Welcome to Ahimsa Journal

  The Misconceptions of Yoga

     In our 21st century American world view, yoga has come to mean exercise. When I see images of yoga, it generally is someone in a pair of tights twisting and turning their body and doing impossible handstands. Generally, that person depicted is white, thin, and female. This is the limited view I had of yoga for many years. When I went to yoga classes, there would be a few people of color, but mostly white women. Those yoga classes were full of unspoken competition about who can maintain a posture or who could stretch more. Competition and comparison are the antithesis to yoga. In the classes I took, I never heard about yogic philosophy or how yoga can help humans strengthen more than just our bodies. It was not until I began my yoga-teacher journey that I became aware. 

The True Meaning of Yoga

     Yoga is an ancient Indian science of human well-being.  It has been around in its many forms for thousands of years.  Its literal meaning is to yoke or to bring together. Yoga helps humans unite aspects of the individual into one. Yoga helps to connect the individual to others. There is no one set sequence of postures of all people; yoga recognizes the individual and meets the individual where he/she is in that particular point in time. Yoga is a progression. The asanas are here to help us to move or release energy through body to enable us to sit or stand or long periods of time in meditation. 

     One of the most important yogic texts is, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (ancient yogi who is reported to have written his text in the 4th  century B.C.E.). Patanjali laid out a short but comprehensive guide to yoga. He describes the 8 limbs of yoga: 

1. Yama: Discipline concerning the way we interact with the outside world. The five yamas are: ahimsa(nonviolence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-stealing, brahmacharya (correct use of energy), and aparigraha (non-greed).

2. Niyama: Discipline concerning our interaction with our internal world. The five niyamas are: saucha (cleanliness), santosha (contentment, tapas (discipline or burning desire), svadlyaya (self-study or study of spiritual text), and ishvarapranidhana (surrender to higher power)

3. Asana: Discipline concerning the physical postures. Asana literally means comfortable seat. 

4. Pranayama: Discipline concerning breathwork. 

5. Pratyahara: Discipline concerning withdrawal of the senses.

6. Dharana: Discipline concerning holding focus and concentration.

7. Dhyana: Discipline concerning meditative absorption.

8. Samadhi: Enlightenment. 

     The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali leaves room for interpretation and room for all of the yoga’s incarnations because yoga meets the individual, it is inclusive and open to interpretation, thus the many different types of yoga. 

Just when I think I have a grasp on yoga and understand what it is, that is when I realize I know nothing. 

     Ahimsa is a Sanskrit word that has the literal meaning of nonviolence or non-harming, but it is more than that. Ahimsa is embodying compassion (love), friendliness, kindness to self and others.

     This website is called Ahimsa Journal because it is my belief that to love is the first step to human well-being. When I can embody love by letting go of the violence within myself, I can share love with others. 

     I wanted to avoid the words “violence” or “harm” within the title of this website. It is my belief that words have power. “Violence” and “Harm” are exactly what I want to avoid or grow away from. If these words are in the title, I will attract the very thing I want to avoid by default. 

     Many years ago, when I first began to change my life, I wore a shirt that said, “Nonviolence,” I am promoting this, but I kept encountering violence. Once while walking down a street, a car full of people threw things at me from a car (luckily, they missed). Once while standing in cafeteria lunch line, a complete stranger began to pick a fight with me based on my shirt; I wished the person well and walked away from them. 

     There are more experiences similar to this. I began to think hard on these experiences. Why am I encountering harm when I want to the opposite? The thought that popped in my mind was that “You are promoting violence by displaying the word even though it is a variation that does not mean harm; the word violence is still there. It is what humans are seeing.  

     Although yoga’s roots are in ancient Indian thought traditions, it is a science of human growth. Yoga is universal because it is about making changes in our lives. Yoga requires us to take action and to have awareness of the actions we take in life. One does not have to subscribe to any God or any religious tradition because there is no prerequisite for practicing yoga. It meets you where you are and how you are.  Yoga is inclusive because there is no one set of practices for every person because we are all unique individuals that need different things for growth; therefore, yoga does not conflict with any religious tradition because it is a method of human growth. 

     It is up to each person the way s/he wants to practice. There is more than one path to enlightenment; therefore, it is your choice to incorporate your religious belief with your yoga practice. All are welcome here. 

     A person does not have to follow a vegetarian or a vegan lifestyle to practice yoga or ahimsa.  Although ahimsa promotes nonviolence, and many people regard eating animals as violent.  It is up to the individual. 

     Here at Ahimsa Journal, we promote a plant-based, animal product free diet.  For our creator, Nicole Brown, veganism has profoundly changed her life.  Here is 

     Nicole’s brief story:

     I went vegan in 2008. At that point in my life, I weighed over 235 lbs., and I got fatter. I was miserable because I felt trapped in my body. I could barely walk up a flight of stairs. I wanted a change, so I began doing research and discovered that the vegan diet was a good way to lose weight. 

     For me, one of the side effects of a plant-based diet was that I began to think more clearly. My emotional highs and lows were not so dramatic.  I could focus my mind and complete projects that I started. 

     As time moved on, I started taking Yoga classes at my local gym for non-impact exercise. Even though I was so overweight, I found that asana helped my body release weight and feel better. 

There is more to this story, but I will stop here because I hope that you see that I was vegan before I started the yogic path, so it is not about what you eat. Yoga is about human well-being, our growth, our expansion to be better than we were yesterday. Yoga meets you where you are and how you are; the only requirements are an open heart & an open mind. 

     All are welcome here. 

     Yoga meets you where you are.  You can do yoga at any point in your life.   All you need is willingness, an open heart, and an open mind.

      At Ahimsa Journal, we practice a gentle yoga that incorporates props to support and activate the body.  Our goal with asana is to prepare one for meditation to increase more love in the world for human well-being. 

Avoid looking for results, instead see yourself on a journey of self-discovery and well-being.  Results thinking is a Newtonian view of yoga (cause & effect).  Looking for results implies perfection; yoga is a practice; yoga is messy.  It takes a lifetime.  There are no set time limits on acquiring a yoga practice because each person is different and needs different aspects of yoga to find wholeness or union.  Yoga meets you where you are. 

All the services Ahimsa Journal offers (such as asana and newsletters) are free.  All are welcome.  We ask that you come with an open heart and an open mind.  Please complete and submit your liability waiver to receive the passcode for the asana practice.  

Join our membership by submitting your email address to receive our newsletter.  If you wish to participate in our live online asana practice, we ask that you submit a completed liability waiver.

100%! What happens in our online sessions stays in our online sessions.  We create a safe container that is inclusive and trauma-informed.