North Star Yoga:

  Satya(m)=Truthfulness Satya is the 2nd of the 5 Yamas or moral restraints outlined in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. It is generally translated as Truthfulness but the source of the word in Sanskrit is a little more than that. Sat means true essence, that which is real. In 2.36 Patanjali says        " SATYA PRATISTHAYAM KRIYA PHALASRAYATVAN"     "To one established in truthfulness, actions and their results become subservient"  Satchidananda in his translation and commentary on the Sutras suggests that the more we can lead a life of honesty, the more we will see results, that we need not run after things, that if we are always truthful, a time will come when all we say will come true! That your words become so powerful and clean that honesty obeys you.  Are we honest the whole of the time? Well no we are not. We tell white lies all the time to save people's feelings, to keep the wheels of relationships running smoothly, and sometimes to manipulat...

  Ahimsa: Non-harming Himsa=To strike  A=Not/negation   Ahimsa is one of the 5 Yamas or moral precepts outlined in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras , a body of work which has become popular (in western yoga) since it was translated in the 19 th Century and is really a philosophical work that underpins modern yoga. You will find almost no reference to posture or movement of any kind except how to sit for meditation, but much on how we should conduct ourselves through life. This is what Patanjali says in Sutra 2:35:               “In the presence of one firmly established in non-violence, all hostilities cease”               “AHIMSA PRATISTHAYAM TAT SAMNIDHAU VAIRA TYAGAH” It is obvious that most moral precepts are universals, ways of maintaining healthy functioning societies and non-harming forms part of the teaching of Buddhism, Janism and Hinduism, a...