As many of you know I’m studying yoga. Starting my 200 Hour RYT on March 24th if we’re going to get specific and I’m scared!

I deal with fear by learning and doing. So I’ve started studying yoga and yogic philosophy – no, yoga is not just hot pretzel moves and head stands.. it is far beyond that. Yogic philosophy goes beyond what you do on the mat and transcends to everything you do in the world. How you show up, and who you are.

One of the core principles of yogic philosophy is the NIYAMAS or the guidelines for self-discipline. There are 5 Niyamas in total. The first of which is Saucha.

Saucha means “cleanliness”, and yes bathing is good (pro tip: bathe regularly, you’re welcome), it’s also important to evaluate the cleanliness of everything in our lives and surrounding us.

How is the energy that you’re bringing onto your yoga mat?

With what kind of attitude do you approach your work, your relationships, and your daily errands?

How clean is your diet?

How clean are your RELATIONSHIPS?

A lot of people are used to saying the word “baggage” when it comes to relationships. What we really mean is that we carry a lot of DIRT with us. Doesn’t even have to be from prior relationships – how often are you arguing over the same thing with your significant other? How often are you slinging dirt from the past into every single thing that happens in the present? They say we have to “forgive AND forget”. It is not enough to just forgive.. because then we’re still not clean. We still have the dirt with us.. we still carry the baggage.

How clean is your environment? How clean is the information you’re feeding into your brain on a daily basis? So many people I know fill their heads with “news”. They have CNN or Fox News.. or really any modern day news channel running from the minute they wake up to almost the minute they go to sleep. You know what CNN is? Constantly Negative News… I can come up with some more fun terms for every other news channel but I think you get the point. What is this information doing to your brain?  Who are the people you surround yourself with? Are they positive? Are they helping you keep your mind in Saucha or are they slugging mud through your heart?

I’ve been practicing Saucha in my life by keeping all my physical spaces as clean as possible. I clean up my desk at the end of the work day, and I make my bed every morning. I never leave my house without doing the dishes, and I always dust the furniture. I noticed these little actions brought peace into my heart every time I walked into my apartment or into my work space. I no longer felt burdened by duties and responsibilities, instead I felt peaceful and ready.

Now imagine what small changes of cleanliness in our relationships, our attitudes, the information we feed ourselves can do to our souls!

xoxo

NikaKay

I believe in so many things that other people seem to question and that I hold true without any doubts:

1. I believe love conquers everything.
2. I believe in true, fairy-tale, everlasting, crazy about each other love.
3. I believe every single person is inherently good.
4. I believe we have a duty to share our souls with the world.

Obviously, these are some pretty strong beliefs and they’re strong for a reason – they are my guiding force in everything I do.
I’m going to work in reverse here and focus on the last one.

I think we all have a duty to share our souls with the world. To elaborate, I believe we all have magic within us; those special talents and abilities that we can use to help the world – we each have at least one. I think we have to share it with the Universe. More so, I think we have these special talents because it is our PURPOSE to share them with the Universe.

If you’re thinking.. I got nothing… I lived a life full of terrible events and overwhelming pain. Then you do have something.. you have your story. You have your strength and your courage… and let’s all be honest…… 

the world needs more of that.

XOXO

Veronica ❤