WEEK 3

Asteya & Tapas

(Nonstealing & Discipline)

  • TAKE CLASS ON DEMAND

    50 minute class

    75 minute class

  • JOURNAL IT

    Asteya means non-stealing.

    Tapas means discipline, burning, or change.

    Prompt 1: We may consider ourselves masters of the concept of Asteya because we know that we don’t steal, in the traditional sense. However, our practice of Asteya asks us to delve deeper into our practice of non-stealing than the obvious. Consider this: how often do we feel dissatisfied with ourselves, and so we look externally outward, comparing ourselves with others, and ultimately stealing from our own opportunity to grow ourselves into the authentic person we are capable of becoming?

    On another level, when we compare ourselves with others, we may feel competitive with them. If they share something with us, we may find ourselves “one upping”, or making the conversation about ourselves, stealing their moment of excitement or of growth.

    How might the practice of Asteya show up for you in your own life? Can you begin to focus on what you can give to yourself and to others rather than take? Take some time to journal and contemplate asteya and how you might be stealing in ways that you aren’t aware of.

    PROMPT 2:

    Tapas, or discipline/burning/change, promotes us doing the hard work that is required of us to evolve into the people we’ve always wanted to be. Like a farmer who does an annual “controlled burn” to reset their land and make space for something new to grow on fertile land, we too must engage in controlled burns that remove old debris and make way for something new within us.

    Reflect on something really challenging that you’ve gone through in your life - something that you may or may not have chosen, but that ultimately, changed the person that you are to be more conscious, evolved, and aware. Despite the challenge of that experience, would you change it?

    Is there a “fire” you’ve been avoiding because it seems too threatening to face? How would sticking with the fire change you for the better? What would a controlled burn make room for?

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