So you might be wondering how you can declutter and organize with kriya yoga. Heck, you might be wondering what is kriya yoga, let alone how it would help you spring clean.
Yoga is Sanskrit for union and any mindfulness practice that helps you achieve unity can be considered yoga.
Let’s find out how my favorite form of yoga can bring more harmony into your life.
Prefer video? Watch How to Declutter and Organize with Kriya Yoga:
declutter and organize with kriya yoga
Today I want to share with you my favorite form of yoga. And how it can help you to declutter and organize.
My favorite form of yoga is known as kriya yoga. You might already be familiar with the practice if you’ve been studying the eight limbs of yoga.
Within the eight limbs you have your yamas and niyamas. In the niyamas, the last three are: burning impurities, self-study, and surrender to the divine.
👉 Those three practices put together make up kriya yoga.
Let’s look at those three stages individually.
stage 1 burning impurities
The first stage is burning impurities also called tapas. This is going to be your opportunity to burn out, get rid of, and to eliminate all of that which that doesn’t serve us.
That can be found on a physical level, mental, emotional and spiritual level as well.
Some practices that you could do to burn impurities out of your body help you operate at your highest potential, your highest vitality:
You might do a brisk walk outside or your yoga asana practice. Those are both physical practices that help to get that energy moving up and out.
Another physical burning impurities might be deep breathing that you do on your own, or again in a physical yoga class.
That breathing, or pranayama, again helps to get that sludge up and out, helps to get that energy moving, turning it around, and making it work positively for you.
mental tapas
An example of a mental tapas might be that clutter we get in our head. Meditation is a great practice to help quiet the mind and get rid of those distractions.
Once we have cleared out those impurities, we have a clearer mind, a clear heart.
Friday Night Lights fans: “clear heart, clear head, clear eyes.” Maybe not in that particular order.
(Edited to add: I had it all wrong, but maybe we can make it the kriya yoga mantra.)
But once we clear out that which doesn’t serve us we’re in a better place, a better mindset to bring in more of what do we want.
stage 2 self study
Self-study, that’s the second stage. This is our opportunity once things have been cleared out to take some introspective time.
Make sure to look at options that are being presented. Use your discernment to see if you’re making the right choice for you.
stage 3 surrender to the divine
Our last stage which is surrender to the divine. That basically says you have faith. You know you’re not in control, that someone else is driving the universal bus.
With faith, and the right timing and the right place, that which you’re working toward will come about.
benefits of kriya yoga
If you’ve taken a physical yoga class you know how working through the postures and the stretching, the deep breathing, relaxation and meditation. You know how much that makes you feel better.
- That clearer head
- More energy in your body to do things.
- You’re also going to benefit mentally once the distractions are cleared out.
- Maybe you were stuck somewhere or
- Trying to make a decision
- Or things seem really foggy for you
Through the mental practice of kriya, it helps to clear it out and and you can see things. Make decisions based on that veil of illusion being lifted.
how to declutter with kriya yoga
So how do those three practices of burning impurities, self study, and surrender to the divine, how does that translate to decluttering and organizing?
👉 There’s a phrase in the decluttering and organization world that you can’t organize clutter.
You have to get rid of the junk, and the trash, and the clutter, and the things that pile up around you, before you can even being to think about bringing more organization into your life.
A bit of a modern spin I bring to kriya is learning how to clear out your physical surroundings. Things like your plastic bowl drawer, your junk drawer that collects everything, your closet, your piles of mail, junk mail and bills piling up on your desk.
Kriya yoga says one by one you go through each of those and you get rid of the junk, the trash, the things you no longer need, the things no longer serve you.
And if you want to channel a little Marie Kondo, getting rid of the things that don’t bring you joy, you can do that too
clearing out your mind
And as you slowly begin to get rid of this clutter everywhere, not only is your environment getting more organized, more clear, but so is your mind.
There’s something very visceral and satisfying about cleaning out a junk drawer or cleaning out your closet. Stepping back and seeing how clean it is, being able to find everything easily.
Then an hour later, a day later, a week later, boom, that problem that was working in your subconscious has also now been figured out too. The brain is amazing tool in how it processes things.
how you can use kriya yoga today
Look around in your place and find something where when you look at it, it feels overwhelming because it’s gotten out of control. Then commit five to ten minutes a day to decreasing that pile, getting rid of things that don’t work for you.
Get rid of the old stuff, throw it away, get it out of your house. And when you do that you’ll have more space in which to organize.
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