Foundations · Reading
Saucha
Cleanliness, the first niyama.
Awaiting subject reviewWritten from our source material and not yet checked by a teacher of this practice. Read it as reference, and learn the practice from someone who teaches it.
Philosophy
Saucha, the first niyama, is purity or cleanliness. It begins outwardly: a clean body, clean clothes, a clean place to practise.
It continues inward, toward a mind clear of agitation. Patanjali says that saucha leads to cheerfulness, one-pointedness, mastery of the senses and fitness for self-knowledge.
Further reading
- Yoga Sutras 2.32
- Yoga Sutras 2.40
- Yoga Sutras 2.41
Ideas behind it
Sources and tradition
- YOG Union App Content Map, 2 November 2026, pp. 2–3
- Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, 2.32, 2.40–2.41