Transcript
Speaker: Hi, I'm Alan Finger. Welcome to the Genius of Nothing podcast. Nothing is no particular thing.
Speaker: It's all things at once. Genius.
Speaker: Hello everyone, this is the Genius of Nothing podcast. I'm Katrina Rebka and I'm here with Sebastian Forsman. Good evening and namaste.
Speaker: And Alan Finger. Namaste. And we are moving on from the yamas to talk now about the five ways of reprogramming yourself called the niyamas.
Speaker: The first of which is saucha, which means cleanliness, clarity. um Yeah. And it's about...
Speaker: purity of mind, cleanliness of body, of environment, has a lot of different um meanings related, as the yamas do, to kind of the physical self, the mental clarity, and also um everything around you. So, Al, do you want to jump in and just give your interpretation of Sao Cha for us Yeah, well, I mean, it's basically the word is cleanliness,
Speaker: But it doesn't mean, you know, I always look at it and realize that it's not just on the one level of just, okay, my house is clean. It means how do we clean and clear our own and mental environment too?
Speaker: So what do we need to do to have clarity and cleanliness in our, they go together though. Because it will reflect into your home too.
Speaker: If your home is chaotic, you know that person's mind is also following. It's also busy. Because a ah mind, chakras, home, clothing, everything...
Speaker: Tidy mind, tidy house, tidy house, tidy mind. Exactly. Exactly. Thank you. they all go and And then you can reach your soul. So the the the things that we're going to do in the niyamas mean things to do.
Speaker: And these are things that you do to sustain clarity. What's going to make you able to reach beyond the limitations of the mind and the body, which we're born into as our vehicle, this life.
Speaker: I kind of like the similarities, you know, when we're now talking about the niyamas and coming from the yamas, and you really start to see yeah the relationship, really, between the yamas and the yamas, and how...
Speaker: like you said, ah how integrated they both are together. Because they both kind of share this how to kind of simplify simplify your life materialistically and emotionally.
Speaker: And both really helps us to, you know, not accumulate too much mentally and physically. And both also create this ability for us to feel much more clarity and freedom.
Speaker: And it was funny because I was reading a study from UCLA and it really showed that people with messy homes had about 30% higher colder cortisol levels than people with tidy homes.
Speaker: which is annoying if you don't like to clean. But as we know, also cortisol is, you know, ah stress hormone that can be really good in short bursts. But really over time, it can has have some really negative effects.
Speaker: and Like stuff like, you know, reduced mood, reduced sleep, weight gain, lower. It can also lower your immune system significantly. So there's a lot of negative things so that comes with high cortisol levels.
Speaker: But then people on the other side, people with tidy homes, showed that the study showed that they had much more improved focus, mental clarity, reduction in cortisol and other stress hormones, and also freed up a lot more mental bandwidth for them. So it has some really both mental and physical effects on us, clearly.
Speaker: Well, there's also this idea that a monk's cell is very conducive to meditation or a cave or where you reduce your clutter down to...
Speaker: almost nothing. It's much easier to clean, actually, i think a minimalist home where there's like not that much on the surface and everything. um But equally, in yoga, there are some physical um practices to purify, like the neti pot where you purify the nadis and the nasal passages or the tongue scraping or all of those. So if we start with the physical, Al, what do you think?
Speaker: I know when I've spoken to Ayurvedic doctors about the relevance of these practices today, They talk about how we don't have as much ama or toxins in our system as they used to do.
Speaker: Courtesis on. No, because the diets more our is more you know filled with like nutrients. But equally, we do have a lot more toxins in our environment, one could argue. Yeah, but we breathe and eat.
Speaker: So what do you think about starting with the physical practices of cleansing? You know, it's it's that always follows. I mean, you start with your body. It's easier than reaching your mind.
Speaker: And if you make your body stand in an asana and a balanced pose, your mind has to focus. Otherwise, can't do it. So they always, they actually all work together.
Speaker: And so, you know, but yes, it's easier to start with the material world, excuse me, because we're so wound up and locked in it. It's become no longer Maya.
Speaker: It's become our reality. So it's easier to start where we are, which is where one is in the material world.
Speaker: And yes, if you clean up your house and live cleanly, your mind will definitely be more clear, more accurate, and your soul will become accessible.
Speaker: It's like if you're in, obviously, if you're in cluttered room, hard to find anything, let alone your soul. What about the daily practices of neti? Like, I find neti dries my nose out, and I don't like it Even though you use salt water?
Speaker: Yeah. Neti dries your nose? Yeah, that dries it even more because salted salt water is very tough. Maybe using too much salt. Well, I just, I mean, don't. If you use too much salt, it can also, it just, yeah the salt is only to make the water alkaline.
Speaker: So you don't want to put too much salt because then it'll become, also start burning your nose. So if you even do, talking about cleansing the body, and the doors of the body, your nose, your mouth, your ears, etc.
Speaker: If you're cleansing your body, you've got to be very careful because neti, You want to use just enough salt. But I even recommend people to be very careful.
Speaker: I tell them put the salt, the purest salt, into the water, quarter of a teaspoon for a quarter for an eight-ounce glance of water. yeah Then take that and put it in a microwave because it will kill the bacteria.
Speaker: Then take that and use that for your netty. And maybe when you're doing the netty, sometimes if you're not softening the roof of the mouth and you're not doing it quite correctly, ah not correctly, but right for you, because everyone's passage and body is a little different, the water doesn't go through properly, and then it goes into your sinuses, and you don't want it to do that.
Speaker: But if you don't feel you need netty, then should you be doing it? Well, you you do need it because you want to clean out the nostrils, all those hairs that catch all the guck, especially if you're living in a city. Yeah, for sure. I mean, when I lived in New York, it was insane. i mean, it was like pulling out a skunk out of the nose every morning. you mean you don't want to know what came out. You were like, has this been inside of me? Yeah, really don't want to know.
Speaker: Jesus. It's... So it's good there, but I don't know really if you you do need it in Sweden too, but not as religiously as you do need it in New York. And it's great for algae season. But all the black dust that collects in New York in the buildings and the windows, I believe it's from the tires. I don't know what it's from, but anyway. So do you do it every morning then? So you should do it every morning. You can also today buy little...
Speaker: A can with a little button and you just put it in your nose and it's all purified and the right alkalinity and you just turn your head and push the button and it puts a little bit of water through
Speaker: And we should also mention like shatkarmas. These are kind of intense things, really, that we come to right now um that I don't think a lot of people practice daily, not all of them at least.
Speaker: And shatkarmas is really translated as six actions, six karmas. It's six purification techniques. The first one is neti, the one that we already went through, and nasal cleaning.
Speaker: Duati, which is cleaning the digestive tract. It's a little more intense. Nauli, which is abdomen rolling. Basti, which is yogic enema, basically.
Speaker: Now we're getting into it. Kapalibati, the shining skull. Rapid exhalation cleans the sinus and the lungs and the mind. Tritarka, which is concentrating, focusing, gazing, ah purifies eyes and the tear ducts.
Speaker: So we already went through Nettipoti. Dotti, I've never really done. I've never dared do that one. That seems kind of intense and freaks me out a little bit. But cleansing the digestive tract.
Speaker: Have you tried that, Al? Isn't that where you swallow the cotton string? Oh, Dotti. Dauti, of course, that's swallowing the gold.
Speaker: Yeah, the beach towel. You swallow the cloth and then you pull it back up, which I think sounds really kind of gross. That sounds it is really bad. First of all, 30 feet of gauze oh yeah is not alone it's ah it's not like a
Speaker: The gorge has got like a lot of holes a space in it and yet the way it's woven. yeah So you put that all into water. But 30 feet is long. You that into salt water in a pot hole and then you slowly swallow it. It's like swallowing something and it goes down. And first you swallow a little and you pull it out and you see, oh, it comes out. Then you do a little bit more.
Speaker: And so you find that you can take it down and take it out. I've done it only once, twice, a little bit, and then the whole thing. and But nothing came out.
Speaker: And I think that the way people eat, if you eat like you know a lot of ghee and rice and foods and things like that, I think you might develop more...
Speaker: um sort of kind of mucus in your stomach. Okay, so it was developed for a time where people ate mostly rice and Exactly, didn't eat well and you had to try and clean out. yeah That's why I think that is for our lifestyle, isn't that necessary.
Speaker: Plus it's revolting. it it's If you eat well. But netty, to clean out your nostrils, I think it's revolting to have all that guck in your nostrils. yeah Okay, moving on.
Speaker: So what are we looking at? Nauli. Nauli is... They don't have Vamana? No, Vamana is not one of them that they have there. Because Vamana is a similar... It's easier than Dottie for those that don't swallow the cloth.
Speaker: You drink six glasses of salt water, well and then... you' you'll feel like nauseous and you throw it back up out because the salt makes you a bit nauseous.
Speaker: And that also helps. But I got nothing. I just got salt water coming out because you do it on an empty stomach. So what's the purpose of that, if we just go into the purpose? because that does If you eat badly, you've got amma and toxin in your stomach that and you want to clean it up. If you eat poorly, if you've eaten something you shouldn't.
Speaker: Exactly. If you eat well and... good foods and balance, then it's okay. Not something you should do every morning. um so nice Is Basti in there? Yeah, Basti. Basti is number four.
Speaker: Basti you don't need. on yeah If you eat well, you don't need Basti. If you eat toxic food... Or if you have problems there, then you need Basti. But if you do Basti, Basti is based... In the old days, they didn't have enemas and a pharmacy that you could buy and ah but and like a hot water bottle and use gravity.
Speaker: So what they did was they did... um They take a piece of bamboo... And they'd cut because bamboo's hollow, but where the knobs are the bamboo, it's solid, but you can push a hole through it.
Speaker: Anyway, you cut the before between the two joints and then you, ah like make on a, in the old days, on a rock, they made it smooth and round.
Speaker: Then they would push the bamboo with ghee or with edman and um sesame oil on it, and they'd push that up you know through the anus and leave it sticking. It's smaller than you, smaller than going to the bathroom. Thank you. And then you do Udayana sitting.
Speaker: and it's so And there's a bowl of water. and it's Or you're supposed to do it They did it in the Ganges in the river. And then they would do Udayana and it would suck the water out. The Ganges is so dirty. Yeah. How long was the bamboo? Like, is it sticking out? I'm just trying to get the visual here.
Speaker: Is it quite a... It's about six six inch feet. Yeah, that seems... Now, instead of that... You can go to the pharmacy and you can purchase ah hot water bottle and do it with gravity.
Speaker: And it's got a placeal plastic little tube. You put a little Vaseline on or something. They give you a cream and you push it up and you put the hot water, the warm water in.
Speaker: But you should add to that water, two tablespoons of sesame oil hold into the water. second here.
Speaker: um I know people who are like big fans of doing coffee enemas, but what's the whole reason why you're doing it anyway? Your colon. It's to clean your bowel out. Yeah, but like, it's this is just crazy making. Like, there's no way on earth you're going to get me to do this on a daily basis. Like, I'm just not doing it. So what's going, i mean. no, no, Busty's not on a daily basis.
Speaker: Usually all of those that Sebastian was reading from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika were recommended to do before you start your yoga practice, your sadhana, and you cleanse first.
Speaker: Once you've cleansed, then you start your yoga practice. because you got all the toxins out of your body. but I just want to do asana and meditate. like I'm not doing... But i think that yeah that's that's the thing. like These were created for a time when we had a very, very different diet and we didn't eat and didn't have the kind of hospitals and and you know the things we have today. So I think...
Speaker: Today, some of these are not relevant so much. Some of them are, but so a lot of them are not. and i would say oh actually i think that it's not It's not that they're not relevant. They're not relevant to to people who are eating satvically and living cleanly. Yeah, exactly. But to some, they still need it because a lot of people don't do that.
Speaker: yeah They but drink Coca-Cola and they eat. Look at President Trump, I believe, has McDonald's and Coca-Cola is his favorite food. Okay, so if you do that, i should do Basti and… Then you need to do these practices to clean up. I'd love you to get the ear of President Trump and get him to do all of this. That would actually please me. That would be amazing.
Speaker: oh Wow. so I just want to be in the room when you suggest those things to him. And how did this episode turn out to be like the enema special?
Speaker: So, okay. So most of those are severe practices to deep cleanse. You see, in the old days... people lived their life up to 49.
Speaker: yeah At 49, they'd give up business and give up everything and their families, and they'd go off into the mountains to the ashram, to an ashram, and they'd do these cleanses, and then they'd begin a bit of asana and meditation.
Speaker: But today, it's not the case. We're not living like that. Yoga has become part of everyone's life and everyone talks about yoga now and you know. But that's why that's what it kind of like what I meant. Like some of these are, I think the Kriyas are really relevant or really good now for us because we live in a society where we're surrounded by so much information. I mean, a person today takes, or a person that was born in 1850,
Speaker: took in as much information during his whole lifetime hers as there was information in Sunday's New York Times. And given it's it's the New york Times on Sundays are thick, but that was a whole lifetime.
Speaker: So we're we're consuming enormous amounts of information in social media and everywhere and getting bombarded. So I think the Korea is becoming more relevant than ever because we need to, the mental cleanup is becoming so important for us. or At least for me, I'm feeling that's,
Speaker: where the body, i kind of that's okay for me. But the mind is really where I need a lot and where I think people need a lot. But see, I think the risk with these things is that they actually can be so extreme. And I remember when I lived in New York, I went to this shop. I won't say the name because maybe the guy's still alive. But I went in, it was in the East Village, and this guy who owned the shop,
Speaker: literally with a straight face, told me that he was breatharian. So he didn't eat food, he just breathed. That must be filling. For 30 years, he'd only been drinking his own urine.
Speaker: So he would just like pee and then drink his own urine. And this was a man who... That's called, in yoga, it's a practice. Yeah, so that's called Amroli.
Speaker: And I know it's yogic technique and everything and it's supposed to balance your chakras. But honestly, i mean, you shouldn't do it for two reasons. a it's gross.
Speaker: And b it actually isn't good for you because when you drink your urine, the urine actually... you know contains a lot of waste from your body, including toxins and substances. So you can actually become quite sick actually from drinking your you you're in nausea, vomiting, you can of get diarrhea and a really bad diarrhea actually.
Speaker: So kind of extreme practices that you just should really just stay away from, in my opinion. know Well, I have to say, it didn't feel like this person was living on the same planet that I was in any way, shape or form.
Speaker: And I think sometimes this self-denial and the kind of, it makes, it it gets a little crazy. Okay, so guys, let let let me just help here because i don't want to get in this conversation because it's going down the wrong track because we're using words like it's not relevant.
Speaker: It's not, i don't know what's another word you used earlier on, whatever. These things are used... used to be before the ashram and that.
Speaker: But today then in Ayurveda, they use them if a person person's got toxin in their stomach, if they've got toxin in their bowel.
Speaker: Then they use those things to cleanse them rather than enema. It's not a big deal. It's not like we're asking you to do those things. Only if there's an imbalance today, you should do them.
Speaker: Netty, I think you should do because it cleans your nostrils out and your breathing in the air in cities in particular is not clean. It's full of impurities and the little hairs in your nose get get strapped there and clean it out. That's all it's about.
Speaker: To massage your teeth and tongue. Well, it's a healthy process to get blood circulating properly to them and to tongue scrape to get the toxins off your tongue.
Speaker: So those are the things you need to do. You need neti, tongue scraping. you might if If you're a little bit vata, you can do the oil in the nose too.
Speaker: NASA. And if you are pitta, after you've massaged the tongue and done all that, you can hold even just a little cold water in the mouth for ah half a minute, 20 seconds.
Speaker: And helps cool down your system.
Speaker: Then Kabbalah Bhati you should do. Helps clean out your lungs. Helps exercise your diaphragm.
Speaker: So I do that 108 every day. And now is excellent way of massaging your internal organs and your colon.
Speaker: Do you do that standing with like kind of Udiana where you're sort of rounded over? So yeah I stand, you know, you stand hip width apart with your legs and you rest your hands on your thighs, basically, and you tilt forward little bit, bending your legs. So you're like tilted about 60 degrees.
Speaker: And then you start rolling your stomach from side to side, from right to left and then left to right. Yeah. And you kind of massage your organs, your stomach, and it's a great way to actually, you know, kind of give them a workout.
Speaker: And it really, you feel so much better when you've done it. It actually really helps and can help with digestive problems too. Because you do it on babies when they they have apsychic stomachs. You kind of rub their stomachs. Yeah.
Speaker: So now we've come to a much healthier place where we realize how within Saucha there are cleanliness of the body, of nerve connections to your brain.
Speaker: So what? So you can think better, that you can live but cleaner and clearer, and that you can reach your soul.
Speaker: These are the reasons of the Shat Kriyas. Of course, in Ishta, we teach you Kriya Yoga, which is going deeper. It's how to purify your consciousness, your mind and then your consciousness.
Speaker: And these practices have a role. They're not usually you a teacher will tell you which ones you need and don't need.
Speaker: oh well Not even that don't need, only if you read about them you know about them. But usually the teacher will advocate what you need. And that's why I've put together Dhinacharya practice. It means your daily practice.
Speaker: So when are you sending that out? within another week or two, you'll get that. So if you're not a Yogi Raj or and this, how, know, can you get it Nah, poor people have to, we're going to do it first for the Yogi Rajas.
Speaker: I'll test run it, make sure you're all okay with it. And then we'll do it with a workshop and then people can get the workshop, the recording and whatever. We'll put it out there.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. yeah
Speaker: So sorry to pull you back, but we don't want to get too much into that's gross, that's not gross. Sure, some of them are intense. But I mean, if you go to a hospital and you've got a problem and they give you an enema, well, not about that.
Speaker: I like doing You do it to cleanse if you need it. yeah so But just to clarify this, we have these, you know, those three techniques are the ones we... Main ones, like that are... rep so Yeah, yeah, main ones that we kind of use and teach and and give to people.
Speaker: and But i I do think that if you look at the types, you have the physical purification, you have the internal purification. and But then you also, I think one very important part that we tend to forget, especially in today's society, is you know, our sensory input, like what do we consume?
Speaker: The things we consume today from TV, media, social media, especially advertising, it's we're bombarded by information every day and we have no idea what it does to us really, subconsciously.
Speaker: Good point. who Yeah. Good point to cleanse your what you ingest, digest from your mind.
Speaker: So very interesting. yeah Lovely talk about sa uha on all levels. yeah And now we all know how to get clean spiritually, physically and mentally.
Speaker: Perfect.
Speaker: Have a super wonderful clean week, everyone. Have a great week. Talk to next week. Namaste. Namaste.
Speaker: Thank you for joining us today and have a super wonderful week. Namaste. Namaste.
