What is blocking your bliss?

Likely a combination of believing “unreal” thoughts, your ego, craving and attachment, aversion, and fear of death. Yikes! It would be so much easier to blame our lack of bliss on our partners, employers, financial situations, or fitness levels.

I know that it sounds more scary and awful than Dorthy’s lions, tigers, and bears, but just as she had the yellow brick road we have the eight limbs of Raja Yoga. 

The bliss blockers that I mentioned above are the kleshas as named by the ancient sage Patanjali. To rid ourselves of these kleshas, Patanjali offers us eight clear practices that we can use to create our own freedom and come in to an experience of deep Self-knowledge and bliss.

Before we dive into the first step on the path let’s take a brief look at the kleshas. Each of the kleshas originate from the first, which is avidya, or ignorance, or unreal thoughts.

As we explore the concept of avidya we are asked to question our thoughts and beliefs and take a closer look at our personality and who we’ve come to believe that we are.

As we do this, we naturally begin to become aware of our ego, our tendency toward suffering due to attachment and aversion and our fear of death – not just of our physical body, but also of our way of thinking and being in the world.

When we stop believing our perceptions as ultimate truths we are able to open our minds and hearts to unlimited possibility, growth, connection, and understanding.

To connect with bliss, our true nature, we need to LET GO.

So where to start? Let’s start at the beginning of the path with the yamas.

The yamas are guidelines of behavior toward others. How we are to behave toward ourselves is covered later in the niyamas.

The first yama, or ethical restriction/restraint is ahimsa, which is often translated as nonharming. 

Ahimsa seems to be one of the more often talked about yamas as teachers are often referencing it when they say things like “be kind to yourself” and “be gentle in your practice” but it is important to note that ahimsa is a yama, not a niyama.

Ahimsa is a recommendation of not harming others. Of course, it is wise to not harm yourself but perhaps kindness and care towards oneself is more aptly, if less obviously, covered in the niyamas which we will discuss at a later date.

So how do we put ahimsa into practice in our daily lives?

We think, act and speak with compassion for others as our guiding light.

To think, act, and speak from a place of compassion doesn’t mean that we become pushovers or people pleasers, absolutely not. It means that we consider the suffering of others and conduct ourselves in such a way as to minimize our contribution to their suffering.

Compassion can look a lot like tough love or refraining from enabling. 

Sometimes, people are really “happy” in their suffering and the most compassionate thing that we can do is stop helping them to stay stuck in their self destructive cycles.

Compassion often looks like simple kindness and consideration.

It doesn’t have to be hard or a big deal. We simply must consider others and how our thoughts, words, and actions impact them. From there, we choose wisely.

Now, I’d love to hear from you:

How can you practice ahimsa in your life today? Leave a comment below and let me know. 

If you enjoyed this essay please send a link to it to a friend or “like” it and let me know. I am always grateful for your support, questions, comments, and feedback.

Next week we will take another step down the path to bliss…so stay tuned!

Much love,

Katie