“You can only lose what you cling to.”
– Buddha
This series and exploration all began because a close friend and fellow yogi posted that she was struggling to find something to give up for Lent.
Over this past week, we’ve been exploring the Yogic Code of Ethics and the 5 Yamas or restraints, based on a book by Deborah Adele. Before we move into the 5 Niyamas, or the observances, I’d like to provide a summary, to serve as a place to come back to, each and every year ….
Or until such time when we become perfected Yoga Gurus & Buddhas and have nothing to give up 😉
I did some work recently with #14, giving up on unrealistic dreams of over-achievement. And interestingly enough, so did the author of Zen Habits. He just wrote a post entitled “Simplifying is Painful“. He writes: “Creating simplicity and focus can be anything but easy. It requires saying no, and in doing so, you may make others feel rejected. It requires giving up things you love, or putting them into ‘cold storage’ so you can truly say yes to the most essential.”
Which Yama do you find the most challenging ? What #1 thing will you attempt to give up ? I’d love to hear …
Namaste!
25 Things to Give up for Lent (and always) based on the Yamas & Yogic Code of Ethics.
Subtle things to forgo, that will create more good in the world than giving up chocolate for 6 weeks.
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Ahimsa – Rooting ourselves in Non-Violence
1. Give up feeling powerless. Instead, find the courage to learn to do for yourself & overcome your fears.
2. Give up your full agenda, filling every breathable moment with appointments and activities. Instead, seek out balance, by creating quiet, down-time, offering your soul self-love, much needed rest, and time to listen to your inner wisdom.
3. Give up Helping, which whittles away at others’ sense of autonomy. Instead, seek to “Support”. Nonviolence asks us to trust the other’s journey and love and support others to their highest image of themselves, not our highest image of them.
4. Give up Worrying. Instead, develop trust in others’ ability to navigate their own journey, with their own answers, and timing.
5. Give up offering Unsolicited Advice. Give up trying to change yourself & others. Instead, choose compassion. Learn to soften the boundaries, and stop trying to change what we don’t understand. We learn compassion as we do simple acts of kindness and allow others’ lives to be as important as our own.
Satya- Rooting ourselves in Truthfulness
6. Give up being Nice just to please other people. Instead, work on coming from a place of realness and authenticity.
7. Give up trying to keep up with the Jones’. Instead, live a life of self-expression, by your own set of standards. Do what makes YOU happy.
8. Give up the need to belong in a group. Choose your own personal growth instead, no matter how hard this may be, or how much guilty you may temporarily feel by moving forward.
9. Give up going back on your promises. Save time, energy and “face” by acting correctly the first time. If you can’t honor a commitment, don’t make it in the first place.
10. Give up a life that is no longer serving you. Know when it’s time to move on, and honor that, using the 4 stages of Ashramic Life as our guide.
Asteya – Rooting ourselves in Non-Stealing
11. Give up comparing yourself to others, and “one-upping” their stories. Instead, pay close attention and simply listen. Don’t steal their thunder.
12. Give up thinking of belongings in terms of ownership. Realize that everything on this earth is here only for a limited time, on loan for us to treasure. Stop stealing from planet earth. Take very good care of your human body.
13. Give up pushing so hard for your accomplishments. Stop stealing from yourself by setting aside down time, to allow the experiences of life to integrate within you. Rest. Reflect. Contemplate.
14. Give up on unrealistic dreams of over-achievement. Building true competency takes time, practice and learning. Become available to yourself, seek out mentors. Take the time necessary to build your competency, so your dreams can flourish in God’s time.
15. Give up worrying about tomorrow. Worry is a thief of today’s pleasure.
Brahmacharya – Balancing out Over-Excess
16. Give up sex for a period of time. The Yoga Sutra says the chaste acquire vitality”. Napoleon Hills says sexual energy can be transmuted to creative energy. Only through renunciation can we truly begin to examine society beliefs, as well as our own personal beliefs, values, habits, and attitudes towards sexuality and sexual activity. See if this virtue holds any truth.
17. Give up or add balance to an area of your life where you are in excess. Find “Enough”. Eat, work, and sleep to the point of increased energy, and before the point at which the lethargy of excess sets in. “Shed the excessive leafs from your tree.” By giving up, notice what benefit is achieved.
18. Give up clinging to your preferences. Notice where you see God and where you don’t. Notice the beliefs or judgments that limit your ability to see God and experience God in ALL things. “If you can’t see God in all, you can’t see God at all.”
19. Foregiveness! Let go of clinging to negative emotions such as grief and anger. It’s exhausting! Naming them and releasing them regularly through writing, movement, tears, and singing frees us up to live full vibrant lives (Dr. Wayne Dyer).
20. Give up looking for happiness in “Things”. It is the simple things that stir our soul and bless us with happiness. The wind in the trees, the colors of the sky, the touch of a loved one, the delight of a child, a shared moment with a friend, can fill us to overflowing. This overflowing is expansive and humbling, much different than the satiation of excess.
Aparigraha – Letting Go of Attachments
A small personal note here: I truly believe that letting go coincides with what is know as the vacuum law of prosperity. We must give, clear out, in order to receive.
21. Give up your large dwelling for a smaller one. If your children are grown and moved on, do you really need that 4 bedroom home?
22. Give up using credit cards. Do not go into debt, wanting more than your current means provide.
23. Give away all excess clothing and books to charity. Clear out the closet clutter. Vow to remain digital as much as possible, even clearing that out annually. Delete!
24. Give up your strong opinions. Aren’t most arguments born out of our attachment to our own preferences and ideas? When you find yourself clinging strongly to your opinion, work even harder to accept the other’s point of view. There’s very little in this world that’s truly black or white.
25. Give away a % of your earnings to charity. If a certain percentage of everything we earn goes back to God, then the more we earn for ourselves, the more we also earn for God. The spiritual practice of Tithing is a partnership, and a way to make work a divine service.
If you enjoyed this post, you can find the beginning of this series,
Exploring the Yamas and Niyamas: The Yogic Code of Ethics, here:
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