Sauca (and, What's New for February)

Sauca.
It's is the first of the five niyamas, disciplines that refer to one'srelationship with self. Sauca means purity, or cleanliness. In sheerpractical terms, it means keeping your body clean and for yogis thismeans not just your body, but also keeping the space where you practiceclean—clutter free, distraction free, visually soothing. Tall order ifyou practice in your living space, but there is something so calming andclarifying when you clear your little space of junk and dirt and rollout your mat. The mind becomes clearer and more focused. The practiceflows from there.

So imagine my delight on Tuesday when I beheld the prop cabinet (seenabove), rigorously organized and tidied by a work/study angel! It gaveme such deep pleasure to see everything lovingly organized in its place.We, teachers and students, walk by this cabinet on our way intopractice. Surely the state of things there helps inform how we come topractice, how we unfold and smooth our mats, how we fold and unfold andre-fold our blankets, and how much clarity translates from that initialimpression, into our yoga practice.

Often we are rushing out of class and onto the next thing. it's thenature of life for most of us, myself included. If we all took just alittle bit of time to restore order to our props, neatly rolling ourmats, and "collecting" ourselves before flying out the door, there's apretty good chance the quality of that effort would reverberatethroughout the day, and into whatever comes next, after walking out thedoor.

As a teacher, it's a joy to register that calm order in the prop cabineton my way in to teach, rather than averting my eyes from the chaos andopting not to "see" it as such. It reminds me, that glance, to similarycollect and organize my own thoughts and intentions around teachingbefore I enter the space.

Thanks one and all, and please note the highlighted changes in the schedule (next box) for February!

Love,
Leslie