Most people think of yoga in terms of being flexible but it’s really just a small part of the practice. In fact you really don’t need to bend at all to practice yoga. The sage Pantanjali over 2000 years ago wrote down and gave us the eight limbs, which are at the heart of any yoga practice. The eight limbs are rules and guidelines to follow that contain guidance for the highest moral path. One of them is Ahimsa.
Ahimsa means non-violence to yourself and others. By non-harming that means not hurting yourself or any living creature by action, thought or word. Ahimsa is pure cosmic love. It is the development of a mental attitude of which all hatred is replaced by love. The power of Ahimsa is greater than the power of the intellect. It’s forgiveness, its pure strength. It’s easy to develop the intellect harder to develop and purify the heart. The practice of Ahimsa develops the heart in a wonderful matter.
