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Practicing saucha

This is an excerpt from Beyond the Pose by Lisa Greenbaum.

Saucha—Purity

Saucha translates to purity or cleanliness, and in exploring this path we find ways to purify ourselves through our environment, our physical bodies, and even our thoughts. While the majority of us keep our personal hygiene in good standing, we also must consider what we consume, with the understanding that what we eat becomes us. Saucha helps us release the toxins from within us and around us, and not only from what we take in from the external world. Consider how we continuously judge and compare ourselves with others, and the almighty reigning power of perfectionism that literally cripples us. We all know there is no such thing as ­perfection, and yet we can’t help ourselves. Saucha interweaves the themes from asteya and aparigraha, and we are once again reminded of the lessons of “I am enough” and of freeing ourselves from judgment. We must stop worrying about what others think. The only way to live in light and love is to believe with every fiber of your body that you deserve it.

The only way to live in light and love is to believe with every fiber of your body that you deserve it.

Clearing the Clutter

So let’s begin with cleanliness and keeping our environment organized and free of clutter. How often do you open your bedroom closet and declare you have nothing to wear, even though it’s packed to the absolute brim with clothes? It’s probably the same story with your kitchen cupboards or fridge, and let’s not even start on the hall closet or garage! With our practices of nonattachment and noncoveting (aparigraha), the constant accumulation of stuff begins to fall away, and all of a sudden when we look around we realize how much stuff we actually have. More stuff than we could ever even use in a lifetime. Cleaning out your closet, you discover not only brand new items with their tags still on crushed up at the back but also six gray sweaters when you swore you only had two. In an attempt to organize my husband’s tools at one point, I found three cordless drills, four sets of Allen wrenches, and six measuring tapes, some in a crawl space, others up in an attic and in the shed. No wonder our closets are bursting at the seams.

The more clutter of stuff, the more clutter in our minds. Look around you at the spaces you inhabit: your home, your car, your workplace. I’m certainly not the first person to suggest a little more minimalism in your life, but perhaps the first to offer it from a yogic point of view. By the way, I must also add that I am an incredibly messy person if I don’t keep myself in check, and so there is absolutely no judgment here. I’m simply sharing what this niyama is all about.

Within our tradition of yoga and practicing saucha, we are advised to wake before the sunrise, have a bowel movement, dry brush and oil our body, scrape our tongue and brush our teeth, shower and put on clean clothes, and then begin our practice of meditation. To purify ourselves physically and then to purify our minds. We eat a small meal or snack directly after meditating and before moving into our physical asana or kriya practice. This is followed by a nutrient-dense, digestible vegetarian meal, and then we begin our day.

While this may seem like a lot, take a moment to consider what you might do before your day starts. Are we plugged into our phone before we are even out of bed, fueling with coffee and maybe no breakfast at all, maybe taking a quick shower so our hair isn’t standing on end, and then off we go? Perhaps we spend time getting our makeup just right or ensuring that our outfit is “on point,” as my niece would say, but leave a mound of clothes strewn around our room in the process. Considering both scenarios, how do you think your first meeting of the day might go should you choose one course over the other? I think if I had to summarize practicing saucha in one word, it would be simplify. We are already bombarded on all sides: there is so much to do; we are so easily overwhelmed. Step back and simplify. We can’t do everything and be everything, and we need to stop playing the game as if we can. If even the very thought of cleaning out your closet is already making you feel ill, start with a drawer. Trying to tackle everything at once will only create an even bigger disaster.

More Excerpts From Beyond the Pose

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