Hari OM

This summary is derived from the class themes from last term, when we looked at and discussed how to practice Sri Patanjali's five Niyamas - guidelines for personal discipline, to help create a tranquil mind prepared for meditation.  The Niyamas are, of course, associated with the five Yamas, self-restraints or rules of conduct that help produce fertile ground for meditation practice by regulating our behaviour and emotions.  

1. Saucha

The word means purity.   Saucha is purification on all levels.  It involves personal cleanliness, maintaining a tidy and orderly home, eating healthy food and drinking pure water.  It is the cleanliness in mind and speech that comes from refraining from emotionally and physically charged obsessions.  It is finding the balance in life.  The heart and mind are purified of attachments. 

“When the body is cleansed, the mind purified and the senses controlled, joyful awareness needed to realise...