Spring Cleaning

Yoga is practiced in part as a body management program. We reduce the needs of the body so we can know ourselves, our true selves; our best version. As the weather allows us out into the world again it is important to continue practicing acting from mindful awareness. It is easy to succumb to the lure of society, especially when emotions are heightened. Such as when we're excited to be free of cold darkness for a while. We must keep firmly within ourselves, and keep our tendency toward extremes in check, so that we don't move from habits. So we avoid reacting.

Over the next few weeks we'll be covering the concepts written in the Yoga Sutras known as the niyamas. Yama means discipline or self control and the niyamas are a group of 5 ideas of how to relate to yourself, so that you can actualize the best version.

Discipline is a dirty word in America, the land of the free. We resent restriction. But, if we are to grow, we must learn to restrain ourselves. The body demands things it doesn't need. We give in because it makes us feel good, or makes us feel alive. I am a staunch believer in moderation. I am a person, of the earth, and while I know there is a component of myself that is not, I like being material. I like to eat and drink and feel and run and smile and laugh and experience all the ways in which you can be alive in a body. But I can't be the best version of myself if I only do what feels good to my body. I would be an obese drunk with lung cancer. So I practice moderation and do the best I can, because sometimes I get emotionally overwhelmed and don't do as well as I'd like.

The Yoga Sutras are a collection of writings that can help us live in a way that uncovers the best version of ourselves. They are suspected of being written by several people, though authorship is given only to Patanjali. The Sutras are many things to many people, as it is with any work held dear by many. Interpretation holds the key to understanding, and we all interpret from our own perspective.

A very specific, yet widely known portion of the sutras deals with the aspects of yoga as we know it today. The eights limbs of yoga are yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. This week we will focus on the niyama shaucha.

Shaucha is cleanliness, or purity. I thought that may be an approriate spring topic to consider. There are precedents in every major religion for purity and part of that approach is fasting. Lent, Yom Kippur, and Ramadan. In each, the adherent fasts in some way and reflects on the less than desirable choices they've made over the previous year.

Shaucha is not merely the cleanliness of the body. Our bodies require regular attention to keep from becoming mired in dirt, but so do our minds and even the spaces we occupy. Donna Farhi in her book Yoga Mind Body and Spirit suggests maintaining cleanliness in these areas will allow us to "experience ourselves at a higher resolution" (12).

So we will spring clean. By moving our bodies we will tone them and eliminate toxins from them and in doing so we will work out emotional baggage. Our pranayama practice will help to still the clutter in our minds and relaxation at the end of class will provide the opportunity to integrate the idea of cleanliness more completely.

Practice never stops. It is not limited to the mat. While yoga practice on the mat is beneficial, practicing these ideas everywhere else will allow you to make changes in your life. Pick a particularly beautiful day to clean out your car. Play music, sing and smile. Or let the process of cleaning be a practice in mindful attention. Let other issues out of your mind and find some satisfaction at the completion of your task. Give up one tasty but unhealthy thing from the majority of your life. Start small, start with something you know you can go without for a long time, then, when you've restrained yourself for a while, have a small amount. This can be a dangerous process if you're prone to excess, but if you can accomplish small victories, it's just a matter of time before you can accomplish large ones. Leave a prejudice or a stereotype behind you. Let yourself experience life from an open mind, a clean slate.