2nd Limb of Yoga- Niyamas
(5 more ways to cultivate stability of mind in your daily life)


Saucha (the first niyama)- simplicity

Simple yoga sequence

Simple balance between too much and not enough in your yoga postures. Leave the dialogue at that.

Watch how you complicate your day, watch how you complicate your relationships.  "The blessings come when we can embrace simplicity, making our lives easier and more joyous" (The Secret Power of Yoga, by Nischala Joy Devi p. 209)

Simplify your food.  Saucha can also be defined as purity.  Eat real foods, simply and lovingly prepared.

Simplify your clothing: comfortable, natural.  Feel the difference when you dress comfortably.

Simplify your environment, the rooms in your house.  Donate things you don't use or need.  Get rid of the things that negatively affect your mood.

Simplify your inner dialogue. Letting go means dropping the story line.


Another aspect of saucha is the ability to be emotionally light. We tend to take situations and ourselves much too seriously.


How do you feel when you cultivate saucha in your daily life?

1st Limb of Yoga- Yamas
(5 ways to cultivate stability of mind in your daily life)


Ahimsa (the primary yama)- non violence, or compassion for all beings and things

Notice the aliveness of the floor, the mat. Step gently and carefully as if you didn't want to harm it.

Non violence on the level of action. Move through your practice, your day, as if you didn't want to harm the objects around you. Close the car door carefully. Walk gently on the ground.

Notice the state of your mind as you cultivate ahimsa.

Doubtlessness teaching

Not doubting your own capacity to open your heart and mind

Not doubting your own basic goodness

Not doubting your fundamental okay-ness in terms of being able to dispel your own darkness

- Pema Chodron
from the "Smile at Fear" audio cd's

Another reason we're able to successfully place our mind on the breath is that we have confidence in the reasons why we're meditating.  We do it with enthusiasm because we know it will bring us peace.  We see the futility of outside concerns, fantasies, thoughts, and emotions.  We're willing to give them up at least for the period of our meditation because we see the benefits of doing so.  Placement has become a reasonable thing to do.

- Turning The Mind Into An Ally by Sakyong Mipham
p. 118

Holding Your Seat teaching

Image is of a saddle

"Living with ourselves is like riding a fickle horse" - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

But we can hold our seat.  We don't need to be thrown off the horse; the horse doesn't need to run away with us.

Staying present in present time

The message of holding your seat is "don't exaggerate".

Don't escalate.  Just stay on the dot with what's happening right now.

Synchronize body and mind.  Just keep coming back gently to the present.  Feel your heart.

- Pema Chodron
from the "Smile at Fear" audio cds

Reservoir of Trust teaching

You can trust that whatever you say or do, you'll get a response from the world.

Joy comes from realizing nothing is ever a dead end.

No feeling is final.  - Rilke

There will always be communication coming back to you.  The world will always be giving you the information you need to open.

You begin to feel that it's a very rich world; one that never runs out of messages.

A bank of richness.

A reservoir that never dries up.

There will always be communication from your world and you can always be learning how to go forward.

Trust in the richness of the world.

- Pema Chodron
from the cd collection "Smile at Fear"

Open Like the Sun teaching

Notice that you're closing, then open.
Notice that you're tightening, then lighten up.
Notice that your mind is judging, then let go.

Try to experience a place beyond solid mind.

The practice is like the sun because there are no exceptions; there is no time when you don't apply it.

Opening instead of closing.

How to do that?  That's your question.

- Pema Chodron
from the cd collection "Smile at Fear"