Asteya means non-stealing which, in the most general terms, is an easy one to understand - it's a boundary that most of us have been brought up to respect. Asteya in more yogic terms is a little more complicated. Yoga philosophy asks us to delve a little deeper, often asking questions of ourselves that we'd rather not ask! But that's the point of it all - personal growth and learning to live life in the best way possible.
Asteya is about not taking more than is freely given, not taking more than we need, and not wasting the Earth's precious resources. It's about not stealing others' ideas, time, or energy in order to make ourselves feel better. It's about not coveting other people's good fortune and wishing it was ours (otherwise known as jealousy). It's about not hoarding things and learning to let things go when we don't need them any more.
Through living life in accordance with the values of Asteya we develop self-sufficiency and don't need to compare ourselves to others. We give up wanting what other people have and recognise the richness that is present in our own life already. Then Asteya gets turned around - non-stealing turns into giving. Scarcity turns into abundance. And so we learn to become more generous - with the material things that we have, and also with our energy, love, joy and compassion.
I mentioned at the beginning that I had the intention to write this post about Asteya, but as I sat and waited for the words to come I got distracted - a nearby pot plant caught my eye. It is a type of Aloe which requires very little care and attention and is therefore often overlooked, but I noticed that it had sprouted a completely perfect baby version of itself at the edge of the pot. I took a closer look. As I studied it I marvelled at just how amazing it was - thick fleshy leaves with beautiful stripey markings and tiny serrations on its edges. I moved on to look at my other pot plants - the shapes of their leaves, the veins that deliver the plants nutrients, their very different structures - all equally beautiful and miraculous.
As a keen gardener I love to use different colours, shapes and sizes of plants to contrast with each other, but this is often done with the "big picture" of a flower bed or an arrangement of cut flowers in mind. I went out into the garden and started to really look at the plants individually. I became completely absorbed and lost track of time.
When I came back inside to carry on writing I was a little annoyed with myself for getting distracted, but then I realised that, by giving my full and complete attention to just this one thing, I was practicing Dharana - the 6th of the 8 limbs of yoga. Dharana means concentration and is the pre-cursor to meditation. When we concentrate fully on something with unwavering attention the fluctuations of the mind are quietened. It's what happens when you are reading a really good page-turner of a book, or are so involved in a film you are watching that you feel like you're right there in it rather than sitting in the cinema. I often feel it on the yoga mat too - I'm so focused on the poses and the flow that no other thoughts get a chance to surface.
The opportunities for engaging in Dharana are all around us but it's the complete opposite of our fast-paced, many-screened culture which encourages multi-tasking and getting lots of things done, so it's not easy. It is possible though if we slow down, breathe deeply and remove ourselves from distractions. If we set an intention to focus on just one thing, the rewards are great. We are no longer at the mercy of the busy thoughts of the mind - we are consciously choosing not to get drawn into their stories - we are choosing peace.
I've been searching for an appropriate article to share with you this week without much luck. But this came into my Inbox today - perfect timing from Leo Babauta from www.zenhabits.net.
Redesigning Your Life’s Interface by Leo Babauta
If you’ve ever tried to use a smart phone, or a website, you’re using a user interface. If done well, this interface has been designed to help you do what you want: check your messages, read an article, find information, get stuff done.
Our lives have interfaces too. We just don’t often think about it. And just like with badly designed websites, a bad interface for your life can be frustrating, grating, full of friction and confusion.
The good news is … you’re the interface designer of your life! You can redesign the interface. Let’s think about a few examples:
Life’s popup boxes: When you work, are there a dozen things trying to get your attention? Email, phone messages, social media, blogs, news, other favorite websites … while you’re trying to get an important task done? These are like popup boxes asking you to subscribe, that get in the way of your reading. You can redesign it so that you have only the task in front of you, no popups or distractions.
Simplify the steps: If you want to work out regularly, how many steps does it take before you can actually do the first exercise? For many people, they have to get their gym clothes together into a bag, close down a computer, drive to a gym, check into the gym, change, find an available spot in the gym, then do the workout. That’s like if you wanted to send an email message but had to click through seven different pages to get to the send message screen. Instead, think about simplifying it so you can get right to the task — get down on the floor and do some pushups and planks, have a chinup bar near your bathroom so you can do some every time you pass, go outside during a work break and walk quickly for 10 minutes, several times a day. You can look at other things in your life that take too many steps to accomplish a goal, and remove steps.
Annoying ads or sales pitches. How often have you been on a site with annoying ads, or constant sales pitches from the blogger? You just want to read or get stuff done without all the pitches. The same is true of your regular life — you don’t want people walking into your office giving you sales pitches, nor do you want to hear or see ads in your radio or TV or magazines. Consider “ad-blocking” your life, by finding ways to avoid sales meetings, people who are soliciting, meetings where someone is trying to pitch you. Pay for ad-free music streaming and video, stop buying magazines (just read articles using read-later services that strip out ads), unsubscribe from ads disguised as newsletters in your inbox. Unfriend people who are trying to get you into multi-level marketing and the like.
Make your important goals be easy to find. One frustration on websites is when the thing that matters most is buried in a hard-to-find page, not easy to find. With a good user interface, the most important goals are front and center, obvious and easy. But in our lives, we make the least important things easiest to find and do (TV, Facebook, distraction, junk food), while the most important things are hidden behind layers of distraction (your most important project, exercise, eating healthy, spending time with loved ones). What if we put these important things in front of the rest? Bury Facebook and other distractions, and have the important project be the only thing that shows when you open your computer. Get rid of junk food and have your healthy options be out in the open for when you get hungry. Put the TV in the closet, and have dumbbells there instead. To spend time with loved ones, put the activity that you want to do with them just inside the front door when you get home — put the book you want to read with your kids, or the rollerblades you want to use with them, just inside the door. Or put the tea cups you want to use with your wife as you talk and have tea together, in the middle of the living room.
Beautiful design. When an app or website looks beautiful, it’s not just for the sake of gloss and glamor. It’s to create a mood, an experience, a feeling of delight or peace. Each action with a good app or website should give you an experience you enjoy, rather than a feeling of clunkiness or frustration. The same can be true of your life — remove distraction and clutter, and find ways to bring peace and delight to your life.
Our lives have interfaces too. We just don’t often think about it. And just like with badly designed websites, a bad interface for your life can be frustrating, grating, full of friction and confusion.
The good news is … you’re the interface designer of your life! You can redesign the interface. Let’s think about a few examples:
Life’s popup boxes: When you work, are there a dozen things trying to get your attention? Email, phone messages, social media, blogs, news, other favorite websites … while you’re trying to get an important task done? These are like popup boxes asking you to subscribe, that get in the way of your reading. You can redesign it so that you have only the task in front of you, no popups or distractions.
Simplify the steps: If you want to work out regularly, how many steps does it take before you can actually do the first exercise? For many people, they have to get their gym clothes together into a bag, close down a computer, drive to a gym, check into the gym, change, find an available spot in the gym, then do the workout. That’s like if you wanted to send an email message but had to click through seven different pages to get to the send message screen. Instead, think about simplifying it so you can get right to the task — get down on the floor and do some pushups and planks, have a chinup bar near your bathroom so you can do some every time you pass, go outside during a work break and walk quickly for 10 minutes, several times a day. You can look at other things in your life that take too many steps to accomplish a goal, and remove steps.
Annoying ads or sales pitches. How often have you been on a site with annoying ads, or constant sales pitches from the blogger? You just want to read or get stuff done without all the pitches. The same is true of your regular life — you don’t want people walking into your office giving you sales pitches, nor do you want to hear or see ads in your radio or TV or magazines. Consider “ad-blocking” your life, by finding ways to avoid sales meetings, people who are soliciting, meetings where someone is trying to pitch you. Pay for ad-free music streaming and video, stop buying magazines (just read articles using read-later services that strip out ads), unsubscribe from ads disguised as newsletters in your inbox. Unfriend people who are trying to get you into multi-level marketing and the like.
Make your important goals be easy to find. One frustration on websites is when the thing that matters most is buried in a hard-to-find page, not easy to find. With a good user interface, the most important goals are front and center, obvious and easy. But in our lives, we make the least important things easiest to find and do (TV, Facebook, distraction, junk food), while the most important things are hidden behind layers of distraction (your most important project, exercise, eating healthy, spending time with loved ones). What if we put these important things in front of the rest? Bury Facebook and other distractions, and have the important project be the only thing that shows when you open your computer. Get rid of junk food and have your healthy options be out in the open for when you get hungry. Put the TV in the closet, and have dumbbells there instead. To spend time with loved ones, put the activity that you want to do with them just inside the front door when you get home — put the book you want to read with your kids, or the rollerblades you want to use with them, just inside the door. Or put the tea cups you want to use with your wife as you talk and have tea together, in the middle of the living room.
Beautiful design. When an app or website looks beautiful, it’s not just for the sake of gloss and glamor. It’s to create a mood, an experience, a feeling of delight or peace. Each action with a good app or website should give you an experience you enjoy, rather than a feeling of clunkiness or frustration. The same can be true of your life — remove distraction and clutter, and find ways to bring peace and delight to your life.
Obviously these are just a few examples, a few abstract ideas. The actual implementation depends on your goals, on the experience you want to create for yourself. But these are good to think about.
In truth, we can never control everything about our experience in life, nor should we try. But spending some time thinking about a smarter, simpler, more lovely interface for your life is about rethinking the unconscious, and living more consciously.
Apple and Pecan PorridgeIn truth, we can never control everything about our experience in life, nor should we try. But spending some time thinking about a smarter, simpler, more lovely interface for your life is about rethinking the unconscious, and living more consciously.
I love porridge all through the year but, as we move into the colder weather it's even more appealing to have a hot, filling breakfast. This is a Jamie Oliver recipe - it's a great way to liven up your ordinary bowl of porridge and to use up some of those abundant windfall apples ...
Method:
Place the oats and the milk or water in a large pan over a medium heat.Add a tiny pinch of salt and stir with a wooden spoon.
Bring to a steady simmer for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring as often as you can to give you a smooth creamy porridge – if you like your porridge runnier, simply add a splash more milk or water until you’ve got the consistency you like.
Meanwhile, coarsely grate the apple onto a chopping board using a box grater. (Jamie says you can grate the core as well but I chose not to.)
Snap the pecans up into little pieces, then add them to a small non-stick frying pan over a medium heat (there’s no need for oil) for 3 to 4 minutes, or until lightly golden, stirring occasionally.
Stir the grated apple and most of the maple syrup through the porridge for the last few minutes of cooking.
Serve with the toasted pecans on top and the remaining maple syrup drizzled over.
You can view this recipe and many more at www.jamieoliver.com
The Teachers Who Have Influenced Yoga As We Know It Today - this week Indra Devi
Indra Devi was the woman who brought yoga to America. Born in Russia into an aristocratic family and christened Eugenie Peterson, she was fascinated by India and moved there in 1927 with the intention of acting in Indian films. She changed her name to Indra Devi as it fitted with her new Indian persona.
She was the first foreign woman to study yoga under Krishnamacharya (see my last blog post for an introduction to his life and work) in 1938, which was very unusual in what was then a male-dominated pursuit. On his insistence she become a yoga teacher, and she set up her own yoga school when she moved to China, where she taught students of many nationalities. In 1947 she moved to the US and set up a yoga school in Hollywood, where she became famous as the teacher of many movie stars including Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson and Eva Gabor.
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| Indra Devi and Eva Gabor (I'm loving the sparkly shoes!) |
She spent her whole life teaching yoga around the world, was the president of the International Yoga Federation and wrote many books on the subject of yoga. She died in 2002, aged 102.
And finally, a really lovely video about noticing the little things in life and becoming lost in the moment :-)
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