Katie Sandwina, billed as the world’s strongest woman, preparing to break a chain over her thigh, c. 1895.
And how shall you rise above your days and nights unless you break the chains which you have fastened around your noon hour? In truth, that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle your eyes — Kahlil Gibran
“Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“We are strange beings, we seem to go free, but we go in chains – chains of training, custom, convention, association, environment – in a word, Circumstance – and against these bonds the strongest of us struggle in vain” — Mark Twain
“Banks and riches are chains of gold, but still chains” — Edmund Ruffin
The first niyama is sauca, or purity. Sauca on the mat is the work we do to prepare our bodies and our minds to realize the opportunity of asana. For me, it primarily concerns diet, rest, meditation, and avoidance of overwork and overtraining. The result of purity on the mat is a pliant, strong, sensitive, balanced body, a focused mind, and a carefee spirit. We achieve these things through the voluntary surrender of certain freedoms.
If I am unwilling to give up… potato chips and cream cheese brownies, for example, or.. the money I can earn by overworking, or my freedom to stay up until three to finish a good book… then I will not realize my full potential on the mat. It’s that simple. Fortunately, the asanas detoxify us, so that our desire for many of the things we must give up lessens …over time.
Each of us must determine for ourselves what sauca on the mat means to us. The asana gives us excellent feedback. When I am eating the wrong foods, my practice is directly affected; it feels as if someone has pured san in my gas tank. I lose strength, focus, and sensitivty. Slogging through a practice when I am weakened by poor nutrition, I am forced to reconsider my definition of freedom. Sauca, the first niyama, reminds us to apply the yamas on the mat. — Rolf Gates, Meditations from the Mat
2 Responses
Oh ~ this is great stuff!
I love my yoga!
I’m doing better with the junk food, however the “demon of caffeine” and staying up way too late…well, I still have to work on!
Caffeine is not a demon, it’s essential. ;^) Just kidding, but it is a life-long habit for me as well. Staying up late is only a problem if you have to get up in the morning. I do swap to decaf stuff in the evenings so caffeine doesn’t keep me up at night.