Aparigraha - non attachment

Aparigraha is the fifth of the Yamas.

The Yamas make up the first limb of Patanjalis eight limbs of Yoga. These are essentially guidelines by which to live. They can be applied both on and off the yoga mat, helping us to live our lives not just for the benefit of ourselves, but for the world around us.

Aparigraha, often translates as ‘non-greed’, ‘non-possessiveness’, and ‘non-attachment’.

The word ‘graha’ means to take, to seize, or to grab, ‘pari’ means ‘on all sides’, and the prefix ‘a’ means ‘non’. This important Yama teaches us to take only what we need, keep only what serves us in the moment, and to let go when the time is right. 

Aparigraha is also one of the central teachings in the Yogic text the Bhagavad Gita, in which Krishna shares one of the teachings that could perhaps be the most important lesson of all to learn: 

‘Let your concern be with action alone, and never with the fruits of action. Do not let the results of action be your motive, and do not be attached to inaction’. (2.47)

What Krishna is essentially saying here, is that we should never concern ourselves with the outcome of a situation, we should only concern ourselves with what we’re actually doing right now as we work towards that outcome.

Simply put – just let go.

The mind is all too often distracted with thoughts about how we could be better, stronger, or how we could get into that fancy arm balance quicker. We never seem to be satisfied with just what is at that moment.

This is what is at the base of attachment in Yoga and in our lives.

Progress in our yoga practice is encouraging, but it doesn’t need to be the only reward. The sheer joy of the practice is the greatest reward, realising how freeing it is not to have a specific goal we must achieve, but to simply move our bodies in a way that feels right.

If we practise for the love of practising, without forcing or pushing ourselves beyond where we are able to go, the body, mind and spirit will unfold.