The Yoga of Cleaning

What is The Yoga of Cleaning? These are two activities that don’t usually go together. Or do they? Yoga means union or yoking of the mind, body and spirit. When these three aspects of us are brought to the task of cleaning (which is the art of purification)a greater expansion of well-being is created. When cleaning is combined with the technologies of yoga and its sister philosophies - ayurveda, meditation and vastu the result is the cultivation of sacred space within our homes and within our lives.
According to a June 2013 consumer study1, the idea that a clean home can help protect the family’s health is well established, as 9 in 10 consumers surveyed somewhat or strongly agree that maintaining a clean home is a good way to stay healthy. Other studies have shown that a neat, clean and organized home can actually lower cortisol levels (in women anyway). There is a clear connection between cleaning and well-being.
You do not need to practice yoga to read this book and you need not be a germ-a-phoebe either. This essential guide is the unique result of my own personal journeyas a student and a teacher of yoga and a professional in the world of consumer cleaning tools and some AH HA moments that I have gained along the way. As a certified yoga teacher, I desire natural, healthy solutions for my own life and for the world. As a Senior Brand Marketing Manager for a global cleaning tool company, it has been my job to know and understand the world of home cleaning and the impact that it has on our lives. Although there exist many books on yoga, and many books on cleaning, this is the first to unite yoga (well-being) and cleaning because they should no longer be mutually exclusive.
For starters, we need to understand that everything is connected. Living a healthy life doesn’t stop with exercising on a regular basis and getting the right diet. We need to stop bombing our homes with chemicals that degrade our health. We need to stop letting our stuff own us, and we need to find a little mental space somewhere in our very busy lives to just breathe.
We need to care for our bodies as we care for our homes, and care for our homes as we care for our bodies. We need to create a little bit of sanctuary in our lives and that starts at home. It is very difficult to cultivate inner peace if our surroundings are chaotic, cluttered, or full of toxic fumes that can make us sick. This book is for anyone who wants to claim their life (mind, body and spirit) and their space.
Also, it might be helpful to understand how each room in your house relates to your body in an energetic way. When you clean the kitchen for instance you are connecting, clearing and opening energetic blocks to your heart center. Cleaning the bathroom will help you open your solar plexus center, and so on. Often people who are have issues with clutter tend to be blocked in much of their energy body. We will explore the connection that cleaning has on well-being on a yogic level.
Cleaning is an everyday task that few of us can avoid. This is the perfect opportunity to practice Karma Yoga or selfless service- the desire to serve the divine in everything, become one with everything (yes, even the toilet). The Yoga of Cleaning is an invitation to spiritualize your cleaning routine and crate sacred space in your home versus merely performing meaningless tasks in a way that serves no one.This can be done by giving your cleaning tasks your full attention and staying present in the moment- becoming one with everything that you focus your awareness on.
Or perhaps you prefer to practice Bhakti Yoga or pure love and devotion. This could be done by chanting a mantra, repeating an affirmation, sending love and light to someone in particular or the world in general all while you performing routine cleaning tasks. This new way of viewing our chores brings a higher vibration to everything that we do.
How To Use This Book:
This book is a guide through the essentials of yoga and its sister philosophiesand how we can use them off the mat and inside our homes, especially with cleaning and creating sacred space. These are ancient concepts that were founded long ago in India- breathing, meditation, ayurveda (a science of life that gives us guidance on balancing our unique mind-body constitution in our environment and in our bodies) and vastu (the science of space planning that predates feng shui), but are still so relevant and practical today. Many of these subjects are too vast to cover in their entirety in this book, and I chose to keep this book short and succinct so I will provide other references that I have found useful so that you can go deeper on any of these subjects. I will also guide you through the essentials of natural and effective cleaning as well as de-cluttering. I have tested out all of the natural cleaning recipes in this book and use many of them in my own life.
You are your own best teacher. Take the tools and information that works for you based on your lifestyle and intuition. Integrate the technologies into your life that make sense and leave the ones that that don’t for now. The idea here is to move in the direction of something that makes your life easier, less stressful and more nurturing. Small changes over time can add up to big improvements. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
I will not overwhelm you with Sanskrit (the ancient language of yoga) in this book except for a few indispensable words like pose and breath names. When I use Sanskrit I will also provide the English translation. I will provide a glossary at the end of the book that defines most of the Sanskrit words used in the book. Readers looking for more information on teachers, systems and other resources can find that in the appendix, “Sources of Further Information.” I have also tried to utilize as many infographics or information graphics as well as drawings and photos that visually represent the concepts that I am trying to share.I hope that you find this book useful. Enjoy.