The Eight Limbs: Niyama (Sauca)
Welcome to Limb Number Two! So, the Yamas were about how we treat ourselves as well as others and other things. The Niyamas are solely focused on ourself, our personal observances.
Yama = outer
Niyama = inner
Got it? Ok.
Just like Yama, there are five parts to Niyama.
Sauca
Santosa
Tapas
Svadhyaya
Isvara Pranidhana
Or, in normal people terms:
Purity
Contentment
Disciplined use of energy
Self study
Surrender to the divine
Today we're going to focus on No. 1 - Sauca
Sauca is purity, cleanliness.
I like to think of this in three parts:
clean body
clean environment
clean mind
Clean body is probably the easiest. It basically means practice yoga to remove toxins, rid yourself of stale breath and tone yourself and essentially look after yourself. It is also literally staying clean, not like crazy Dettol addict clean, but take regular showers and stuff.
It also takes into account what you eat. If you know anything about Ayurveda, you'll know that basically it's purpose in terms of diet is to maintain purity and cleanliness within yourself. Eating things that aren't packed with chemical and preservatives and that your body responds well to is really important to ensure that your insides remain 'clean' and function to the best of their ability.
Clean environment is both your physical surroundings and your social surroundings. It is hard to have a clear mind if you can't see the floor of your bedroom! Keeping things tidy is important for being stress-free. Hygienically clean surroundings are also important. Again, I don't mean Dettol addict clean, but clean enough so as not to harm your body in anyway, taking into account the air you're breathing or illnesses you could contract from some kind of un-clean thing. In terms of social surroundings, it is important to surround yourself with good people who are willing to make a meaningful contribution to your life and vice versa. This means cutting out any 'toxic relationships' where a person makes you feel bad about yourself or makes you do or say things that you don't agree with. You have to (somehow in a nice way) let the toxic ones go.
Clean mind is a major part of yoga philosophy. It keep sprouting up through meditation and pranayama (breathing) and everything really! A clean mind is stress and worry free, but also doesn't hold judgements or thoughts. It is very difficult to achieve this in its entirety, but we can all make a start! I think the best way to get through is bit is to start by trying to be stress and worry free (by doing yoga, pranayama and mindfulness obviously!). Try to train your brain not to freak out if something goes wrong, even if its a little tiny thing, and to not dwell on things that cause stress or worry. Then you can start noticing the thoughts and judgements that you make and start evaluating them, then start contradicting them, and eventually you will develop new thought habits that are not judgemental, stressful or negative. Well, that's the theory anyway!
In a yoga class we aim to use Sauca by showing up not stinking like we've just run a marathon in 40 degree heat (stinks can be very distracting for other people), we keep our class space clean and tidy and as minimalistic as possible and we encourage a stress-free and judgement-free environment.
And that, my friends, is Sauca!
Look forward to continue our journey through the Niyamas next Tuesday.
Namaste x
P.S. It's my birthday :D
