If you’ve been practising yoga for a few weeks and you’re now familiar with the breath and the postures, sooner or later the body asks for more depth. That depth is not in more advanced postures: it is in the ethical dimension of yoga. And it begins with the yamas.
The yamas are the five ethical observances with which Patanjali opens the Yoga Sutras (II.30). They are the first of the eight limbs of yoga (ashtanga) and — to be clear — they are not commandments. They are agreements with yourself about how you relate to the world. The floor on which everything else is built — the physical practice, the breath, meditation.
In this article I’ll walk through the five yamas one by one with contemporary examples so you can take them off the mat without turning them into spiritual posing.
Where the yamas sit in yoga
Patanjali presents yoga as an eight-step path (ashtanga): yamas, niyamas, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi. The yamas come first — not by accident. Without a clear ethical floor, the rest of the techniques (even the most sophisticated postures) become spiritualised gymnastics.
The five niyamas, which come right after, look inward: how you relate to yourself. The yamas look outward: how you relate to others and to shared reality. Together they form what in the West we’d call a practical ethics of care.
1. Ahimsa — non-harming
Ahimsa is usually translated as “non-violence” or “non-harming”. It comes first because it holds the other four. Without ahimsa, the other yamas are empty technique.
What it isn’t: ahimsa is not naive pacifism, nor avoiding every conflict, nor staying silent so as not to inconvenience. It’s not just “don’t hit anyone”. What it is: the commitment to add no unnecessary harm to the world, including the harm you do to yourself.
On the mat: not pushing a posture because yesterday it was easier. Respecting a tired body. Not forcing the knees in a fold. Off the mat: reviewing how you talk to yourself when you make a mistake. Questioning daily consumption that sustains suffering. Leaving relationships that repeat harm.
2. Satya — truth
Satya means truthfulness, authenticity. Speaking and living from what is real, not from what is socially convenient or personally flattering. Patanjali places it second, right after ahimsa, and that order matters: truth must never be used as a weapon.
The balance: if a truth would cause disproportionate harm, ahimsa weighs more. That doesn’t authorise lying; it authorises silence or finding the right time and form. Cruel truth without need — “I’m telling you because I love you” — is often violence in disguise.
On the mat: recognising where your body actually is today. Not pretending to advance beyond your level to impress the teacher. Off the mat: stopping the inflation of your professional achievements. Noticing when something doesn’t sit right with you instead of automatic “it’s fine”. Being truthful first with yourself: is what you’re doing with your life what you say you want to be doing?
3. Asteya — non-stealing
Asteya is not taking what isn’t yours. Literally “non-stealing”, but the sense is broader: not taking what isn’t offered, in any of its forms.
Subtle forms of stealing: stealing time (chronic lateness), stealing energy (dumping your problems on someone without asking), stealing attention (interrupting, monopolising the conversation), stealing credit (presenting someone else’s work or idea as your own), stealing the future (consumption that destroys shared resources).
On the mat: not mechanically copying the person next to you without sensing the posture in your own body. Off the mat: respecting other people’s time as if it were your own. Asking before borrowing. Crediting whoever has thought what you’re sharing.
4. Brahmacharya — moderation
The fourth yama is the most misread in the West. Brahmacharya is often translated as “celibacy” because in its original monastic context that’s what it meant. But the sense is broader and useful for any lifestyle: proper conduct of vital energy.
What it proposes today: not spilling your energy in a thousand directions at once. Not exhausting yourself in stimuli that don’t nourish. Not living in excess (of food, screens, simultaneous relationships, work). Energy is a finite resource and moderation — not repression — is how you take care of it.
On the mat: dosing the intensity. Not exhausting yourself in every session. Off the mat: reviewing where your day actually goes. Deciding consciously where you invest your attention. Learning to say no to invitations you know will empty you.
5. Aparigraha — non-grasping
The last yama is aparigraha: not accumulating, not grasping, not owning beyond need. The yama that most clashes with contemporary lifestyles.
It is not: imposed poverty or disregard for your own subsistence. It is: reviewing the gap between what you have and what you actually use. Releasing what no longer serves without guilt. Questioning the urge to accumulate more.
Aparigraha applies to emotional grasping too: clinging to a version of yourself you no longer are, to a relationship that no longer works, to a job that diminishes you. Letting go is daily practice.
On the mat: letting go of the posture when it’s time to let go. Not staying in an asana because you look good in it. Off the mat: reviewing your wardrobe periodically. Questioning before buying. Releasing identities that no longer represent who you are.
“When the yamas are established, the very nature of the practitioner changes.”
Patanjali, Yoga Sutras II.30 (c. 2nd century BCE)
How to work with the yamas (without losing yourself in philosophy)
The most common trap when studying the yamas is to turn them into moral commandments and judge yourself when you fall short. That is exactly the opposite of what they propose. Their function is to be orientation, not judgement. Three concrete suggestions:
- Work with one yama per month. Five yamas, five months. That month, observe where it shows up (or doesn’t) in your daily life. Without changing anything at first.
- Keep a short journal. Three lines at the end of the day: where did I see this yama today? Where did I see its absence?
- When you start to act, act small. One conversation, one purchase, one posture. Big transformation is the cumulative effect of many small decisions.
After the yamas, what comes next?
Patanjali continues with the niyamas, the five inner observances: saucha (cleanliness), santosha (contentment), tapas (discipline), svadhyaya (self-study) and ishvara pranidhana (surrender). If the yamas are the outer face of yoga ethics, the niyamas are the inner face. Then come the eight full limbs in which asanas, pranayama and meditation fit.
The yamas are not “level one” and samadhi “level eight”. They are eight simultaneous dimensions of a yogic life. That is why an experienced practitioner returns to the yamas as often as they return to tadasana: they are the floor on which everything stands.
If you’d like to deepen your practice with real guidance integrating philosophy and posture, at my yoga studio in Barcelona we work with classical hatha yoga rooted in this tradition. Classes are small groups and the first one is a free trial.
