Ahimsa and a dog

Over the weekend I helped reunite a missing dog with its owner. I didn’t really think twice about it. I thought about how much I love my dogs and how hysterical I would be if they were missing.

When I was going through yoga teacher training, I shared with the class that I lack compassion on sociopathic levels. Everyone laughed, but it was true. I didn’t give a damn about other people, their problems or their emotions. As part of an assignment, I vowed to practice Ahimsa, or non-violence, non-harming. To some people, Ahimsa is about being a vegetarian, or not killing the spider in your home but catching it an letting it go outside (yeah, right). I dug deeper into Ahimsa, realizing that it isn’t just about not harming other beings, it is also about treating everything you meet with love, respect, and compassion. I started making small changes like smiling at people, asking them how their day was, actually listening when people were talking. I was living my life just going through the motions, only caring about myself and how I felt. I realized that when I started to let compassion in, compassion poured out of me. I resisted at first. I pride myself on leading with logic and not emotion, my head not my heart. But there are times when it’s ok to feel, like when you see a dog walking down the street without its owner.

It is easy to see a situation and not take responsibility, saying, “that’s not my job”. I used to live my life that way, staying in my lane with my head down. One of my former bosses used to say, “Don’t know, don’t care, not my world.” I carried that out of my work life and into my real life, not realizing how harmful that can be. Helping someone or something in need means you have to take responsibility when it’s not always yours to take.

What in the world does this have to do with yoga? Ahimsa is one of the Yamas, the first of eight limbs of yoga. The Yamas and Niyamas are yoga’s code of ethics. Aside from teaching me how to love myself, yoga has taught me how to live a life of love. (I’m still not a vegetarian).