Brahmacharya: The Yamas Series

Nov 14

In a world catered to excess where you can rent out storage units to keep all the things you can’t fit in your home, buy medicine to help when your stomach hurts from overeating, take supplements to recover your muscles faster so you can continue working out, and so many tricks to keep excess in your life, Brahmacharya (non excess) points you in the direction of “just enough”.

Correcting Confusion Around Brahmacharya

Isn’t Brahmacharya About Abstinence?

Most people who have heard of Brahmacharya associate it with celibacy or abstinence, so we want to clear up any confusion about that at the beginning for you.

Brahmacharya directly translates to “walking with God” and is meant to depict how when you’re in community with the higher power you subscribe to, then worldly things fall away and you only need enough to be in this earthly plane.

Brahmacharya and Pleasure

The reason why Brahmacharya is so often mixed in with conversations about sexual restraint is because this Yama deals with the ways in which we derive pleasure. Brahmacharya is not about refraining from the things that bring you pleasure, such as a great meal or an exciting wardrobe. Instead, Brahmacharya is about not obsessing or getting too much of something that brings you pleasure to the point of it creating displeasure.

For example, let’s say you have just eaten the best brownie in the entire world and you go to take more and more bites until eventually you will become so full that this great brownie you loved at first is now causing you to feel nauseated and uncomfortable. That is where Brahmacharya comes in as a practice of preventing yourself from living in excess and therefore making your blessings in life become burdens.

Be Like Goldilocks

You’ve heard the story of Goldilocks, right? A girl finds a cabin in the woods and tries out three options of different things to figure out which one was “just right” for her. While we don’t encourage breaking and entering, we do want you to take the time to discover what is just right for you.

In the story, none of the three options are wrong. In fact, Mama Bear, Papa Bear, and Baby Bear all believe their version of the porridge or bed softness to be perfect for themselves. What Goldilocks is exploring is what is just enough for her. Think about Brahmacharya as one big science experiment with yourself as the control and everything else a variable. What works for you may not be what works for someone else. More than that, what works for you right now may not work for you in the future. You are in a constant state of change and growth, and Brahmacharya calls you to constantly learn more about yourself so that you can live without feeling miserable, and instead live in a steady state of enough.

A Few Ways to Invoke Brahmacharya into Your Life

Eating

Take your time when you’re eating your meals and check in with yourself about how you’re feeling. When you feel like you’ve had enough, stop eating. Don’t take a good thing and turn it into something you hate because you wanted more than you needed. Do this often and don’t judge yourself when you over do it or under do it, just listen to yourself and develop the knowledge of what your specific needs are.

Exercise

You know the statement, “listen to your body”? That’s exactly what Brahmacharya calls you to do here. If you feel like you’ve been sitting all day and you need to move your body, then do it. On the other hand, if your muscles are in pain and need a rest from the gym, honor yourself enough to give them that rest. Your fitness routine will not look like someone else's, so don’t force something that doesn’t work for you.

Material Possessions

This one might be the hardest, and we know that. So it’s not flippantly that we say to stop buying material things that you don’t need or holding onto things that no longer serve you. We know it can be a challenge, but maybe exercise Brahmacharya in your life little by little. You can start with one drawer in your home and go in Marie Kondo style to see if you need absolutely everything in there. Start small and be kind to yourself in the process. Another good practice is maybe when you buy something, let’s say a new pair of shoes, then you need to donate a pair you already own. Don’t get caught up in needing to fill spaces in your home with things that do not bring you joy or bring you into a better relationship with yourself.

Let’s check in: how are you feeling? None of the Yamas are easy to work on, but we know that this one brings us further into the tangible and physical things in your world and can be hard to swallow. You are not alone in your journey through these practices and you do not have to master anything overnight.