Bramacharya - Right Use of Energy

This week, I’m on the fourth of the yamas, Bramacharya. Bramacharya (which literally translates as “going after Brahman”) is often said to mean “right use of sexual energy”, or, in more severe translations, “celibacy”. But let’s just put it out there that 1.) this is a family friendly blog and 2.) I can basically guarantee that none of my readers want to read about how I use sexual energy,or want me to suggest how they use theirs. 3.) I’m not telling anyone that the best way to be a yogi is to be celibate. So, more broadly, this Yama can be said to mean “right use (all types) of energy”. I’ve also seen it described as directing energy away from external desires/pleasures/wants, and I like this definition because it is inclusive of the original translation, but allows it to be applied more generally to life as well.

So what does this look like on the mat? Well, that depends on your external desires/pleasures/wants, I suppose. But because I find this one particularly tough to describe in a generic sense, I thought I’d use examples that I’ve noticed in my own practice. On the mat, I often notice my lack of Brahmacharya in how I “measure” my yoga practice. For instance, I recently noticed that I wasn’t able to go as deep into some folds, and that I wasn’t able to stay up in some of my favorite inversions (pincha and handstand) as long as I could when I was in yoga teacher training, when I was practicing yoga at least four days a week, between training days and required classes. I admittedly have been teaching more and therefore haven’t had as much time as I’d like for my own practice, and I was frustrated myself for not being able to go as “deep” into these poses. I was focusing and putting energy into the external features of the pose - the desire to fold further, to be inverted longer. But the way the poses make me feel internally - the grounding that often comes from folds, and the energy building and literal shifting perspective that I get with inversions, hasn’t changed. The benefit I get mentally, emotionally, spiritually, from committing to practice yoga for x number of minutes per day doesn’t change whether my head touches the ground in forward fold or not, whether I hold my inversion for 5 seconds or 5 minutes (note: the only inversion I’d actually want to hold for five minutes is Legs up the Wall). And so in my own practice, I’ve begun to re-shift my energy there - how the practice makes me feel internally, how committing to getting on the mat more often helps me feel, as opposed to how far I can get into a pose, or how a pose looks from the outside perspective.

Off the mat, directing energy away from desires/pleasurable things probably looks pretty different from person to person. For some, it might look like directing energy away from traditional “vices,'' especially the type people tend to take to excess. For others, it may look like directing energy less into how we appear outwardly, and more energy into how we feel internally. Often, I think it looks like moderation of whatever it is that you tend to enjoy but possibly over-indulge in. For me, it often looks like taking a step back to observe where I have been spending my energy. I notice I spend entirely too much energy in the areas of worrying over things I cannot control, trying to make others happy, and battling against my brain. And while these might not seem like “directing energy towards pleasurable things”, putting so much energy into trying to control my surroundings, my brain, all the situations, is, in a sense, directing my energy towards something I desire (to feel total control over everything in my life). And so I’m working on taking a step and noticing where I am misdirecting my energy, and how I can use it to serve myself better. As with everything else, I’m not trying to be perfect - I know I’ll never completely stop worrying or trying to please others - I’m simply trying to moderate the energy I spend in these arenas. To pick my battles, so to speak, and therefore, better direct my energy to things that truly serve me.

Of all of the yamas and niyamas, I think Bramacharya is the toughest for me to fully grasp, and I think for most people, because of its original translation, can be the one most avoided. But looking at it through the lens of properly directing our energy towards moderation, towards those things that internally serve us on a whole, can be incredibly worthwhile.

Also I need to be clear, I’m not saying that the original translation isn’t important. There have been, especially recently, numerous examples of abuse of power by instructors and mentors in the yoga community (and in the world in general), as relates to “improper use of sexual energy”. It absolutely needs to be addressed, and I by no means mean to downplay this. It is, of course, important to act appropriately as an instructor, a student, and just a human being in general. I simply broadened the translation here to perhaps make this yama more accessible to numerous aspects of life, as I feel that “right use of energy” can extend in many directions, and might help people dig a bit further into this yama, which tends to be less than popular for many when they see translations like “celibacy”.