Bringing Awareness to Consumption: Introduction

I didn’t really choose to focus on asteya as my yama experiment; I just went to the group that had the least amount of people. Oops. I struggled and procrastinated at first because it was hard to feel that this yama was very applicable to me.  Fortunately, I don’t go around taking things that aren’t mine. So to design my experiment I had to get past the gross definition of asteya, not-stealing. I looked through our texts and pulled out the following definitions.

Heart of Yoga: Take nothing that does not belong to us. Do not take advantage of someone who entrusts something to us or confides in us.

Sutra 2.37 (as written in HOY): One who is trustworthy because he does not covet what belongs to others, naturally has everyone’s confidence and everything is shared with him, however precious it might be.

Ashtanga Yoga Primer: Avoid any kind of misappropriation of material or non-material things. When perfected, one is freed from the illusion of ownership.

Light on Yoga: The desire to possess and enjoy what another has leads to the urge to steal and covet. Gathering things you don’t really need. Freedom from craving enables one to ward off great temptations. Craving muddies the stream of tranquility.