The Practice of Compassion

Cleanliness of the body and mind develops disinterest in the contact with other for self-gratification. Yoga Sutra 2:40

Working with the niyama sauca, I'm reminded of my path to cleaning the body and the mind. Through this process, I've been working on all the aspects of my life. Cleaning my home, my thoughts, my actions and my body. I'm more aware of what I eat and why I eat it. I've been struggling however, with the aspect of becoming a vegetarian. Remember that midwestern girl that started this trek a few months back? She wasn't a big veggie eater. Still not as it turns out.

Like I said I'm much more conscious about what I am eating, given up fast foods for the most part, check all labels when grocery shopping. I buy only whole foods, organic and check sugar, salt and chemical content of everything I buy.

I've got numerous new recipes for vegetarian dishes, but still haven't made them. I somehow always forget the ingredients on my list on shopping days.

Thinking about this makes me anxious and worry that I'm not fulfilling my mission in this project if I don't successfully become a vegetarian before this course is complete.

I was reminded by my mentor that perhaps it's not everyone's mission to become a vegetarian. She recommended that I practice ahimsa by not beating myself up over this and with that I may find some contentment.

In the book Meditations from the Mat they say: "Sauca is not about what we eat but about the cleanliness of our choices. Sauca's contribution is the practice of compassion. It it the observance of loving-kindness in thought."

Once I was released from my burden of worry about when and if I'll become a vegetarian, I relaxed and decided to allow the universe to decide when it will happen. It may not be before this course is finished, but it may still happen.

As a result, I printed out the list of goodies to get for vegetarian living and took it to the store when we shopped over the weekend. Turns out the store we went to didn't carry any of the items I was interested in. Baby steps!