As we begin our journey through the Niyamas, you will notice that the method of application is a little different than the Yamas. Where the Yamas ask you to restrain certain behaviors, the Niyamas will ask you to observe your behaviors.
Saucha
The first of the five Niyamas is Saucha (purity). It’s important to note here that the connotation of “purity” in pop culture is not the same connotation implied by Saucha. Deborah Adele writes, “Saucha invites us to purify our bodies, our thoughts, and our words.” Let’s uncomplicate and maybe untangle the meaning of “purity” as it relates to our bodies, our thoughts, and our words.
Our Bodies
Saucha in our bodies is the action of actively cleansing ourselves from things that do not suit us. This will look different for everyone, but examples include:
Eating foods that promote a healthy physical and mental atmosphere. This does not mean eating “healthy” all the time, but instead listening and observing what works and doesn’t work for your body and treating yourself accordingly.
Implementing a hygiene routine. Whether you’re a 3-step person or a 100-step person, Saucha calls you to take care of your body and cleanse as a way to honor yourself and everything you do daily.
Respecting your body in all that you do. If you’ve sprained an ankle and were told to stay off of it, but then go running because you need to feel active or healthy, then that is not Saucha for your body. Whether it’s respecting yourself in physical situations or even the relational situations you put yourself through, Saucha asks you to be attuned to your actions and drop the ones that do not help you.
Our Thoughts
One key component of Saucha is that you are actively lightening your load. Saucha asks you to cleanse yourself of burdens that weigh you down and make living harder. You are acting in purity when you remove the things that aren’t meant to be carried by you and continuously do so over and over again. A few ways to do this in your thoughts are:
Monitor what you intake through digital mediums such as your music, your TV shows/movies, the accounts you follow on social media. There is no right or wrong here, only right or wrong for you. Ask yourself if your habits here lighten your thoughts or if they invite comparison, worry, anger, etc. into your day.
Call yourself out on negative thoughts. We cannot control the thoughts that enter our mind, but we can call them out and slowly navigate towards different lines of thinking. For instance, say you make a mistake a work and think, “I’m so stupid”, don’t let that thought go rent free! Check yourself and see if you can correct with, “I’m human and I made a mistake.” It’s hard work because it’s an invisible practice, but imperative to your mental cleanliness.
Check yourself on your thoughts about other people as often as yourself. You’re human, and humans fall prey to biases and stereotypes no matter what we do or who we are. When something crosses your mind about another person that isn’t the truth, take a moment to recognize where that thought derived from and replace it with something you know to be genuine. Example: “They just want attention” → “They have done something to get my attention for a reason that I should seek to understand”.
Our Words
Words have the power to build or destroy. To cleanse your words and live in Saucha, you must be just as attentive to the words you say and write as you are to your thoughts. This doesn’t mean limiting yourself or letting someone walk all over you, but instead means to speak with your truth in a way that respects your voice and doesn’t dampen someone else’s. For instance:
Is what you write and post on social media actual truth? Does it do justice to your voice and your own reality? Do you allow yourself to be really yourself, or do you autotune your voice into something you think others want to hear? On the reverse, does presenting yourself in one way harm others or make others follow suit? While social media is an incredible platform for creativity and connection, does it lighten your load or drag you down?
How do you talk about yourself? If this were an interview and the question was “tell me about yourself”, do you go for self-deprecating jokes or try to tone down your natural self?
No matter how kind you think you are, if you talk down about yourself, you will begin to do the same with others. So how do you talk about others? Do you criticise a friend on something that you criticise yourself on? Can you cleanse your words so that they may uplift and be constructive?
By now, you can probably see why the Niyamas are considered observances. They require a lot of attention to things both unseen and seen. It is a constant work, and one that should be done in small intervals. So start with the little things like adding a calming step in your hygiene routine or pulling the word “dumb” out of your language (both in thought and in spoken word). The beauty of yoga is that it is a practice and you are not alone in it.
Intend to Shine,
The NuPower Tribe