The Yoga Code: Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World - Part 1
Universal Principles for living with more Peace, Balance and Joy by Jackie Dumaine
It all began with a meltdown and what could have been perceived as a full blown nervous breakdown.
It was November 2008. The air was cold, the skies were dark - and so was my spirit.
Not knowing whether I wanted to live or die, I focused on my breath…knowing that the breath would keep me calm.
It was then that I decided that life as I had known it needed to change and it needed to change quickly. I could no longer go on living in the meaningless cycle of a career that was harming my health and my soul.
And so, I gave up my six figure job in advertising and traveled to India where I lived in an ashram studying yoga and meditation in the hopes of discovering my self.
What I discovered, was so much more…
Upward dog. Downward dog. Child’s Pose.
You’ve all heard about yoga.
You may have even tried a class or perhaps you’ve been practicing for a while.
Whatever your experience is with yoga, there’s no denying its power to create shift and transformation.
However, yoga’s transformative power goes way beyond the bending and twisting poses that we see in magazines and yoga studios.
In fact, yoga has very little to do with the postures.
The Yoga Sutras is an ancient yogic text written thousands of years about by the Indian sage Patanjali. In essence, this is the bible of yoga and is written in 196 verses, each describing how we can use the wisdom of yoga to end a life of suffering and move towards a life with more peace, balance and joy.
Out of these 196 verses, only three of them talk about the physical postures.
Only three!
Yet in our body and image obsessed world it’s all we focus on, missing out on a huge percentage of what yoga truly is.
The Yoga Sutras reveals 10 Universal Principles that were created to be the absolute foundation of yoga. Developed with the intention to be mastered before you ever bust a yoga move, these principles act as a blueprint or “code” for creating a beautiful and inspired life free from drama.
Inspired by these principles, I created The Yoga Code: A step by step blueprint for designing a life that is alignment with who you truly are – free from all the masks that we’re asked to wear on a daily basis.
You can apply The Yoga Code to all areas of life: Parenting, Relationships, Health, Finances, Business/Career, Spirituality.
The 10 Universal Principles of The Yoga Code are like a GPS for your soul. When you go off track, the act as a spiritual road map to gently guide you back to the main path.
Here is a very small glimpse into each principle (along with their sanskrit translation) with ways you can begin to immediately implement them into your life:
PRINCIPLE #1: KINDNESS & COMPASSION (Ahimsa)
Practice non-harmful actions, thoughts and words towards others and more importantly, towards ourselves. Self-Love is the foundation for everything. When we are kind and compassionate towards others (always giving, always helping) yet are not demonstrating that same kindness towards our own spirit, we begin to feel depleted and eventually resentful.
How you can practice Kindness & Compassion
Develop what I call “Non-Negotiable Me Time” for an absolute minimum of 15 minutes every day, first thing in the morning. This can be in the form of meditation, journaling, or just sitting in silence with your morning hot beverage and a candle. By giving yourself before you do anything else, you send a message to your spirit that says: You’re worth it.
PRINCIPLE #2: TRUTH (Satya)
Some may say a little white lie isn’t harmful, however when we are doing it continuously it begins to add weight on our spirit. The most harmful way we lie is when we lie to ourselves. When the person we want to be on the inside is not in alignment with the life we have created on the outside, then we create the suffering associated with not living our truth.
How you can practice truth:
Write down 3 areas in which you feel you are not living in your truth. It could be your career, relationship, friendships or even the car you drive or the food you eat. What small action can you take today to move you closer to truth in these areas?
PRINCIPLE 3#: NON-STEALING (Asteya)
We steal from ourselves when we play small and don’t step into the person we know we can be. When we allow procrastination or self-doubt to keep us from moving forward with our dreams, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to shine our brightest light into the world.
How you can practice Non-Stealing:
Look back to some of the goals you set out for yourself or perhaps you have vision board that symbolizes the life you want. Write down the actions you need to take in order to move forward towards those dreams.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this article coming up next week. Learn more about Jackie Dumaine and the Yoga Code here.
Buy tickets to BLOOM 2015 to experience The Yoga Code workshop.