We are back for week 2. While last week was about social ethic's , this week we will cover habits for healthy, balanced living, and to connect to our spiritual side. “Niyamas” means “positive duties or observances”.
Here are the 5 "rules" to live our lives by:
Sauca ~ Purity: "Clearness of mind, speech and body”. The principle of sauca can be embraced from the inside out. Physically it means to keep one's self clean and our surrounding tidy. It also means the clarity of mind, noticing our thoughts , how do they make us feel, what triggers these thoughts. The more awareness you have the purer your mind is and the more calm you feel. To control (even if you cannot fully remove these "impure" thoughts) you have to understand what triggers them. If you can't avoid these triggers than you need to learn to control your reaction to it. As we only can change what we think and react and never others , rarely the triggers.
Santosha ~ Contentment : acceptance of others and one’s circumstances as they are. This is my favourite as living in a world where we are bombarded by advertisements, "that will solve all your problems", or "another thing you need", or "this thing will make you happy". All of this makes it difficult for you to be content. Contentment with where you are in your life and your practice today and not becoming hung up on the future and where you desire to be. We live in the present and need to accept that. We can make small changes each day towards who we want to be or what we want to accomplish, but you cannot jump straight there, so we want to be accepting & content with where we are now, and move forward with appropriate steps towards what we want to achieve. If we only desire the outcome, we might miss out on where we are now, and where we are now is a perfect place already. Practicing Santosha cultivates patience and compassion for yourself and others.
Tapas ~ Discipline: Tapas is all about staying persistent. Nowadays we see all these temptations around us for a quick fix, fast-delivery and so on, but we cannot take a spiritual bypass to enlightenment. Only with self-discipline and hard work we may see the change we might be longing for. Short routes might give us short-term happiness or momentary happiness, but with discipline we can achieve long-term balance, happiness.
Svadhyaya ~ “Self-study/Self-reflection”: You hear me saying over and over again: Pay attention to your thoughts, reactions, actions, what you notice, what triggers you? SO many things to learn and see about ourselves. As you know you can't control anything around you, and certain things may trigger emotional responses and trigger reactions. Self-study allows us to start to notice those things that trigger us to respond in ways we may not wish to (unconscious reaction). We can then question, why, why do those things bother me? Why do they get under my skin? Why do they cause me to react in this way? Pay attention, reflect, and change what you would like to change, challenge your boundaries and heal your ingrained behavioural patterns.
Ishvara pranidhana ~surrender: Ishvara pranidhana is the practice of tuning in to an energy that is greater than oneself. It is about questioning why do we practice, in a way we need to surrender ourselves to the "divine". Ishvara pranidhana will help to cure the afflictions of the mind that cause pain and suffering, as it is designed to redirect our energy away from our selfish desires and personal dramas, and towards the ultimate pursuit of Oneness.
Personally I find Niyamas to be great reminders that we are causing our own suffering and pain. We can control them through practicing the Niyamas.
Do you find these useful? Would you want expand on this? Message me I am here to chat.
Jai, Melinda
