Yoga and Ahimsa

When I started Yoga, in August 2007, there was almost a general understanding (among practitioners and practicing teachers) that Yoga walked hand in hand with a vegetarian diet...

Initially, during the first three months I attended the Yoga school, no one told me anything about it, until one day I asked my dear teacher at the time: “Is there any relationship between Yoga and vegetarianism?” And he replied: “Well… Yoga itself doesn't say you should be vegetarian, but Yoga talks about AHIMSA.” And that's when I heard that word for the first time.

Ahimsa and our relationship with others

Ahimsa is the first of the Yamas, which is one of the most important concepts of Yoga. The Yamas (there are 5) are ethical rules of conduct, especially concerning how we relate to the world and to others. Note that a Yama is not about your relationship with yourself. Ahimsa, which is the first of the Yamas, is not about you, but about others.

Ahimsa is a concept strongly present in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, meaning non-harm, non-violence. Ahimsa invites us not to physically harm any living being; it invites us to respect all forms of life.

Therefore, when we give ourselves the opportunity and stop to reflect on this concept, we realize that not even an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet is in accordance with Ahimsa, because if we seek information, we will realize that the dairy industry and the egg industry are intimately related to the meat industry which imprisons, exploits, and kills approximately 100 billion terrestrial animals every year and almost 2 trillion aquatic animals annually.

The consequences for life of this carnage are brutal. The environmental consequences too.

So… if Ahimsa is the central ethical principle that guides all of Yoga, what kind of Yoga is being practiced nowadays?

Would it be something artificial, superficial… just yoga-flavored?

What the practice asks of us

Something that has saddened me (I write this as if I were venting to a dear person) is to see that nowadays, even ovo-lacto-vegetarianism has been ignored by various Yoga practitioners (if you doubt it, most don't even consider this possibility). Practitioners who will become great teachers and who have a great reach through their social media not only are not vegetarian/vegan, but they minimize and sometimes even disdain the importance of this diet and consequently of Ahimsa.

Other teachers, however, justify the consumption of animal products, focusing on the self, on the ego: “my choices, my health, my this and my that” and stumble when saying that Ahimsa begins within oneself… (no my friend, non-violence towards myself (in most cases) is very easy… but non-violence towards others is the great work to be done).

Capitalism reconfigures meanings. Yoga has not escaped this process. A practice originally oriented towards discipline, ethics, and direct confrontation with one's own conditioning was progressively converted into a commodity: aestheticized, softened, and sold as a well-being experience. What once demanded internal rupture is today frequently packaged as comfort.

Read the Yoga Sutras. Notice that it's not an easy read. It doesn't pat you on the head… it's an invitation to change.

What once in Yoga implied transformation turned into consumption. It's not about saying that Yoga was destroyed, but about recognizing that its potency was, in many contexts, domesticated (made safe, palatable, and compatible with the very lifestyle that, in essence, it could question).

Even so, beyond this convenient version, Yoga, I hope, remains intact, but only for those willing to go beyond the surface and face what the practice truly demands.

Discomfort and transformation

I firmly believe that the “dwelling” where Yoga resides is discomfort, and the fruit of the practice is transformation. No, it's not physical transformation (that's a momentary extra with an expiration date, as all of us, inevitably, will lose these bodily qualities over the years).

Yoga and ahimsa… it doesn't mean accepting everything or being passive in the face of injustice. It is necessary to be an active agent in change for true Peace.

By Lucas Carvalho