| Well, having been painfully honest (particularly with the dentist), "walked with divinity", checked in with integrity... for a few weeks... It's time to drop everything! Aparigraha- the 5th Yama of Ashtanga yoga.
pari means “things,” and graha “to grasp”
non-posessiveness/ the art of letting go. Tidiness
I cant really get very far before the tidiness expert Marie Condo is mentioned, so I'll just start with her, or at least her concept:
"gathering together all of one's belongings, one category at a time, and then keeping only those things that "spark joy", and choosing a place for everything from then on." Its wonderful poetry- before children and living together with really messy people starts kicking in. But there is a lot of sense to it. Having a glimpse around this room that I sit and work in often, I can see a plethora of potential distractions, (one of the reasons my bookshelf is behind me) so this space needs to be pretty clear otherwise I will not get much done. Velcro
One of my friends said to me recently:
"It's like we are walking round with some kind of invisible velcro, & our emotional baggage (trauma etc) gets stuck to us through life, and we drag it around with us for ages, possibly way longer than necessary for it to be useful".
I couldn't help but think of this limb of yoga, and how we have assumptions of ourselves, which may not even be our story, either our past self or our present self. Things get projected onto us, and sometimes they stick and become ours, sometimes they need ejecting, or in this case ripping off. Ego/identity
I've been listening to a spotify podcast about the ego, which the author, Mark Manson, reminds us that ego is literally latin for "I" and the sense of I has been something with which we automatically load assumptions on to:
I am a teacher
I am a mother
I live in Totnes
Think about it, reading these 3 statements, tells us a lot about a person, but where are those imaginings coming from?- Our own experiences perhaps?
So if someone told me they are a teacher for example- I fill in the gaps with my imagination, so in my mind they have a school they go to, the commute, they have people to support, they stay up all night making plans for the next day... you see where I'm going with this? I have labelled them without knowing much at all.
Wouldn't it be refreshing to just let them tell you whatever they actually are (if you're interested and inviting it of course-) and not make any assumptions at all... that is one of the many branches of this practice of Aparigraha...giving us a little space from the "story making system" -the ego. Non-posessiveness
I know, this intro has become bigger than I intended, but its a big subject! This angle of letting go is more emotional, and not easy to master:
"Non-possessiveness turns us from attachment to intimacy without possession". D. Adele.
Perhaps enough said? Habits
Of course this idea works on so many levels, and the physical is a pretty good place to start, however if you tidy up your house once, and the habit doesn't stick, there's possibly something missing...
I know I've gone on about James Clear (the Atomic habits man) a lot, but he's great for habit breaking and forming, and the premise that nothing need be fixed, but if you can allow a helpful habit to start, you're giving it a chance to evolve just by doing it. Practicing yoga at home
This comes up a lot when starting a home yoga practice. Your expectation is that you will continue forever and be an excellent yogi, however this attitude will surely fail!
& when you have a lie in on Saturday and can't get out of bed or you're falling ill, or any other Saturday-like distractions means the mat gathers dust that day/weekend, panic- not! This pause needn't be permanent, and your practice might even be better when Monday/another day rolls round and you're back on your mat, possibly lying on your back congratulating yourself for this first step.
Perfect.- for right now. | 
