Yesterday I posted a picture of the 8 Limbs of Yoga.  The Niamas are the more personal and internal guidelines of living.
Svadhyaya is the Niamas that speaks about self study.  It is looking inside and learning about ourselves.  It is being honest about who we truly are.  It is  through our yoga practice, our times of quiet, prayer, meditation and just being open to listening and watching ourselves that we make discovers about ourselves.  With these discoveries we grow and change becoming a better person. 
Some days our discoveries are very personal.
Others days its just about discovering how to better serve ourselves so we function better.
Last Wednesday I discovered a way to make myself work through my Wednesday evenings with more energy.  I get home from work on Wednesdays around 6PMish.  I give some attention to Neely (my cat) before putting away my work stuff and starting my usual Wednesday night house cleaning.  Well...usually I find myself on the recliner, watching TV...feeling slow, and tired.  Eventually, I get up and slowly and with great remorse, begin my cleaning.  Meanwhile I munch on snacks, as I wait to eat with my husband at 9:30PM (ouch!).  Last week, I did sit in the recliner, but this time with a good snack and my swim lesson and yoga lesson outlines (and the cat).  I ate and worked on my lessons.  When I had finished, I was relaxed, rested and nourished.  I vacuumed with more energy and it went a lot faster (and less munching).  I even had time to do a little yoga as dinner cooked!  Today, I will try the same process as I feel this eating/relaxing/writing time really encouraged a more positive, energetic and productive me.
Please share any of your self-learning experiences

During Chair Yoga we began a conversation about Ahimsa.
Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras some 200 years after Jesus.  These Sutras are guidelines to living and words of wisdom.  It reads much like the book of Proverbs of the Bible.  The Sutras contain the Yamas which are a list of ways of being that help us live well with others. The first Yama is Ahimsa.  Ahimsa literally means "non-harming" or "non-violence".  Ahimsa is about living with  compassion in all that we do.  It covers our physical actions, our conversation and our thoughts ." To practice ahimsa is to be constantly vigilant, to observe ourselves in interaction with others and to notice our thoughts and intentions." (from Beginning the Journey an article by Judith Lasater about yoga sutras.)
During, I challenged everyone to compare Ahimsa with the Y's core values:  caring, honesty, respect and responsibility and their faith values.  What are the similarities? 
The other questions to ask is....where does ahimsa touch our lives?
We will continue this conversation!!!
Click on the button below to read the article by Judith Lasater.  The beginning is a nice introduction to the Sutras.  The articles continues with a few good paragraphs on Ahimsa.