07/12/2022
Brahmacharya—the moderation of the senses—is one of the key practices yoga offers for managing sensory cravings. It is the fourth of five yamas, or restraints, which help us cultivate self-awareness and transform habits that are out of sync with our spiritual aspirations. Brahmacharya practices range from the very structured to the highly intuitive. A person who craves candy bars may need to impose a limit of one per day. Yet that double-decker chocolate cheesecake might be just right for a special occasion. In a world overwhelmed by stimuli, making wise choices about the books and magazines we read, the movies we watch, and the company we keep will help us conserve energy and keep our mind focused and dynamic. Being moderate in sensory activities so that we don’t dwell on them, staying committed and faithful to one partner in a relationship that is mutually supportive—this is the middle path of brahmacharya.
Brahmacharya, therefore, presents us with practical positive strategies for managing the senses. It teaches us self-restraint—curbing the inclination to eat for eating’s sake, sleep for sleeping’s sake, or to indulge any of the senses without some measure of control. And it offers an alternative—a pervasive feeling of divine presence, a chance to walk in God-consciousness. In this way, we can gratify the greatest and finest desire of all—the desire to find the unchanging reality, the source of unbounded joy.