Yoga used to be a part of my life designated to a specific time and place. It was just another activity, like reading the newspaper, gardening or grocery shopping. But when I engaged with other branches of yoga to deepen my practice, I realized that every word I spoke, every weed I pulled and each apple I bought was an opportunity to practice yoga.
The third of the yamas, or inner restraints, is asteya: to not take what is not freely offered. When I began to practice the yoga of asteya, I viewed these everyday routines quite differently. This yama asks us to consider the act of ‘taking’ and ‘giving’ in all that we do. What is being taken and given when we enter into a conversation, or buy an apple, or read the newspaper?
What Is Stealing?
Moral prohibitions against stealing usually take into account such questions as the nature of a product, its value, ownership status and means of transferral. In addition to these considerations, asteya asks us to peel back these basic levels of stealing and explore the subtle ways we take what is not offered. Beyond material objects, the purpose of this yoga practice is to explore what immaterial things can be ‘stolen’, such as other people’s time.
Are you chronically late for meetings and dates? Do you often wear out your welcome or spring calls and visits to family members and friends without notice? This yogic practice is, like the others, about moving from habitual actions, that have us flowing unconsciously through life, to recognizing our actions, motivations and their repercussions on the wider world.
The Environmental Yogi
The yoga of non-stealing invites us to re-evaluate ‘who’ or ‘what’ can be the offering agent. If we consider for a moment, that the Earth offers us a myriad of invaluable things we use on a daily basis for everything from survival to pleasure, then what is the ‘give’ and ‘take’ relationship here? What do we take from the Earth that is not freely given?
This may well be the most complicated yoga practice, because on a surface level, we often buy from each other what we have plundered from the Earth. Trading in such goods does not fit the usual definition of ‘stealing’. Yet the yoga of asteya recognizes our plunder as theft and therefore throws so many of our daily actions and ideologies into ethical question.
Affirmations for Practice
The final word on asteya is that it is an extremely complicated practice. A note of caution: We should not be too self-critical when we open up to exploring this form of yoga; success is about learning to be aware of what is offered and not, to take accordingly, and to make the best choices we can at any time, knowing that no one is perfect. Here are a few affirmations to support your practice of asteya yoga:
I live in gratitude for all that I have.
I take and use only what is rightfully mine.
I respect the possessions, time and talents of others.
I release my desires to own objects or talents I do not have.