Brahmacharya

Week 4 of a Yama deep dive! This week is Brahmacharya or Pure Conduct. Now “pure conduct” can be taken to mean celibacy, modesty, or right use of energy. There’s a little wiggle room on this one as ancient yogis were renunciates living in caves and we’re all people of the world. So for sake of this study I’m taking this as “good use of energy.”

So rather than being a flibbertigibbet as I move through my day, I’m going to focus my energy in productive ways. The view and goal of what I do should be on long-term happiness rather than temporary satisfaction. This could be through rest and self-care or through sustained focus to work toward my goals.

Practicing Brahmacharya also means being in tune with my current state of mind or how I'm feeling and either working with that energy or redirecting. If I'm tired, I could decide to rest or take a walk to get my blood pumping. The same goes for when I'm feeling scattered. I could take a beat and try to slow myself down or use that energy for a high energy activity. This, of course, means being self-aware of my current state and taking action to put that energy to good use, rather than letting my current state dictate what I do and how I feel.