This second yama is associated with truthfulness; it literally means “that which is.” Rolf Sovik of the Himalayan Institute says satya means “seeing and reporting things as they are rather than the way we would like them to be.” Basically, this yama encourages you to be truthful, to stay open to hearing the truth, and to only tell the truth if you can tell it with clarity, kindness, and compassion — in other words, ahimsa before satya.
