Yoga of the Heart

Yoga of the Heart

Chapter 3: Introduction to the Ten Ethical Powers of Yoga

Chapter 3: Introduction to the Ten Ethical Powers of Yoga

Ten Ethical Guidelines for Gaining Limitless Growth, Confidence, and Achievement

by Alice Christensen

As I discussed in the previous chapter, Classical Yoga is comprised of eight parts, called "limbs." Most classes in Yoga in the Western world begin with Steps 3, 4, and 5 — physical exercises, breathing techniques, and beginning meditation techniques. These aspects of Yoga are perfect for those wishing to use Yoga techniques for such goals as flexibility, improved sports performance, relief from anxiety and stress, or improved health. All these are quite valid reasons for practicing Yoga, and provide a healthy way to get more out of life.

Some people, however, are reaching for something more. They are becoming aware that life has a much greater source of awareness, and they feel a need to get to know the huge spiritual nature that lies within all of us. This goal takes conscientious attention to the system of Yogic ethics defined by the first two limbs, Steps 1 and 2, called yamas and niyamas, which are the ten ethical principles that we will be discussing in Chapters 4 through 13. (It is interesting to note that in traditional Yoga practice in India many years ago, a student was required to be firmly established in these ethical practices even before obtaining instruction in the physical exercises, breathing, and meditation techniques.)

Remember that in this book I am using the word "ethics" differently from the social or religious connotations that you may be familiar with, in which ethics are used primarily as a way of relating to the community outside yourself. In Yoga, ethics are practiced in order to develop a relationship with your inner self.

The Sanskrit term yama literally means "restraint," and niyama means "not restraint" or observance. I have decided to use the English word "ethics" to encompass all ten guidelines because it most clearly depicts the connection between behavior and feeling; in other words, the connection between the physical and spiritual bodies.

Every chapter includes the original Sanskrit name of each ethic as well as its most common English translation. I have included these Sanskrit terms because their meanings are very complex and cannot be conveyed by a single English translation. I believe that just by seeing the word in its original form, some of its deeper meaning will speak to your unconscious in a way that I am unable to do with my discussion. Lakshmanjoo often pointed out that words and sentences were the coarsest form of communication.

When I lived in the jungle with Rama, he used to give me books about Yoga written in Sanskrit, German, and other languages I had not the faintest idea how to read. When I questioned him, he explained that I should look at them anyway, because the information they contained would enter my unconscious and become available to me when I needed it. This type of practice obviously takes a great deal of faith.

AEROBICS FOR YOUR SPIRITUAL HEART

In the following ten chapters, you will learn how to begin making the ethical powers of Yoga a part of your daily life and thought. Think of it as "aerobics for your spiritual heart"; just like exercise for your physical body, it works best if you do a little every day.

Each chapter begins with a general definition of the ethic and a brief description of how I will approach it from the viewpoint of Kashmir Shaivism. Then I offer suggestions for how to start practicing the ethic right now. The final sections of each chapter present some discussions about the results gained from practicing this ethic.

Lakshmanjoo told me that, in the same way that a baby’s limbs grow all at once rather than one by one, the ten ethics of Yoga all need to be developed simultaneously. This means that even when you are concentrating upon one ethic at a time, try to maintain awareness of the other nine principles in the background.
Remember that you are not expected to reach perfection, but are simply doing this to increase your awareness. Try this technique that has worked well for me: Post the list of ten Yogic ethics on your refrigerator, in the bathroom, or any other place in your home where you will see it a few times a day. At the end of the day, take a few moments to think about how you have become aware of each one. Some people have found it helpful to keep a journal of their experiences.

You can also try a simple technique that many of my students have found helpful: Put a small piece of tape or a Band-Aid on the inside of your wrist and make a small mark whenever you become aware of a success or failure in your ethical practice during the day. This technique not only gives you a tangible, visual result, but also increases your awareness because you are making a physical mark to record a mental process. (If you think other people in your home or work environment may look askance at a wrist tape, you can place the tape on a notebook, a calendar, or some other place where you will see it often. But the technique works best when you wear the tape.)

If you are like most people, you will probably notice that you are not able to practice each ethic perfectly each day. Your own judgment of your observance of ethics in daily life will determine what perfection means to you. As you repeat these exercises daily, your awareness will constantly increase. If the happy day comes when you have been able to be aware of practicing all ten ethics in one day, you can congratulate yourself. It is a wonderful feeling.

Try not to feel discouraged if it seems like an impossible task; look upon it as a heroic journey that will lead you to unimaginable riches. No effort is in vain. In all the books I have read on Yoga, the assurance is made that every single step you take toward the formation of the Universal Body can never be lost. The Bhagavad Gita makes this promise. Arjuna asks: "Krishna, he whose mind is diverted from Yoga, failing to reach perfection, what fate does he meet with? . . . Does he not perish like the torn cloud, deprived of both God realization and worldly enjoyment?"

Krishna replies: "Dear Arjuna, there is no fall for him either here nor hereafter. For none who works for God realization meets with an evil destiny. He who has fallen from Yoga, having attained the higher worlds, . . . takes birth in the house of pious and wealthy men. Or, if he has developed dispassion, he may be born in the family of enlightened Yogis. . . . There he regains the understanding of his previous births and through that he strives, with greater vigor than before, for perfection."

Many people worry that they might fail. To me, the only definition of failure is refusing to face the challenge of whatever lies in front of you. When Arjuna became fearful and told his teacher "I don’t want to fight" (see Chapter 1), he was moving toward failure. His teacher urged him to the fight, telling him that although he may fail, failure has only to do with whether or not he makes the attempt. It is similar to learning to play the piano; you cannot expect to play as expertly as Rubinstein in a week, a month, or even a year. It takes the experience of many failures to learn how to succeed. Succeeding means constant observation of yourself in all circumstances.

The conscious mind allows itself to be trained like a parrot, but the unconscious does not — which is why St. Augustine thanked God for not making him responsible for his dreams. (Carl Jung)

A student wrote this wonderful letter about his experiment with ethical behavior:

I discovered that a lot of the restraint I had put upon myself was meaningless and had nothing to do with ethics. So I gave up my ethics in an experiment for forty-eight hours. I kept up all my other Yoga practices, but I was aggressive as I felt like and let all sexual thoughts occur. During those two days, it really felt like letting air out of aballoon. All my pressure went away and my life seemed to slow down.

Then I went back to my ethical practices with a new awareness of their meaning for me. Who knows if I am doing them perfectly, but I am paying attention and I am trying to do my best. If I screw up, that’s understandable. And then I start again. Right?

So there are many things going on that I didn’t notice. But after I stopped and then started again, I found out that all this neat stuff happened. I won the second race of the season. Somebody gave me tickets to a concert. Somebody else gave me a discount rental on a boat. Yesterday my best friend walked in, wants to buy a car, gets it from me. I had people falling all over themselves to buy cars from me this week. My kids won their basketball games, the dog’s in heat, my head is full, and — I hesitate to use the term, but I feel high. This may sound silly, but I feel like I’m full inside. And of course that doesn’t surprise me. My wife has told me that I’m full of things more than once. . . .

UNDERSTANDING VERSUS REALIZATION

If you are like most people and enjoy answers, conclusions, and reasons, you may find yourself struggling to grasp many of the more subtle points in our discussions of the ethics. This book is not a morality tale where you will get "rules to live by." Each chapter will challenge you to learn in a new way as your spiritual body begins to take form and express itself.

The problem with intellectual understanding is best illustrated by a conversation I had with Lakshmanjoo when we were talking about Nonviolence, the first ethic described in this book:

Alice: You have said that everything is God. If that is so, then what makes an action either violent or nonviolent?
Lakshmanjoo: That is to be realized. When realization is there, then whatever you do is fine. It is for you to realize yourself.
Alice: The idea that "everything is God" is easy to say, but it's very hard to understand.
Lakshmanjoo: Not to understand — to realize. They are different. One is intellectual, other is emotional. To realize is to feel the truth. .

Lakshmanjoo was pointing out to me that asking to understand is an intellectual demand, and that realization is a totally different experience. My naive statement about understanding would apply to the physical body, the residence of the intellect. Realization, on the other hand, has to do with the truth, which resides in the spiritual body

The brilliant voice of intuition describes the realization that comes like a gift from the spiritual body. This voice of intuition can replace the repetitive, closed-circuit conversations of your physical self talking to yourself inside your head. The truth of all situations will speak from your heart.

Intellectual understanding is based on separateness because it demands proof and because it cannot see outside its own limits. Realization of the spiritual nature needs no proof and has no limits. Lakshmanjoo pointed out this clear difference when he corrected my use of the word "understand." Our conversation continued:

Alice: Many people think that realization is a religious phrase.
Lakshmanjoo: No it’s not a saying, it is to become the state of realization.
Alice: It’s a state of being.
Lakshmanjoo: Being or becoming, these are the two things. Being is already there in the physical. Becoming lies in the spiritual.

Realization means awareness of the limitless possibilities expressed in the word "becoming." The potential is already there in your heart. To reach that state of becoming, you have to provide the path for the avenue of expression that will allow your spiritual body to join with your physical body in the most harmonious and spontaneous way, as if you were planting a garden with no preconception of what will bloom.

My purpose in bringing this distinction to your attention is to convince you that it does not matter if you do not understand all the points of each ethic that I will be discussing in the following chapters. What matters is that you simply observe, listen, and then let your spiritual body take care of absorbing the message. It takes a type of humility to drop the demand for intellectual mastery, but I can tell you that when you succeed, the result is a delightful new awareness.

The Bhagavad Gita opens as Arjuna asks his friend and guru, Krishna, to place his chariot between the two armies so he can see who is about to take part in the battle. Arjuna sees in his own and the opposing armies all his relatives and friends, and even his old teacher, a person of great reverence. He is suddenly overcome with weakness and fear about the coming battle. He. He throws himself down in the bottom of his chariot and refuses to fight.

Many great teachers have said that the battle can be seen to stand for the battle among all the disparate parts of an individual — mind, intellect, senses, ego, and so on — in trying to become a whole, united, powerful being, and the war is pictured as a battle with the false ego. All interpretations try to illustrate how it is intuition, not intellectual understanding, that supplies the correct approach to these difficult concepts.

Arjuna’s distress showed that the ramifications of this important battle went far beyond his limited perception. He couldn’t understand what was going on and he was overcome by his emotions. He had to drop his false egotistical personality and depend totally on the clear voice of the spiritual body, which, in this case, was emanating from his guru. Because he and his guru both were sustained by the same spiritual body, and because Arjuna had the strength to stop objecting long enough to listen to what was being said and let it speak to his spiritual self, realization came quickly. As Rama said once in a lecture on the Gita, "Lord Krishna’s talk was in the language of the heart. And the language of the heart is known by every human being wherever he may live.

THE RESULT OF PRACTICING YOGIC ETHICS

The primary benefit of practicing these ten ethical disciplines, as I stated previously, is to facilitate the joining of the physical and spiritual bodies. Another result is a shining phenomenon that I call peripheral awareness. Someone with this quality has a mature thought process that transcends the circular self-talk that goes on in our heads most of the time; it encompasses a much wider environment. People with peripheral awareness can concentrate on whatever job is at hand and still be aware of everything else that is going on in the room. They can handle multitudinous detail without stress.

In addition, the texts of Yoga state a specific result, called a power, that is obtained from the perfect practice of each ethic; for example, the result of practicing Nonstealing is that "all wealth comes to you." According to this idea, ethics can be considered a very practical undertaking!

People spend most of their lives trying to achieve such goals, but their mistake is thinking that the goal is outside themselves; Yoga teaches you to reach within yourself for your goals. Everything you could ever want is there. This is not a narcissistic attitude of self-involvement. On the contrary, it is a powerful practice that not only benefits you, but also, eventually, greatly affects everything and everyone around you. As the old blues song goes, "God bless the child that’s got his own." You realize that everything you want lies within yourself.

As you think about the results of these practices, try to transform your attitude from one of "getting" to one of "giving." Once in Kashmir I was with Lakshmanjoo when a student came to him and asked, "How can I get more devotion?" I realized immediately that the question should have been "How can I give more devotion?" In other words, devotion is not a selfish act. In practicing the ethics of Yoga, one only gives, one never demands — it is not a bargaining situation. With simple humility, you give your spiritual body a welcoming entrance into the physical in order for it to do its work. By doing so, you give yourself a priceless gift that enriches your life unimaginably.

Rama used to tell me: "You give a glass of milk and you get back a cow." It only takes a little practice to enjoy the great benefits of these marvelous tools of Yoga.

From Yoga of the Heart: Ten Ethical Guidelines for Gaining Limitless Confidence, Growth, and Achievement, by Alice Christensen (Daybreak/Rodale Books, 1998).

Back to "Yoga of the Heart" Contents Page

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Yoga of the Heart

Ten Ethical Guidelines for Gaining Limitless Growth, Confidence, and Achievement

by Alice Christensen

Chapter 3: Introduction to the Ten Ethical Powers of Yoga

As I discussed in the previous chapter, Classical Yoga is comprised of eight parts, called "limbs." Most classes in Yoga in the Western world begin with Steps 3, 4, and 5 — physical exercises, breathing techniques, and beginning meditation techniques. These aspects of Yoga are perfect for those wishing to use Yoga techniques for such goals as flexibility, improved sports performance, relief from anxiety and stress, or improved health. All these are quite valid reasons for practicing Yoga, and provide a healthy way to get more out of life.

Some people, however, are reaching for something more. They are becoming aware that life has a much greater source of awareness, and they feel a need to get to know the huge spiritual nature that lies within all of us. This goal takes conscientious attention to the system of Yogic ethics defined by the first two limbs, Steps 1 and 2, called yamas and niyamas, which are the ten ethical principles that we will be discussing in Chapters 4 through 13. (It is interesting to note that in traditional Yoga practice in India many years ago, a student was required to be firmly established in these ethical practices even before obtaining instruction in the physical exercises, breathing, and meditation techniques.)

Remember that in this book I am using the word "ethics" differently from the social or religious connotations that you may be familiar with, in which ethics are used primarily as a way of relating to the community outside yourself. In Yoga, ethics are practiced in order to develop a relationship with your inner self.

The Sanskrit term yama literally means "restraint," and niyama means "not restraint" or observance. I have decided to use the English word "ethics" to encompass all ten guidelines because it most clearly depicts the connection between behavior and feeling; in other words, the connection between the physical and spiritual bodies.

Every chapter includes the original Sanskrit name of each ethic as well as its most common English translation. I have included these Sanskrit terms because their meanings are very complex and cannot be conveyed by a single English translation. I believe that just by seeing the word in its original form, some of its deeper meaning will speak to your unconscious in a way that I am unable to do with my discussion. Lakshmanjoo often pointed out that words and sentences were the coarsest form of communication.

When I lived in the jungle with Rama, he used to give me books about Yoga written in Sanskrit, German, and other languages I had not the faintest idea how to read. When I questioned him, he explained that I should look at them anyway, because the information they contained would enter my unconscious and become available to me when I needed it. This type of practice obviously takes a great deal of faith.

AEROBICS FOR YOUR SPIRITUAL HEART

In the following ten chapters, you will learn how to begin making the ethical powers of Yoga a part of your daily life and thought. Think of it as "aerobics for your spiritual heart"; just like exercise for your physical body, it works best if you do a little every day.

Each chapter begins with a general definition of the ethic and a brief description of how I will approach it from the viewpoint of Kashmir Shaivism. Then I offer suggestions for how to start practicing the ethic right now. The final sections of each chapter present some discussions about the results gained from practicing this ethic.

Lakshmanjoo told me that, in the same way that a baby’s limbs grow all at once rather than one by one, the ten ethics of Yoga all need to be developed simultaneously. This means that even when you are concentrating upon one ethic at a time, try to maintain awareness of the other nine principles in the background.
Remember that you are not expected to reach perfection, but are simply doing this to increase your awareness. Try this technique that has worked well for me: Post the list of ten Yogic ethics on your refrigerator, in the bathroom, or any other place in your home where you will see it a few times a day. At the end of the day, take a few moments to think about how you have become aware of each one. Some people have found it helpful to keep a journal of their experiences.

You can also try a simple technique that many of my students have found helpful: Put a small piece of tape or a Band-Aid on the inside of your wrist and make a small mark whenever you become aware of a success or failure in your ethical practice during the day. This technique not only gives you a tangible, visual result, but also increases your awareness because you are making a physical mark to record a mental process. (If you think other people in your home or work environment may look askance at a wrist tape, you can place the tape on a notebook, a calendar, or some other place where you will see it often. But the technique works best when you wear the tape.)

If you are like most people, you will probably notice that you are not able to practice each ethic perfectly each day. Your own judgment of your observance of ethics in daily life will determine what perfection means to you. As you repeat these exercises daily, your awareness will constantly increase. If the happy day comes when you have been able to be aware of practicing all ten ethics in one day, you can congratulate yourself. It is a wonderful feeling.

Try not to feel discouraged if it seems like an impossible task; look upon it as a heroic journey that will lead you to unimaginable riches. No effort is in vain. In all the books I have read on Yoga, the assurance is made that every single step you take toward the formation of the Universal Body can never be lost. The Bhagavad Gita makes this promise. Arjuna asks: "Krishna, he whose mind is diverted from Yoga, failing to reach perfection, what fate does he meet with? . . . Does he not perish like the torn cloud, deprived of both God realization and worldly enjoyment?"

Krishna replies: "Dear Arjuna, there is no fall for him either here nor hereafter. For none who works for God realization meets with an evil destiny. He who has fallen from Yoga, having attained the higher worlds, . . . takes birth in the house of pious and wealthy men. Or, if he has developed dispassion, he may be born in the family of enlightened Yogis. . . . There he regains the understanding of his previous births and through that he strives, with greater vigor than before, for perfection."

Many people worry that they might fail. To me, the only definition of failure is refusing to face the challenge of whatever lies in front of you. When Arjuna became fearful and told his teacher "I don’t want to fight" (see Chapter 1), he was moving toward failure. His teacher urged him to the fight, telling him that although he may fail, failure has only to do with whether or not he makes the attempt. It is similar to learning to play the piano; you cannot expect to play as expertly as Rubinstein in a week, a month, or even a year. It takes the experience of many failures to learn how to succeed. Succeeding means constant observation of yourself in all circumstances.

The conscious mind allows itself to be trained like a parrot, but the unconscious does not — which is why St. Augustine thanked God for not making him responsible for his dreams. (Carl Jung)

A student wrote this wonderful letter about his experiment with ethical behavior:

I discovered that a lot of the restraint I had put upon myself was meaningless and had nothing to do with ethics. So I gave up my ethics in an experiment for forty-eight hours. I kept up all my other Yoga practices, but I was aggressive as I felt like and let all sexual thoughts occur. During those two days, it really felt like letting air out of aballoon. All my pressure went away and my life seemed to slow down.

Then I went back to my ethical practices with a new awareness of their meaning for me. Who knows if I am doing them perfectly, but I am paying attention and I am trying to do my best. If I screw up, that’s understandable. And then I start again. Right?

So there are many things going on that I didn’t notice. But after I stopped and then started again, I found out that all this neat stuff happened. I won the second race of the season. Somebody gave me tickets to a concert. Somebody else gave me a discount rental on a boat. Yesterday my best friend walked in, wants to buy a car, gets it from me. I had people falling all over themselves to buy cars from me this week. My kids won their basketball games, the dog’s in heat, my head is full, and — I hesitate to use the term, but I feel high. This may sound silly, but I feel like I’m full inside. And of course that doesn’t surprise me. My wife has told me that I’m full of things more than once. . . .

UNDERSTANDING VERSUS REALIZATION

If you are like most people and enjoy answers, conclusions, and reasons, you may find yourself struggling to grasp many of the more subtle points in our discussions of the ethics. This book is not a morality tale where you will get "rules to live by." Each chapter will challenge you to learn in a new way as your spiritual body begins to take form and express itself.

The problem with intellectual understanding is best illustrated by a conversation I had with Lakshmanjoo when we were talking about Nonviolence, the first ethic described in this book:

Alice: You have said that everything is God. If that is so, then what makes an action either violent or nonviolent?
Lakshmanjoo: That is to be realized. When realization is there, then whatever you do is fine. It is for you to realize yourself.
Alice: The idea that "everything is God" is easy to say, but it's very hard to understand.
Lakshmanjoo: Not to understand — to realize. They are different. One is intellectual, other is emotional. To realize is to feel the truth. .

Lakshmanjoo was pointing out to me that asking to understand is an intellectual demand, and that realization is a totally different experience. My naive statement about understanding would apply to the physical body, the residence of the intellect. Realization, on the other hand, has to do with the truth, which resides in the spiritual body

The brilliant voice of intuition describes the realization that comes like a gift from the spiritual body. This voice of intuition can replace the repetitive, closed-circuit conversations of your physical self talking to yourself inside your head. The truth of all situations will speak from your heart.

Intellectual understanding is based on separateness because it demands proof and because it cannot see outside its own limits. Realization of the spiritual nature needs no proof and has no limits. Lakshmanjoo pointed out this clear difference when he corrected my use of the word "understand." Our conversation continued:

Alice: Many people think that realization is a religious phrase.
Lakshmanjoo: No it’s not a saying, it is to become the state of realization.
Alice: It’s a state of being.
Lakshmanjoo: Being or becoming, these are the two things. Being is already there in the physical. Becoming lies in the spiritual.

Realization means awareness of the limitless possibilities expressed in the word "becoming." The potential is already there in your heart. To reach that state of becoming, you have to provide the path for the avenue of expression that will allow your spiritual body to join with your physical body in the most harmonious and spontaneous way, as if you were planting a garden with no preconception of what will bloom.

My purpose in bringing this distinction to your attention is to convince you that it does not matter if you do not understand all the points of each ethic that I will be discussing in the following chapters. What matters is that you simply observe, listen, and then let your spiritual body take care of absorbing the message. It takes a type of humility to drop the demand for intellectual mastery, but I can tell you that when you succeed, the result is a delightful new awareness.

The Bhagavad Gita opens as Arjuna asks his friend and guru, Krishna, to place his chariot between the two armies so he can see who is about to take part in the battle. Arjuna sees in his own and the opposing armies all his relatives and friends, and even his old teacher, a person of great reverence. He is suddenly overcome with weakness and fear about the coming battle. He. He throws himself down in the bottom of his chariot and refuses to fight.

Many great teachers have said that the battle can be seen to stand for the battle among all the disparate parts of an individual — mind, intellect, senses, ego, and so on — in trying to become a whole, united, powerful being, and the war is pictured as a battle with the false ego. All interpretations try to illustrate how it is intuition, not intellectual understanding, that supplies the correct approach to these difficult concepts.

Arjuna’s distress showed that the ramifications of this important battle went far beyond his limited perception. He couldn’t understand what was going on and he was overcome by his emotions. He had to drop his false egotistical personality and depend totally on the clear voice of the spiritual body, which, in this case, was emanating from his guru. Because he and his guru both were sustained by the same spiritual body, and because Arjuna had the strength to stop objecting long enough to listen to what was being said and let it speak to his spiritual self, realization came quickly. As Rama said once in a lecture on the Gita, "Lord Krishna’s talk was in the language of the heart. And the language of the heart is known by every human being wherever he may live.

THE RESULT OF PRACTICING YOGIC ETHICS

The primary benefit of practicing these ten ethical disciplines, as I stated previously, is to facilitate the joining of the physical and spiritual bodies. Another result is a shining phenomenon that I call peripheral awareness. Someone with this quality has a mature thought process that transcends the circular self-talk that goes on in our heads most of the time; it encompasses a much wider environment. People with peripheral awareness can concentrate on whatever job is at hand and still be aware of everything else that is going on in the room. They can handle multitudinous detail without stress.

In addition, the texts of Yoga state a specific result, called a power, that is obtained from the perfect practice of each ethic; for example, the result of practicing Nonstealing is that "all wealth comes to you." According to this idea, ethics can be considered a very practical undertaking!

People spend most of their lives trying to achieve such goals, but their mistake is thinking that the goal is outside themselves; Yoga teaches you to reach within yourself for your goals. Everything you could ever want is there. This is not a narcissistic attitude of self-involvement. On the contrary, it is a powerful practice that not only benefits you, but also, eventually, greatly affects everything and everyone around you. As the old blues song goes, "God bless the child that’s got his own." You realize that everything you want lies within yourself.

As you think about the results of these practices, try to transform your attitude from one of "getting" to one of "giving." Once in Kashmir I was with Lakshmanjoo when a student came to him and asked, "How can I get more devotion?" I realized immediately that the question should have been "How can I give more devotion?" In other words, devotion is not a selfish act. In practicing the ethics of Yoga, one only gives, one never demands — it is not a bargaining situation. With simple humility, you give your spiritual body a welcoming entrance into the physical in order for it to do its work. By doing so, you give yourself a priceless gift that enriches your life unimaginably.

Rama used to tell me: "You give a glass of milk and you get back a cow." It only takes a little practice to enjoy the great benefits of these marvelous tools of Yoga.

From Yoga of the Heart: Ten Ethical Guidelines for Gaining Limitless Confidence, Growth, and Achievement, by Alice Christensen (Daybreak/Rodale Books, 1998).

Copyright 2002 by The American Yoga Association. All Rights Reserved.

Back to "Yoga of the Heart" Contents Page

Back to AYA Site Contents Page