Integrity or Satya

As a practicing yogini I wake up with the daily intention to live by the standards of yogism. Yes, yogism is another of my made-up terms. The funny thing about the standards of yogism, Pantanjali's 8 limbs of yoga, is that you can't really understand them on an intellectual level. You have to live them and experience them to truly get it.



Satya is a yama and yama is one of the 8 limbs. There are five Yamas. You can think of satya as a sub-yama. Yamas are the rules of social conduct. They are the foundation for the establishment of a peaceful society and good relationships. The word satya means truthfulness. That seems pretty straightforward. If you tell the truth, you are practicing satya. More profoundly, however, satya is having integrity in thought, word and deed.



Integrity...



Is that a concept you have thought about lately? I don't think I've paused to think about integrity, well maybe ever. I think its because I do live my truth. I say what I mean. I intend to share my thoughts kindly. More importantly, I wake up with an attitude of service to humanity. It's the little things like realizing on the highway that you are no more important than the others dashing off to work and allowing the right of way. It's the bigger things like working cooperatively and for everyone's greater good. It's also knowing who you are and what you believe in. It's having the inability to lie to yourself.

Each day, as I become my yoga, I grow more painfully and beautifully innocent.

It was explained to me long ago by a guru "esque" kind of person that by 2014, no one would be able to tell a lie. It was explained to me yesterday, that 2012 is the year when the masks are taken off. False prophets will be revealed. The true motives, natures and identities of others will shine true as their truth. In a nutshell, integrity is the new black. In an ethical debate, integrity is the opposite of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is a lack of consistency between who you think you are and who you want others to believe you are and who you really are. Its the internal debate.



When you get up and look yourself in the eyes each morning, do you see a person with integrity? Would you lie to another or cheat another? Do you act selfishly. Do you justify your actions for some "greater" good? Who are you?



learn more about the 8 limbs of yoga>>>



"Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will." - John D. MacDonald