I have to admit that when I first think of purity, my mind immediately is taken back to Catholic school and sins and having to confess your darkest, evilest secrets to a priest to take the stones out of your heart, which I’ve tried to distance myself from but, as is always the case, is from the formative years and hard to completely overcome.

But after reading about saucha as purity and cleanliness and how it’s not about purity of the soul so you avoid hell, but more about how we can do things on the daily to keep our mind and body clear and open – non-judgmental and ready to be in harmony with our world – that’s something that I can be more in tune with. (which is probably what the priests should have told us back in 2nd grade. i hope they’ve moved on from the stones in the heart thing.)

As far as saucha practices in my life that help with this, I am good in some ways and not so good in other ways. There are definitely things I can work on.

Before I started working at a college (10 years ago), my desk was immaculate. Everything was organized, in its place, a certain way so I knew what deadlines were ahead. Since I started working at a college, my desk is a shambled mess almost all the time, even though I know exactly where everything is. I know that I need to clean my desk more often, because when I do, I immediately get calmer. I do make lists all the time, which definitely helps me stay calm among the mess and helps clear my mind for the work I do.

When I get home during the workweek, I always do a yoga practice to unspool from the day. The mindfulness during a practice really helps me relieve the stress and busyness of the workday. Adding a meditation to it has really helped as well.

When it comes to saucha and nutrition, I have my moments. I will always have a sweet tooth and I will always enjoy eating cheese, bad snacks, and the occasional steak. But there are days that I realized that I haven’t had any meat, and those are getting to be more often (unintentionally). I will never identify as a vegan, or even a vegetarian, but eating less meat is helpful for the environment so I am ok with the accidental vegetarianism.

For the past 12 years, however, I have avoided corn syrup as much as possible. It slips in occasionally, but for the most part, I don’t eat any corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, or variations of it (which corporations have tried rename on the ingredients lists). As a result of that, I end up buying more organic items, certain brands over others, or items with fewer ingredients. Or just not buying items at all – I haven’t had Trolli Britecrawlers in 12 years and I used to love those!

And that, along with running, actually caused some pretty drastic weight loss for me. I lost about 80 lbs. in 2-3 years after that diet change, along with running on a regular basis. I feel like running also is a way to take part in saucha. It’s a great way to get energy moving and toxins out of your body, and the mental journey you take on a run is something else. It’s the ultimate in self discipline because your body can keep going, but your brain wants to stop.

One thing that I know I have to work on (besides the whole eating too many cookies thing) is holding onto things with my relationships. I will remember things that happened and then bring them up, even after many years. And it’s not that I hold a grudge against that person – it’s just a relevant thing to the moment at hand and I like to remember it even if it’s not a great moment for the other person. It’s not malicious. I just need to let it go and let it out of my mind. Which is hard, but it’s something that I need to work on.

I could go on and on about saucha, but I think this is it for now!