Niyama
means "rules" or "laws."
Niyama is mental discipline. The practice of cleanliness of body (Shancha),
contentment (Santosha), austerities (Tapas), study of sacred
texts (Svadhyaya) and worship of God (Ishvarpranidhana)
is Niyama.
These
are the rules prescribed for personal adherence. Like the Yamas, the
five Niyamas are not exercises or actions to be simply intentional. They
stand for far more than an attitude. Compared with the Yamas, the Niyamas
are closer and more personal.
The first niyama is purity
(shancha), meaning purity and cleanliness. Purity has both an
inner and an outer aspect. Outer hygiene simply means keeping ourselves clean.
Inner hygiene has as much to do with the healthy, free performance of our bodily
organs as with the lucidity of our mind. Practicing asanas or pranayama
are indispensable means for attending to this inner purity. Asanas tones
the entire body and removes toxins while pranayama cleanses our lungs,
oxygenates our blood and purifies our nerves. But more important than the
physical cleansing of the body is the cleansing of the mind of its troubling
emotions like hatred, passion, anger, lust, greed, delusion and pride.
The second niyama is
contentment (santosa), modesty and the feeling of being content
with what we have. To be at peace within and content with one's way of life
finding satisfaction even while experiencing life’s problems as life becomes a
process of growth through all kinds of state of affairs. We should accept that
there is a reason for everything (Yoga calls it karma) and we promote
contentment 'to accept what happens'. It means being cheerful with what we have
rather than being miserable about what we don't have.
The third niyama
‘disciplined use of our energy’ (tapas) refers to the activity of
keeping the body fit or to face and hold the inner urges without outer
demonstration. Plainly it means to heat the body and, by so doing, to cleanse
it. Behind the idea of tapas lies the thought we can direct our energy
to passionately engage life and achieve our vital aim of creating union with
the Divine. Tapas helps us burn up all the desires that stand in our way
of this aim. Another form of tapas is paying attention to what we get
through. Attention to body posture, attention to eating habits, attention to
breathing patterns are all tapas.
The fourth niyama is self
study (svadhyaya). Sva means "self' adhyaya
means "inquiry" or "test". Any movement that cultivates
self-reflective consciousness can be considered self study. It means to
deliberately find self-awareness in all our activities and efforts, even to the
point of welcoming and accepting our limitations. It teaches us to be cantred
and non-reactive to the dualities, to burn out unnecessary and self-destructive
tendencies.
The fifth niyama
‘celebration of the spiritual’ (isvarapranidhana) means "to
lay all your actions at the feet of supernatural being." It is the
contemplation on God (Ishvara) in order to become attuned to divinity
and God's will. It is the appreciation that the spiritual saturates everything
and through our attention and care we can attune ourselves with our role as
part of the Creator. The practice requires that we set aside some time each day
to be familiar with that.
There is some omnipresent force
larger than ourselves that is guiding and directing the course of our lives.
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