AHIMSA

Ahimsa, translated as non violence or non-harming, is the practice renouncing those feelings of anger, irritability, aggression and judgmental behaviour towards others and self.
If looked from afar, this principle does seem simple but when you give it a closer thought, you understand the subtle implications of Ahimsa. For example, when you couldn’t perform the yoga pose of Sirsasana perfectly for the 10th day in a row, the thought, “I am just bad at everything”, is a form of ahimsa to yourself.
You have to cut back on the negative thoughts directed towards yourself and also towards other people.
How do you go about doing that?
The first step is actually simple. Awareness.
Become aware of negative thoughts directed towards anyone, be it yourself, parents, friends or an unknown person. This will signal to your brain, “I need to stop thinking this”. With constant awareness and practice, you’ll be able to curtail those unwanted feelings.

SATYA

Satya, meaning truth, tells us to speak and live the truth at all times, keeping in mind the implications of the first yama, Ahimsa (not hurting anyone through the truth).
When you see someone’s report card and they have gotten a D grade in Mathematics, you think, “He must be so bad at math.” This becomes your truth. But is it really true? Couldn’t it be that he would have had a fever on the day of his Math exam? There could be ‘n’ number of reasons why he got a low grade, none of them being that ‘He is bad at math.’

If you think about it, in our day-to-day lives, we keep on assuming so many things to be true but in reality it’s the opposite. It could be that you’re prejudiced towards an employee or you heard someone’s gossip and believed it to be true. That is why this principle becomes difficult to practice.

To be good at this yama, try questioning your thoughts. Ask yourself- “Why am I thinking this?” Keep questioning yourself until you reach the true reason.

ASTEYA

Asteya means non-stealing. It says that you shouldn’t take anything that isn’t freely given to you. The larger picture says that this means not to steal material things, not exploit and the like.

But there’s more to it. It also includes not stealing people’s rights, time, energy, etc. For example, when you hoard face masks in this time of distress, you’re robbing a person who actually needs this necessity. In a way, you’re stealing their energy and time (they’d have to travel far to get a face mask).  

Asteya tells us to be more mindful of our actions and to refrain from letting greed overpower us.

BRAHMACHARYA

While the term Brahmacharya is well-known for its connotation as practicing celibacy, its essential meaning is energy moderation and to refrain ourselves from excesses. These excesses could be anything from loud music, buying things you don’t need, eating very oily foods, inappropriate sexual behaviour and so on. 

For example, you’re faced against a situation where your business is suffering from losses. You keep on stressing yourself, as a result you feel restless and you lose your sleep. Over here, the principle of Brahmacharya would suggest you to put your energy on coming up with different solutions and discussing them with the people you look up to, instead of wasting that energy on constantly stressing yourself with the problem.

APARIGRAHA

Aparigraha is the principle of non-possessiveness that urges you to let go of abundance and only have what you need.
In today’s world of online shopping, this could be a little difficult to practice which is why everytime you feel like buying something, ask yourself the following questions- “Do I really need this? What purpose will it serve? Am I buying it to impress people?”
Aparigraha also means to get rid of bad habits like smoking, negative thoughts, bad experiences of the past and so on.