quatervois
“What happiness to work a lot and forget everything!
”
Warm floorboards upon waking are exquisite. The incessant clicking as I turn the knob of the gas top stove as the spark beats to flame. The blue kettle rattles over the heat. I know the boiling point without its whistle; the water’s pulse thickens.
I used to listen to the black-capped chickadees upon waking. Now, I hear the sighs of the old wooden house. It’s infiltrating worry of sand and stain. I wash compulsively: floors, skin, mirrors—the sensation of saucha: cleanliness.
Saucha is the purity of mind, speech, and body. It is a process, sometimes without perceivable and tangible results. One of the Eight Limbs of Yoga from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, saucha relates to freshness and vitality that moves the spirit.
The Energy of Spirit is called different names depending on the tradition:
In Yoga, it is Prana.
In Reiki, it is Ki.
In Butoh, it is Qualia.
In Chi Gong, it is Qi.
I brush the spots on the floor until the black marks smell of lemon. I wipe the cupboard doors and wash each towel, cloth, and sponge. I mop off the residue of the past and rinse it out against the Earth. Thank you, Gaia, for absorbing the excrement of our former selves.
Cleaning the house, I attach memories to motion: saying goodbye extends beyond the boundaries of my mental capabilities. I keep having to repeat myself. I romanticize the past and pay for my ignorance of the present by purging the same moments again and again.
I sweep to mentally clear myself of the containers that trip me up as I try to get out the door. Expansion asks that I put down the baggage. I gave away my entire house of belongings yet still stumble over boxes I’ve sealed shut with ear wax.
Yoga practice this week involved Nauli Breathing, a Kriya (a complete action that serves the desired result) to cleanse the insides. To perform Nauli, the practitioner exhales all the breath, sucks in the abdomen, and rolls the pelvis in small circular motions. The motion massages the internal organs and activates the lower abdominal muscles.
Nauli stimulates Agni—the body’s digestive fires. Strong digestion is essential to physical and energetic health. Biologically, it is how we take in and eliminate food. Metaphysically, it is how we process and assimilate life experiences.
To work with stimulating the digestive fires, try Agni Vitality Meditation, Poison into Nourishment Vinyasa Yoga, or Twisted Flow Vinyasa Yoga.
During the yoga class clarity rang in my body like a steamship’s horn. I was blasted by seasickness. My stomach rolled and my vision blurred. We repeated three cycles of Nauli and bowed into a standing forward fold. The crown of my head pointed toward the clay of the earth. Head toward the heart. I exhaulted.
The purge is a process. We must remove as much as we take. I have two hands to offer up or press down. One gesture takes while the other gives. An expression of cleanliness is awareness of the balance available at any moment.
Overconsumption leads to lethargy: too much of anything slows one down. Excessive cleansing leads to dehydration: our bodies thirst for sustenance.
Temperance is valued by the yogi and yogini. Not too much, not too little.
When I wake, I implore my reflection in the clear mirror. Smudges of senescence have appeared in the crevice of socket and sling. Eyes and hips are the initial indicators of maturity, the eventual release of the exterior. As the outside dims, my inner landscape is astir like a garden at daybreak.
