Sauca: transcending body image

A little context

About two thousand years ago, a guy named Patanjali compiled a series of pithy aphorisms called the yoga sutras.  These cryptic sayings contain clues on how to escape suffering and ultimately reach samadhi (meditation/ bliss).  In his compilation, he describes a series of steps called ashtanga yoga, where he offers some helpful practices to practitioners to help them on their path in meditation.

One of these aphorisms asks practitioners to practice something called “sauca” – or “cleanliness.”

Sauca

Most translations of sauca are a bit daunting, and hint that through the practice of “purity,” practitioners will ultimately find that there arises a natural disgust and disregard for their own bodies or the bodies of others.  Disgust? Disregard?  These words are off-putting to the modern reader.   At the very least, they reflect a time where our bodies, emotions, and thoughts were seen as impediments to the realization of our True Self.  Taken at its most extreme, the sutra implies that the wise will eventually feel a natural repulsion towards their physical form.

Recently in teacher training, the students offered a remarkable view on this sutra:

“We’re obsessed with our bodies, with our physical presentations.  Like Facebook, it’s all about our image.  This sutra reminds us that we’re more than our bodies, our clothes.”

“Especially for women,” another added.  “Women have been struggling with body image for a long time.”

I paused to consider their points: every woman I know is challenged by body image.  Every.  Last.  One.

Over the course of our lives, we’ve been taught that the way we look is not enough.  While we can never be too thin or too fit, we’re also not allowed to be caught dieting (ummm, but somehow “cleansing” and “fasting” are okay?).  Effortless beauty.  And god forbid you get old.

One of the most healing offerings of yoga is its capacity to offer a non-judgmental space for self-connection.  According to Yoga Journal’s 2012 survey, 82.2% of practitioners are women.  With so many women on the mat, the yoga space has the potential to be become a supportive forum for radical self-acceptance; a place where we value ourselves for how we feel on the inside rather than how we appear on the outside.

However, as marketing catches up with yoga, we are being encouraged away from the “cleanliness” of a healthy disregard for image and instead being encouraged to look like the cover of yoga Journal or purchase the right yoga outfit.  Lululemon markets its Groove pants for their ability to “create a snug gluteal enclosure of almost perfect globularity, like a drop of water” (“The Science of Yoga,” Broad, p.4).  In other words,  our yoga clothes are designed and sold to us on the premise that they should make our ass look good.  Now, I love my ass to look good on a Saturday night, but do I really want to be worried about this in yoga class?

Brought into a modern context, “sauca” could be a way of cleansing ourselves of our projections and expectations about our physical form.  Consider the following:

  • Are you self-conscious in yoga class about the way you look?
  • Do you dress to impress when you go to practice?
  • Do you worry what other people think of you in class?
  • Is there any space in which you feel comfortable to look exactly as you do?
  • How does this relate to your use of:
    • Food
    • Alcohol
    • Clothes (Lulu Groove pants included)
    • Makeup

We deserve to have a space for practice that is safe from body image judgment.  Where we can feel, and breathe, and move without worrying about who is looking.  Yoginis, we are the voice of North American yoga.  And ladies, it’s high time to reclaim the yoga studio as a safe haven for the expression of our bodies, our voices, and our spirits.

 

 

Here Be Tigers

TigerCast your mind back about a thousand years.

You’re in India, walking in the jungle.  Suddenly – a tiger!

Your heart races, your adrenaline pumps, you fun as fast as your legs can carry you in the opposite direction.

And you’re safe.

 

Now, fast forward ahead to now.

You’re at your desk.  You open your email.  Suddenly – a deadline has changed!  Your heart races, your adrenaline pumps, and you flurry into panic mode to address the “paper tiger” that has just shown up.

Phew, now you’re safe.   For the moment.

The only problem is that in the modern world, we are surprised by probably twenty paper tigers a day.

Our nervous system and our stress response, so elegantly designed to keep us from getting eaten by hungry tigers, has become one our greatest liabilities in the modern age.  The steady drip, drip, drip of adrenaline and cortisol into our system is causing adrenaline fatigue and a host of other stress- related illnesses.

According to the American Stress Institute’s 2012 study:

  • 77% of people regularly experience physical symptoms from stress
  • 73% of people regularly experience psychological symptoms from stress
  • 48% suffer sleep issues froms stress
  • 48% feel that their stress has increased in the last 5 years
  • 76% cited money and work as leading causes of stress

While stress can be good (achievement, strength, conditioning, awakeness), too much stress over a long time can start to burn your body out.  (Check out these “Six Myths About Stress” from the American Psychological Institute.)

There are many ways do de-fang our paper tigers.  Top choices:

  • Exercise
  • Meditation
  • Hobby
  • Journalling
  • Connecting with friends

While meditation and yoga won’t be everyone’s favorite solution, they do top the list of suggestions.  We have to give a significant shout out here to Herbert Benson, PhD, who in 1975 developed a system for triggering the “Rest and Digest” side of our nervous system.  Through scientific study, he proved that meditation reduced the effects of stress.  Although scientific study has shown that yogis actually don’t stop their heart, many studies have been done showing that they can significantly reduce their heartrate and blood flow.  The long-term practice of yoga has also been shown to lead to a lower resting heart rate.  (See William J. Broad‘s excellent book “The Science of Yoga” for a further investigation.)

As per Benson’s site, to practice the Relaxation Response:

  1. Sit quietly in a comfortable position.

  2. Close your eyes.

  3. Deeply relax all your muscles, beginning at your feet and progressing up to your face. Keep them relaxed

  4. Breathe through your nose. Become aware of your breathing. As you breathe out, say the word, “one“*, silently to yourself. For example, breathe in … out, “one“,- in .. out, “one“, etc.  Breathe easily and naturally.

  5. Continue for 10 to 20 minutes. You may open your eyes to check the time, but do not use an alarm. When you finish, sit quietly for several minutes, at first with your eyes closed and later with your eyes opened. Do not stand up for a few minutes.

  6. Do not worry about whether you are successful in achieving a deep level of relaxation. Maintain a passive attitude and permit relaxation to occur at its own pace. When distracting thoughts occur, try to ignore them by not dwelling upon them and return to repeating “one.” With practice, the response should come with little effort.

Practice the technique once or twice daily, but not within two hours after any meal, since the digestive processes seem to interfere with the elicitation of the Relaxation Response.

 

On a side note, tigers are endangered and there are fewer than 3,500 left in the wild.  The World Wildlife Fund and Leonardo DiCaprio are initiating a campaign to double that number by 2022, the next year of the Tiger.  Help out if you can.