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Yoga 101 Practicing Yamas at Work Jeanne Lim I’VE BEEN LIVING TWO SEPARATE lives. As a yoga practitioner, I do my practice on the mat and more or less try to adhere to the yamas- the yogic principles of social discipline - when I interact with a roomful of yoga souls. How hard can that be? Everyone is beautifully yogic, so it is easy to put on my best yogic behaviour as well. There are never insects to kill and seldom any nasty people to avenge within the confines of the studio walls. We happily chant about prostrating to the Supreme Guru for good knowledge, self awakening, and great happiness. So I live in that blissful realm for an hour or so every day. But stepping outside to the real world, my best yogic resolve is quickly forgotten. With crazy drivers willing to run you over, fellow pedestrians pushing you off the sidewalk, co-workers shuffling office politics down your throat, and generally a city that celebrates money as the “Supreme Guru”, it seems like yamas are very out of place, a thought which gives me the perceived right to be judgmental, critical, and even vengeful. But yoga is as much, if not more, a practice in life as one done on the mat. Yamas are meant to be a set of internalised principles that direct how one interacts with the world, not a set of etiquette used only when one is with a chosen group in a chosen place. To live the principles, we need to practice every moment in our lives, on and off the mat. Confining our yama practice to the mat and within the safety of the yoga studio is an easy way to live a blameless yogic life, but it is not a consummate one. energy outside of work. Actually, I believe the work place is one of the best places to practice yoga. Yamas are supposed to be practiced and validated when interacting with others. Business is built on the relationships between people—people from all walks of life and from diversified backgrounds. But what does it take to practice yoga in business? The learning comes from the yama itself:. AHIMSA Non-violence and non-harming. Not abusing or harming others physically is usually not too difficult in the work place, since violence in the workplace is not a common occurrence (I hope this is true in your case). But it also means not harming others in our mind. How many times have we said hurtful things to others, or lost patience with those we dislike? Or even willed negative things to happen to an annoying colleague or competitor? SATYA Truthfulness. This includes telling the truth both literally and in meaning. “White lies” are justified as insignificant so we do not count them as untruths. But where do we draw the line? Is the justification based on our tolerance of our own actions, or the impact it has on the receiving end? And how do we draw that line? ASTEYA Non-stealing. Most people don’t steal at work, at least in terms of what is considered stealing. But this also means not taking that which is not given. How about taking a pen home, claiming more than was spent on an expense report, and “stealing” other people’s limelight? BRAHMACARYA Sexual responsibility and restraint. Sexual harassment includes both physical and mental. And some would say mental harassment is even more damaging than physical harassment. APARIGRAHA Abstention from greed. This means not coveting that which is not ours and not making unnecessary acquisition of objects that are not essential to one’s life. In business, where the raison d’etre is about profits, one often walks the fine line between greed and making a deserved profit. The key is to covet that which we have earned in an honest manner and in the right mindset. Living the yamas at work are surely a challenging endeavour. But the real practice is in learning and striving, one day at a time. This is all we can, and need, to do. Jeanne is a yoga practitioner and certified teacher. She works in the IT industry and is currently studying the history and philosophy of yoga as part of a five-year Traditional Yoga Studies course led by Georg Feuerstein. In all the years I’ve practiced yoga, I’ve seldom brought my “yoga life” to the office. I work in the IT business where things happen at internet speed and everything is about productivity, effectiveness, and results. Yoga, if ever this topic comes up, is seen as “that new age thing” or a physical exercise for Type A personalities who need to burn off some 19