How To Practice Asteya On The Mat

Asteya is mentioned throughout many indian texts including the sutras the mahabarata which the bhagavad gita is part of the upanishads and the vedas.

How to practice asteya on the mat.

The practice of asteya asks us to look at where we hoard or have greed and reminds us of the nonmaterial richness of our lives. Practicing asteya on the mat will help you explore the small ways you withhold care and respect from yourself. Asteya is a sanskrit word that means non stealing it s one of the 10 yamas and niyamas of yoga ethical guidelines that yogis strive to embody and practice on and off the mat. Even subconsciously there s usually a little part of us that starts out with the best of intentions but then about half way through class begins to tempt us towards practicing for the way a posture.

To incorporate asteya into your own life and practice start. When i started reflecting about asteya i found hundreds of obvious and subtle ways that we can practice asteya in our day to day life. The result is a deeper and more honest. That we should act from a place of abundance instead of scarcity.

On a surface level practicing asteya can mean literally not stealing money out of someone s pocket. Gandhi also saw how important the practice of non stealing was and considered it one of his 11 vows in which he expanded beyond the physical act of stealing importantly that mankind s greed and craving for. Like most yogi centric ideas it s got several layers of meaning and depth. Asteya on the mat comes in the form of losing patience or attempting advanced asanas on the mat when you have not sincerely learned the basics of a beginner practice.

When you wish that you could have the same thing ability skill as somebody else. But these 5 ways of stealing will surprise you completely. We can shift from a mindset of lack and scarcity to one of abundance and gratitude. It can also mean not hoarding.

Incorporate asteya non stealing into your yoga practice with an asana mantra and mudra to help bring into focus the subtle and not so subtle ways the yama plays out in your life. Or envying other students practice. There are so many other aspects of asteya that i haven t even touched on here like the way we approach our yoga practice being mindful that we re not coming to out mats with a sense of entitlement. Asteya translates to non stealing and reminds us that we have all that we need.

If you want to practice and look the same as an advanced yoga practitioner without applying sincere effort that too is stealing. That is expecting to do difficult postures without putting in diligent consistent practice. We can acknowledge that coveting what another has only leads to suffering and works against us in our practice and our lives. We can practice asteya on the mat by honoring our bodies as they are here and now even while we work towards our goals and aspirations.

The practice of asteya in daily life.