“By purification arises disgust for one’s own body and for contact with other bodies. Moreover, one gains purity of sattva, cheerfulness of mind, one-pointedness, mastery over the senses, and fitness for Self-realization.”
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 2:40-41

Rob Brezsny, author of Free Will Astrology Newsletter, (www.freeastrology.com) introduced me and other Virgos to a word which has not been use for 400 years, “mirabilla.” According to Brezsny “mirabilla” means "marvels that inspire wonder."

These marvels could be labeled “miracles" and however grand or slight, the practice of Yoga yields the presence of miracles. Our very bodies inspire wonder as our Hatha practice continually reveals. When we move into each posture or breathing technique and attune to the experience of the body and not to the form we come to the purity of the present moment. This purity is known in “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali” as “saucha” Saucha, like all of niyama, is not an idea adrift in abstraction but an experience grounded in reality.

Saucha is often translated as “cleanliness” in body and mind. A clear mind lets us understand accurately and enjoy thoroughly what is occurring in the present moment. We want to preserve that clarity and purity.

Purity in the body results from eating clean and wholesome foods. Couple that with a Hatha practice, which squeezes toxins out of the body, and the body becomes clean. We know that broccoli is good for us and that ice cream with its lethal combination of sugar and dairy is unhealthy to sinuses. But, oh, ice cream taste so good. Eating broccoli because we read that it is good helps, but knowing and experiencing the healthiness of broccoli is another matter, a matter of the miracle of the body. The Hatha practice sharpens taste buds as it awakens proprioceptors throughout the body.

A closer look at our own bodies yields a deeper mirabilla. Matthew Fox, an advocate for renewing our cosmology, wrote among other books “Sins of the Spirit, Blessing of the Flesh,” (Three Rivers Press, NY, 1999.) He shows how the body inspires wonder:

• “Human chromosomes are 6 feet in length but fit crumpled up into a tiny ball of a cell that is 0.1 millimeters in diameter.”
• ”One human body contains a hundred times more cells than there are stars in the galaxy.”
• ”If the DNA in the body’s cells were uncoiled and laid end to end, it would reach to the moon and back 100,000 times.”
• ”The circulatory system in each of our bodies is 60,000 miles long.”

These anatomical marvels are no match, however to what our actual practice reveals. In a Hatha practice we explore anatomy in real space and real time. Standing in tadasana, the mountain, a posture normally used as a starting point for other postures, benefits like the other asanas. Standing on our two feet, feet we usually take for granted, we first notice how they are situated on the ground. If the foot is not centered, but sways to one side or the other, the effect may be felt all the up to the hip. The form as described in Hatha books, states we should have our feet together, but one’s body type may demand each foot is situated under the corresponding hip for stability. We have to be stable to enjoy the experience of the posture. We feel the lengthening of the torso upward and the energy of the lower half of the body downward. As the torso lengthens the abdomen, ever so slightly, tightens helping the lower back support the upright body. The area around the kidneys relaxes. The heart opens and the shoulder blades sink down the back. This posture is simple, but it is not easy. It is, however, quite effective if not taken in the abstract. Tadasana introduces us to the pure experience of an upright person and opens us to a love of the body’s unique energy.

Perplexing in the Yoga Sutras, however, is how, in his sutra on saucha, Patanjali introduces the notion of “disgust of the body.” Twenty-first century readers find this idea appalling. We know the ill-effects of someone who holds such disgust. The practice of Hatha is an honoring of the body.

The word Patanjali uses for body, “anga,” strikes a peculiar image. “Anga” actually means “limbs.” Limbs reach out beyond who we are, to that which we desire. Our arms reach for that outside and the legs walk us to that which we want. This reframing of the word “anga” can liberate the Sutra and allow present day Yogis to reconcile it with current norms, despite the uncertainty of Patanjali’s intention. If we are present at our core and not in our reaching for what we do not have, then we are practicing saucha.

Saucha is an experiential grounding in reality, a place where one experiences purely the presence of miracles. It is a place where one can step out of the world of the mind and reside, at least for a while, in the miracles of presence.