Ahimsa & Satya
Do no harm and take no shit.
Update 9/18/2025: The link referenced below has been updated. 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action
Overwhelmed? Me too.
Angry? Me too.
Frustrated? Me too.
Sad? Me too.
Disgusted? Me too.
Scared? Me too.
Please turn off the news for a few minutes and hear me out - hope is not lost, we’re in this together.
The Yoga Community’s mission is to integrate mindfulness with activism through the lens of Yoga. We heal in community through the recognition of our shared humanity. Yoga is powerful tool that can help us to create positive change from within.1
Let’s explore how Ahimsa and Satya (the first 2 Yamas in the2Yoga Sutras of Patanjali) can guide us in building a more just world through skillful actions of nonviolent civil disobedience.
Ahimsa (a-him-sa): The first of five Yamas in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Ahimsa is a Sanskrit word that means non-harming / nonviolence. It asks us to consider how our thoughts, words and actions toward ourselves and others can contribute to the health, happiness, peace and freedom of all beings. When looking through the lens of ahimsa, we become acutely aware of the actions of those who cause harm, and it is through this lens that we can skillfully act to protect our safety, peace and freedom. Our power lies in the skill of our nonviolent actions. When we stand up to those who intend to cause us harm, it’s within the container of ahimsa that the potential for profound change exists.
From the Bhagavad Gita to the moral guidance of the Yoga Sutras, the texts are quite clear, we cannot practice Yoga in isolation. The good of each individual depends on the wellbeing of the whole. We are all intertwined - when one of us suffers, we all suffer.
Satya (SAH-tyuh): The second of five Yamas in the Yoga Sutras. Satya is a Sanskrit word that means truthfulness or “that which exists, is.” It’s the seeing and reporting of things as they are, without distortion, bias or twisting reality. It’s the aligning of our thoughts, speech and actions with the truth. “Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it useful? Is it kind?” It’s more than simply not lying. It’s speaking truth to power when we see injustices. It’s speaking up for those who are unable to speak for themselves. It’s speaking up for marginalized communities who live in fear for their safety and well-being. It’s speaking up to people who abuse their power.
“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.” ~ Jim Morrison
To me, through the lens of Yoga as social justice, Ahimsa and Satya = do no harm and take no shit.
Ahimsa and Satya as Nonviolent Civil Disobedience (Good Trouble)
In 1973, the late American Political Scientist, Gene Sharp, researched and carefully catalogued 198 strategical methods of skillful action that can increase the success of a group’s efforts in a nonviolent struggle with power. His methods are included in a book he wrote called The Politics of Nonviolent Action. Sharp believed that the struggle for democratic rights and justice can often become suffocating and overwhelming because we are typically unaware of the full range of nonviolent action methods available to us.
Sharp called his methods “nonviolent weapons” and classified them into three categories: nonviolent protest and persuasion, noncooperation (social, economic, and political), and nonviolent intervention.
The Albert Einstein Institution did a beautiful job of curating Sharp’s 198 methods into list format. The list can be downloaded here: 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.
I encourage you save Sharp’s list or print it out and keep it somewhere handy. It’s overwhelming in times like these to feel helpless or to feel like you have to do more. Not knowing where to begin is frustrating too. You might feel like there’s nothing you can do or that your efforts won’t make a difference. You might feel apathetic. You might feel defeated and ready to give up and ignore what’s happening. All of these feelings are normal and not to be ignored or pushed aside. Take your time. Rest. Take deep breaths. Feel your feelings. Pause.
It’s not your job to save the world and it’s not fair for you to feel the weight of it. When you’re ready to to take action, choose one of the skillful methods on Sharp’s list and apply it where you see injustice, discrimination and human and civil rights violations.
One simple action can have a ripple effect.
We heal collectively.
As a Yoga teacher, I’m a forever Yoga student. To me, Yoga is a scientific philosophy that is to be practiced every single day. Most of the Yoga I practice doesn’t take place on a Yoga mat. Yoga is not something anyone can truly master. We’re imperfect beings and Yoga’s teachings can help us tolerate the consequences of being human. The orange dictator and his broligarchs test my patience and my practice every day. I often tell myself that we’re all born good, kind and pure. It’s external circumstances that create bad habits, patterns and behaviors. Sometimes external influences turn people into tyrants and dictators, but they’re still human. Very flawed humans, but humans nonetheless. I try every day to find it in my heart to recognize the fact that these people are victims of a society that failed them. When I recognize the damage that their lived experiences has caused, I understand that deep down, they are just like us. They’re just less-evolved emotionally and have work to do on themselves. I swear, if everyone practiced Yoga, the world would know peace.
The Yamas are the first limb of the 8-limbed Yoga path outlined in the Yoga Sutras. The Yamas are social ethics - moral disciplines and restraints that we practice and integrate into our everyday lives. I sometimes like to think of them as a code of conduct for how I show up in the world, how I relate to others.
