March's Theme: Saucha

Each month, we're exploring on of the niyamas, or foundations of self-observation and self-betterment. Our theme for this month is saucha, the practice of physical, energetic and mental purity.  "Purity" can be a loaded word in a culture like ours, where it often carries a sense of moral superiority and judgment.  From a yogic perspective, saucha is simply the most practical way to go about seeking happiness and wisdom.  

Patanjali explains:

From purity arises a desire to protect one's body and a cessation of adverse contact with others.
From the purification of one's essence, cheerfulness arises, and with it, one-pointed concentration, mastery of the sense, and the capacity for sustaining the vision of the True Self. (Yoga Sutras, II:40,41)

In the depths of meditation, the yogis discovered that we are inherently good, happy, and wise.  We just forget, and get stuck in unhelpful beliefs and behaviors that are in a sense "impure".  Practicing saucha is to cleanse ourselves of the physical and mental impediments that prevent us from realizing who we really are.