Ahimsa-Nonviolence

I've been wanting to blog lately, so this is the perfect time to start again! I so desperately want to share what I learn with the world. I read a passage from Meditations from the Mat almost daily and I'd like to share some of what I learn here. Here is the passage from Day 19:


"Well, darkness has a hunger that's insatiable, and lightness has a call that's hard to hear."  -Indigo Girls


"I read recently that a new war crime has been added to the list of crimes the United Nations is prosecuting. I spent some time digesting this information, willing myself to envision its victims and to imagine its perpetrators as my brothers and sisters. I tried to feel for a moment the suffering of human beings lost in the living hell that is war. My work with children and families in the relatively quiet towns and cities of the United States has given me a sense of the universality of that suffering. There is no end to it, and we minimize this truth, or believe that we are somehow disconnected from it, at our own peril.
Not long ago, a friend of mine, went to a gas station to call for help with her drug problem. She couldn't use the phone in her apartment because she had already sold it for drugs. A few months later, after cleaning up her act a little, she went back to using drugs--only to experience far greater consequences this time. Who among us has not either fallen into a downward spiral or been afraid of following in my friend's footsteps? Who has not known the insatiable hunger of darkness? 
'Lightness is has a call that's hard to hear,' but each time we choose to hear it, the call becomes a little clearer. We spend our days badgered by voices that tell us to judge other, fear others, harm others, or harm ourselves. But we are not obligated to listen to those voices, or even to take responsibility for them. They may be where we came from, but they are not where we are going. There is another voice, a voice that shines. Ahimsa is the practice of listening to that voice of lightness, cultivating that voice, trusting that voice, acting upon that voice."


Ahimsa means nonviolence in thought, speech, and action. It is one of the cornerstone practices of yoga. We are asked to pay no attention to those negative, harmful thoughts about both others and ourselves. As we go about our daily life, let go of those thoughts and embrace the positive, light ones. See how this works for you. Remember, we are all connected :) 


Peace.