Yoga's Healing Power by Ally Hamilton

Author:Ally Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: yogas healing power, healing power of yoga, ally hamilton, allie hamilton, eight limbs of yoga, yoga, yoga sutras
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2016-06-21T04:00:00+00:00

[contents]

Chapter 7

First, Do No Harm

When we hear about non-violence, we tend to think of physical violence. Most of us can agree that we don’t want to inflict physical pain on another living creature, and we don’t want to be on the receiving end of it, either. Ahimsa is the first yama, and it means “non-harming” or “non-violence.” But violence comes in many forms, and sometimes the way we speak to ourselves is totally void of kindness or compassion. To be at war within ourselves is also to be in prison, and if we’re filled with pain and rage, we’re going to spread that pain—not intentionally, but just because that’s the nature of things.

When I was thirteen, I had a ballet teacher who was very hard on me. No matter what I did or how hard I tried, she’d regularly shame me in front of the class. One afternoon as I spun and spun on my toes, she called out, “Hamilton, you could walk into any dance company anywhere and they’d take one look at your body and hire you. But as soon as they saw you dance, they’d fire you!” I remember the feeling of my whole body turning red and the effort required not to cry.

When I was sixteen, I quit dancing. I’d had enough. I loved it, but it had turned into a place where I beat myself up, and I felt defeated. Years later, I was walking down Broadway one afternoon and I heard an unmistakable voice call out, “Miss Hamilton!” I turned to find my old ballet teacher smiling at me. She asked about my family and about college, and she wanted to know where I was currently dancing. When I told her I’d quit, she was stunned. She said she’d always been so hard on me because I had something special and she was trying to spur me on. She seemed genuinely pained at the idea that I’d quit. I realized, standing there with her, that she’d used the tools available to her at the time. Maybe she was taught in the same manner. I wondered about the way she spoke to herself, too.

When I was pregnant with my son, I went to hear the Dalai Lama speak. He’s one of the warmest, kindest, funniest people on the planet—no ego, no airs, no arrogance. Every so often he lets out this loud giggle, like a kid. It’s pretty awesome. One of the most profound things he shared that day was that he learned the most about compassion not from any of his wonderful teachers but from his mother.

Peggy O’Mara, author of Natural Family Living, says, “The way we speak to our children becomes their inner voice.” That’s not the only factor, of course, but it certainly has a powerful influence on the way we think of ourselves and the world around us. A lot of people live with a loud, unforgiving, relentless inner critic—and that is, for sure, a certain kind of prison.

Often, when I’m teaching, I’ll see someone fall out of a balancing pose and shake their head.

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