Yoga Stories Episode 8: The Niyamas - part 1

In this episode Monica and Matt discuss the first two Niyamas - Saucha (or is it Shaucha?) and Santosha - purity and contentment. Saucha can also mean cleanliness and we discover that what comes out of people can be as "defiling" as what goes in - an idea we look at from the New Testament. We also talk about interdictions on certain foods for observant Jews as well as Muslims. Preparations to commune with the divine, including those related to Saucha can be useful to put you in the right state of mind, but no preparation is needed to get onto you yoga mat to practise!

And it appears that alcohol and drunkenness is frowned upon for all the "People of the Book" and perhaps for yogis too... 

Santosha - contentment - needs balancing as many of the concepts we talk about! You should be grateful and content with what you have, but Santosha doesn't always mean accepting situations that could be improved. Closely related to the Yamas of Aparigraha, contentment can be an important part of daily happiness.

What is the ultimate Yoga movie? Well, it's animated and it has great songs... 😁 And both of us have taken the advice of the guest from the last episode, Ashoka, and found a copy of Isherwood's translation of the Gita. 

This episode is a little longer than usual - we know we have to work on this, but we enjoy talking to each other and these topics so much...

Namaste!