Explore Yoga as Skillful Living
The root of yoga is Oneness, that we are all manifestations of One Supreme Consciousness. How does this change how we live? Guest Deborah Adele explores the ethical principles of Yoga which reveal inner wisdom and help us live skillfully to build a fulfilling and peaceful life.
Deborah Adele holds Masters degrees in both Liberal Studies and Theology & Religious Studies. She carries yoga certifications in Kundalini yoga, Hatha yoga, Yoga Therapy, and Meditation. She is also trained in Gestalt Theory and Somatic Education. She is the author of The Kleshas: Exploring the Elusiveness of Happiness as well as the one we are discussing today: The Yamas and Niyamas: Exploring Yoga’s Ethical Practice and its companion journal The Yamas and Niyamas Embodied.
You can learn more about Deborah Adele at her website: deborahadele.com
Find Deborah Adele on Facebook: @YamasAndNiyamas
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: In this conversation, Deborah Adele and I explored the Yamas, the ethical principles of yoga philosophy that guide us in living skillfully in the world. I appreciated Deborah’s perspective that practicing harmlessness, or Ahimsa, requires courage, balance, love of self, and compassion for others. Courage, because often its our fear that has us act harmfully; balance because we more often struggle when we are not in balance ourselves; self-love as our understanding of harmlessness expands and we see the harm from our thoughts, words and actions more and more clearly and need to forgive ourselves; and compassion for others as key to practicing ahimsa. I really enjoyed this deep dive into the Yamas and how we can expand our practice of these essential ethical principles and hope you will too.
THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: Dr. Laurel Trujillo had a delightful and thought provoking conversation with Deborah Adele on the Yamas, a basic series of “right living” or ethical guidelines within Yoga philosophy. Although I have studied the Yamas and their complement, the Niyamas, for many years, this discussion brought out concepts I had not considered. One of the key ideas Adele brought up is that under the principal of non-harming (ahimsa) the first Yama, there is a responsibility to stay in balance so we can be there for others. If we aren’t compassionate to ourselves, we don’t have the capacity to be compassionate to others. This is a definitely a podccast for those new to Yoga as well as those that have been on the path for decades. Don’t miss it.
Deborah Adele
