The yamas: The yoga 'rules' on how to play with friends

Do you have a friend that you really like to play with? Do you always place nicely together? I'm sure your mommy / daddy / auntie, teacher, sometimes sets rules, such as:

When your friend comes over to play, you have to share your toy. Or: after playing, you have to help clean up your toys. Or maybe: you're not allowed to yell. Those rules are there, to make sure we all play together nicely.

Did you know that in yoga we also have rules? In yoga, these rules are called the yamas. No, not the lamas! The yamas. There are 5 of them.

Would you like to hear how the forest animals use the yamas to play together nicely? 

One day, all the animals in the forest were a bit grumpy. Soon enough, all the friends were picking little fights with one another, and no-one was feeling very happy. Ollie, the wise Owl, was watching all his friends, and decided to teach them an important lesson. 

He gathered everyone under a big forest tree. “Friends,” he said, “today, let’s share the wisdom of the yamas. These are helpful lessons from yoga that teach us how to treat eachother so we can all live peacefully together.”

Everyone nodded eagerly, curious about these new lessons.

The first yama is Ahimsa, or kindness. Bibi the butterfly spoke first. “Ahimsa means being kind and gentle,” she explained. “That’s why I fly softly and never hurt the flowers I land on.”Benjamin the bear nodded, promising to be gentle with all the little creatures.

Do people sometimes tell you that you’re so kind? Like when you say ‘please’ or ‘thank you’, or when you share your toy? Doesn’t that feel nice to be kind?

The second yama is Satya, or truthfulness. Benny the bunny shared, “Satya means telling the truth. I’ll always be honest, even if I’ve nibbled a few extra carrots from the garden!”Everyone laughed, and they all promised to be truthful and honest with one another.

What do you think, isn’t it better to not have any secrets? 

The third yama is Asteya, or not taking what’s not yours. Bella the bee chimed in, “Asteya means not taking things that belong to others. I’ll only collect nectar from the flowers I’m allowed to visit.”Freddy the fox agreed, saying he would always ask before borrowing things from his friends.

Wow, so many rules! Can you remember all of them?

The first one was kindness. Like always being nice to other kids. The second one is always being honest. Like being honest when you took a cookie from the jar! The third yama was not taking what is not yours. So if you see a very nice toy that you would like to have and it's from somebody else, you can ask to borrow it, but you can never just grab it.

Good memory!

Shall we look at two more rules?

The fourth yama is Brahmacharya, or balance. Ollie the owl explained, “Brahmacharya is about finding balance. Don’t eat too much, don’t sleep too little. It’s about making wise choices.”Sammy the squirrel thought this was great advice and decided to balance her acorn gathering with playtime.

The fifth, and last, Yama is Aparigraha. This means not being greedy. Beatrice the beaver said, “Aparigraha means not wanting too much. I’ll build just the right-sized dam for my family, and no bigger.”Everyone agreed they would take only what they needed from the forest.

At the end of their talk, all the friends joined hands and promised to remember the yamas as they played, learned, and grew together. With kindness, honesty and balance, they knew they could always find peace and happiness in their beautiful forest home.

And from that day forward, whenever they felt unsure, they’d think back to Ollies wise words under the big forest tree and remember that living with love and kindness is the very best way to live.