Saucha as a Way to Find a Deep Truth Within Yourself

by Juan Villegas, E-RYT® 500

Saucha or Purity: The First Niyama

Saucha means purity, clearness of mind, speech and body. Saucha is one of the Niyamas of yoga and Niyamas can be interpreted to mean positive duties and observances. In the book “The Yamas and Niyamas: Exploring Yoga’s Ethical Practice” by Deborah Adele, she goes further with the concept of saucha by saying that we not only need to be pure in thoughts and words but also develop purity in relation to the things that we have no control of. She writes that:

‘Saucha asks us not only to seek purity in ourselves, but to seek purity with each moment by allowing it to be as it is. We are asked to be with life, with others, with things, with the day, with work, with the weather, as they are in the moment, not as we wish they were or think they should be or expect them to be.’

Druidry, Ancient Spiritual Practices in Scotland and other Celtic Regions

by Juan Villegas, E-RYT® 500

Druidry; Celtic Yoga Connections

The history of Druidry is hard to trace, early practitioners left almost no records of this ancient Celtic system of spirituality. What we know about Druidry comes from pre-historic paintings, drawings, and writings such as those from Julius Caesar. At the end of the Ice Age, people from Southern Europe traveled north to Scotland and other Celtic areas to settle, creating a culture with considerable knowledge of astronomy and engineering skills that are hard to comprehend even today. This period of early Celticism encompasses the development of Druidism, a highly sophisticated religious system that included poets, healers, seers, philosophers, judges, and teachers.