I recently read a blog post, “I am (Not) Mike Brown“– which deeply touched me.  Although my aim is not to politicize my blog, the title of the post evokes powerful concepts that are addressed in the Yoga tradition.  There is an idea in conventional circles (I say conventional and not the West– some of the most amazing teachers live in the West), that Yoga is associated with an “anything goes” sort of attitude.  While I cannot speak for other schools of thought and movements, I can say Yoga, at its center, has an ethical core.  In my last post, “Begin to Meditate“, I present the concept of the Yamas and Niyamas from the Yoga Sutras.  The first principle of which is Ahimsa, non-violence–to your Self and others.  Some people have called the Yamas and Niyamas, the “10 Commandments of Yoga”– which I refute as having a punitive, patronizing tone.  Yoga is about Self-direction, the sages do not tell us to fear the wrath of an anthropomorphized deity. However, they explain that we are all one.  If we go inside, regularly, and establish a relationship with our transcendent existential core we will, inherently, not wish to harm one another.  The brilliant late, Georg Feuerstein, a German-Canadian Yogi and Scholar, wrote extensively about morality as it relates to the Yoga tradition as well as an eloquent ethical guidelines for Yoga teachers. His writings affirm our natural ability to emanate goodness and to seek harmony when we frequently return to our center.