In outlining the path to bliss, the Sutras describe the first limb as the yamas or the retraints in our interactions with others. The second limb, the niyamas, turns inward and outlines the personal observances that can help us cultivate equinimity.  The first niyama is sauca or cleanliness, purity.  Sauca relates both to our physical as well as our mental state because they are linked.

The yogis found that having a healthy, agile body better facilitated the ability to sit and meditate for long periods of time. But it’s also much more than that. Eating unwell, foregoing exercise and perpetuating stress not only lead to physical discomfort or illness, but also to mental agitation (rajas) or lethargy (tamas). These states make it more difficult to address our everyday challenges from a place of calmness and luminosity (sattva).  In addition, what we experience through our senses—what we see, hear, how we speak/relate to others—has a very real impact on both our physical and mental condition. It’s all one big circle.

Asanas are tremendously helpful in providing a sauca double win. Our yoga practice allows us to come into union with and honor our physical selves and to settle the mind, allowing it to transcend the physical. Think about how you feel after you leave yoga class. There may be a sense of release or tranquility or even inner strength. I know that after I leave class, I am less inclined to be impatient with other drivers or to eat food I know isn’t healthy.  There is an alignment that extends beyond the mat, a desire to perpetuate sauca.

The yogis understood the connection between mental and physical well being long before Dr. Dean Ornish showed that diet, exercise, meditation and yoga could reverse heart disease.  Observing sauca, from both a mental and physical perspective, we cultivate an overall lightness that helps us remain more grounded and blissful–on and off the mat or the meditation cushion.