Cleanliness is an important yogic tradition, as a personal practice of the second limb of yoga (From the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali). Saucha is the Sanskrit word for purity, cleanliness, and clearness of the body and mind. These practices are the foundation for inner growth towards unity with God. (Whatever that word means to each person.)
A clean and tidy living space feels more comfortable, pleasant, effortless, spacious, and simple. Good personal hygiene, including regular hand washing, has been proven to reduce the spread of disease and illness. A healthy body requires a nutritious diet, hygiene, self-care, and clean air and water.
But we can also practice cleanliness, purity, and clarity in our minds and hearts. Our minds and hearts can be cluttered, distracted, and contracted. They can be restricted by negativity, fear, expectations, guilt, judgements, shame, projections, complaints, desires, worries, greed, and so much more.
Just as hoarders fill their homes to the brim and restrict their home experience, our minds and hearts are often overflowing with harmful conditions. They function in reactive mode, with no awareness or control. We are enslaved by this ignorance of our inner conditions.
As a result, our relationships with others and ourselves can be complicated and dissatisfying. We resist people, situations, and ourselves because of all the mess. We are afraid to face ourselves, the only person we can ever truly face.
This reminds me of a story a friend told me. She was taking a lovely country walk and snapping pictures of nature along the way, when a woman ran out of her house, screaming at her. The woman accused my friend of taking pictures of her house. My friend’s immediate reaction was to yell back, as she felt attacked. But as she walked away, something didn’t feel right. She walked back to the woman and introduced herself. While their conversation didn’t entirely de-escalate the situation, my friend felt better. She was “clean.” She did the compassionate, courageous thing, and tried to clean up the situation. Even so, it seemed that the woman called the police, as my friend and the deputy sheriff shared friendly waves of acknowledgement. And that was the end of that.
My friend took the high road. That's how we practice cleanliness in our interactions and heal our own misunderstandings. Our minds and emotions are prone to reacting, imagining the worst in everyone and ourselves. So, we must practice. We ask questions. We value being kind over being right. We give the benefit of the doubt to others. We pay attention. We try.
And we apply these practices to ourselves.
When we can’t rise to the high bar, we observe our own confusion and learn from it. We try again because each moment is a fresh, clean, pure, clear start. There is no end to the opportunities to practice. As we closely observe ourselves in practice, we discover that we are fully occupying each sweet moment with awareness. We are engaged in our lives, as we seek to heal them.
By practicing cleanliness, we are more Godly. We are more compassionate, courageous, easy, and grateful. Life becomes more simple, effortless, and spacious, as we allow this moment, this breath, this inner space within us to be as it is. Clean. Open. Whole. Holy.
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