EXPLORING THE NIYAMAS,
YOGA’S SECOND LIMB
a 5-week series guided by Kristi Cole
as always, included for members
creating a life rooted in love
This past January, I offered a 5-week course Exploring the Yamas, Yoga’s 1st Limb. Together we explored the principles of non-harming, truthfulness, non-stealing, balance and letting go. I now bring to you part 2: Exploring the Niyamas, Yoga’s 2nd Limb.
During the next 5 weeks, we will dive into the 5 powerful practices of the Niyamas: purity, contentment, self-discipline, self-study and surrender. Each class will have moments of meditation and dharma talks as well as a physical practice. For further contemplation, spend some time with the journal questions provided each week.
Practice in your time and go at your own pace, revisiting lessons as often as you need to acknowledge and appreciate their depth.
“The yamas are the fundamental renunciation of a life based on fear. They are the change. The niyamas are the fundamental practices that sustain a life based on love. They sustain the change.”
In case you missed it or want to revisit …
purity
SAUCHA
“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”
— HANS HOFMANN
journal: Examining how you spend the majority of your day, what do you allow in? Consider media consumed, your closest relationships , your work environment, etc. How does this impact your way of thinking?
contentment
SANTOSHA
“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.”
— PEMA CHÖDRÖN
journal: Where in your life are you experiencing what I call “gap mentality”—living in the gap of where you are and where you want to be; therefore, always falling short? How can you cultivate radical acceptance for where you are right now in this moment?
self-discipline
TAPAS
“Transformation isn’t sweet and bright. It’s a dark and murky, painful pushing. An unravelling of the untruths you’ve carried in your body. A practice in facing your own created distortions. A complete uprooting before becoming.”
— VICTORIA ERICKSON
journal: Tapas asked us to stand and face life’s greatest challenges with a mighty + sustained effort. What areas in your life do you avoid, retreat? What actions can you take to create true transformation?
self-study
SVADHYAYA
“Be the silent watcher of your thoughts and behavior. You are beneath the thinker. You are the stillness beneath the mental noise. You are the love and joy beneath the pain.”
— ECKHART TOLLE
journal: What are you currently learning about yourself? How does this show up in your practice on the mat and the way you live life off of it?
surrender
ISHVARA PRANIDHANA
“We have never stayed home long enough to experience the truth about ourselves”
— ERIC SHIFFMAN
journal: Where in your life can your ease the grasp for control and apply a bit more trust moving toward ultimate surrender?
“There is no expected pace for inner learning. What we need to learn comes when we need it, no matter how old or young, no matter how many times we have to start over, no matter how many times we have to learn the same lesson. We fall down as many times as we need to, to learn how to get up. We fall in love as many times as we need to to learn how to hold and be held. We misunderstand the many voices of truth as many times as we need to, to truly hear the choir of diversity that surrounds us. We suffer our pain as often as is necessary for us to learn how to break and how to heal. No one really likes this, of course, but we deal with our dislike in the same way, again and again, until we learn what we need to know about the humility of acceptance.”
MARK NEPO