Asteya, on the surface, is a very boring and obvious of the Yogic restraint practices. Don’t take what isn’t yours seems very straightforward, but there is so much more under the surface of this great practice.

Djuna Zupancic, one of my fellow teachers at Akasha, shared with me that, in the Zen tradition, we honor that we are in relationship with all that surrounds us. Our possessions, our relationships, our ideas. Each and every thing in our lives is something that we’ve earned. That which is in others’ lives, they have earned.

Asteya is this practice of respecting what someone would have had to do to earn that which you covet. It’s taking responsibility for earning what you want, instead of taking it if the opportunity arises.

Conversely, it’s also about taking responsibility for having earned the things in your life that you don’t want (your debts, your enemies, your misfortunes). That’s a hard and not terribly popular piece of teaching, but you can’t truly practice without it.

Pondering all the good in your life, it’s hard for gratitude not to arise. Look at all that you have earned! What a powerful manifester you are! And when that gratitude arises, the tendency to steal diminishes.