. Remember that when the world starts spinning normally again, remember the time that you would have done anything to have just 10minutes with a loved one. Cherish it all a little bit more than you did before the time was stolen.

‘The two most powerful warriors are patience and time’ - Leo Tolstoy

Brahmacharya - Moderation

Moderation has been something that we’ve all had to comply with this year. Moderation in terms of how often we go out, where we go out, who we see and how often we see them. We’ve almost had our wings clipped this year, and had to reduce and moderate in many areas of our lives.

I hope that moving forward from this pandemic, we remember the times we had to stay at home, and remember all the zoom calls, and different ways of meeting, different ways of supporting friends, family and neighbours because of the moderation we’ve had to live by.

The same can be said for our physical yoga practice - we don’t have to be on the mat practicing asanas daily to practice yoga, and your bodies will thank you for the moderation you instil in terms of this. Remember without the breath their is no yoga.

‘Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance’ - Epicurus

Asparigraha - Generosity

2020 has been a year for giving. It’s been a year of loss in many ways, but the world has truly, and for what feels like the first time really come together, joined forces and become one team to fight this pandemic.

Certainly here in the UK, we have come together as a nation and generously given support for a whole array of causes, that due to the pandemic were in desperate need, even when sometimes we were in need ourselves.

I think it truly shows our worth as a nation when despite everything, people still want to help people that they don’t even know.

It’s reminded me of when I was learning to teach yoga, I completely fell out of love with my own practice during that time. I was struggling to retain the information I should have been learning, and I questioned why on earth I’d decided to do this training in the first place.

Then I remembered why I love yoga, how it made me feel, mind, body and soul, and although this training was incredibly intense and so much more in-depth and difficult than I ever imagined it would be, I still wanted to share yoga, I wanted to give someone else what had been given to me the first time I stepped on the mat, and so I completed my training.

As soon as you pass and become a yoga teacher, that aspect of your life is all about giving, about being generous with your energy and your time, to give your students the stillness with movement, to reach Samadhi and find enlightenment.

‘For it is in the giving, that we receive’ - Saint Francis of Assisi

From all of us at Yoga Course - we wish you love and light for 2021!

Want to know more?

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