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Yoga is made up of 8 Limbs. The following Yoga Sutra from Patanjali is regarding one of the limbs, the Yamas and is an extract from The Essence of Yoga, Reflections on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.  Bernard Bounchaud.

II.30 The principles of respect for others include nonviolence, truth, honesty, moderation, and noncovetousness. 

Which of these five principles do I find easy to follow and which are more difficult?

Is it ever desirable to focus on just one of these principles to the exclusion of the others?

For me, are these principles a practice,  mental vigilance or progressive discovery?

Can we see in these principles a chain of causes and effects from the first to the last?

How can I avoid moralizing in my understanding and presentation of these precepts?

These principles concern relationships with others, but do not exclude the relationship with the self.

• Respect for all beings and all things must permeate all levels. It can never include physical violence (wounds and blows), verbal aggression (shouts, perfidious language and slander), or behavior that leads to ill effects (intolerance or the desire to shock), especially toward the weak.  It begins with respect for one's own body, including not impairing one's health by abnormal practice of postures or breath control.
• Respect for truth encompasses all modes of communication, words, gestures, writings, and so on.  The Mahabharata defines this attitude thus: "Truth should be told when agreeable, should be said agreeably and truth should not be said that does harm; however, never lie to give pleasure."
• Respect for what belongs to others, or honesty and probity, consists in not unduly taking for oneself goods of an nature whatsoever - material, intellectual, or any other kind.  For example, do not adopt someone else's ideas without crediting him or her, nor acquire something without compensation and the agreement of the one who concedes it.
• Respect for moderation is necessary on the profane and the religious levels.  It is the correct balancing of actions, desires, thoughts and feelings and channeling them first toward the quest for the absolute or higher realization.
• Respect for a well-foundeded desire, or noncovetousness, consists in not seeking to possess undue or superflous goods.   This includes not accumulating ill-considered and useless gifts, gratifications or perquisites.

Sometimes situations arise in which one might have to choose one principle of respect over another.  For example, a person with terminal cancer who is in a weak psychological state might ask for the truth about his or her chances of survival and the number of weeks left to live.  Should the principle of nonviolence be respected by giving no reply, so as not to aggravate sidtress or should the truth be respected?

The principles are listed in the order of priority.  The first principle, nonviolence, encompasses all the others.  It has priority over the second, the second over the third, and so on.  In other words, respect nonviolence before veracity, and veracity before honesty, moderation and non covetousness.  This hierarchy is well demonstrated in the sxiom form the Mahabharata: It is  better to tell the sick person what he or she can bear with gentleness and as agreeably as possible.

The Opposite of Feeling.  Extract from Fire of Love, a beautiful book by Aadil Palkivala.

The opposite of feeling is forceing.  When we force, we cannot feel, and when we feel, we cannot force.  Whether in practicing asana or in living life, when we want to get something done, when we want results, we aggressively push to make it happen. Yet the moment we start to force, we create a barrier between our external action and our internal perception, and we are no longer aware of the effect our effort is having on our nervous system, on the situation itself, and on the other people involved.  We lose touch with the effect that the aggression is having on our hearts, our minds, and our souls.   Forcing is yang - it raises blood pressure, aggrandizes anger, and creates heart problems.  It makes an individual tense, a family unstable, a nation domineering.  Feeling is yin - it lowers blood pressure, invites tranquility, and comforts the heart.  It makes an individual calm, a family secure, a nation cooperative.

Intensity Not Force.  Extract from Fire of Love, a beautiful book by Aadil Palkivala.

We generally assume that working intensely is working forcefully.  Not so!  Force is the opposite of true intensity.  Intensity is powerfully focused action, where the mind, heart, and body are united in effort and directed by a vigilant consciousness, ensuring progress without force, growth without violence.  We force when we are not fully present in the body, not listening, not aware, not alert - just working blindly.  The art is to work intensely, but never forcefully.

Always remember that the body is only a temporary phenomenon, a rental from the material world, and the reason for yoga is to embrace that which is permanent - the Pirit.  While being violent in the body repels the subtlety of the Spirit, being sensitive invites it.  Since the Spirit resides in the Heart Center often during your practice, particularly in the sacred silence between poses.  Make your practice an expression of the Divinity within.  Watch what you are doing in a detached way, with an inner smile.  Then the intensity of feeling will lead your practice, and force will be an option no more.

The Embodiment of Peace.  Extract from Fire of Love, a beautiful book by Aadil Palkivala.

The consciousness of a country is the collective consciousness of the individuals that make up that country.  As we become more aware of feeling in our yoga practice and in our lives, we influence our individual consciousness and therby  change the collective consciousness.  Just as a gentle butterfly can shift the direction of the wind and influence global weather patterns, we too can shift the direction that our country is taking.  The awareness of feeling that we develop on the yoga mat and transfer into our lives, though seemingly small, affects all that is.

So, as we practice our poses, let us practice not force but feeling, not violence but awareness, not intolerance but compassion.  Let us move from fighting to feeling.  From looking out to looking in.  From goal to path.  From winning to growing.  From the ways of aggression to the ways of yoga.  Then harmony will fill our world.  As our practice becomes a prayer, we become the very embodiment of peace.