Niyamas - the five ethical guidelines or "DO"s in Yoga

The Niyamas are the second of the eight limbs of Yoga. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, they are described right after the Yamas.

Whereas Yamas are rules what a Yoga practitioner should not do towards others and oneself, the Niyamas describe what one should do. They also have to be practised on a mental level to improve ones clarity and inner peace of mind.

The Niyamas are

1. Saucha2. Santosa3. Tapah4. Svadhyaya5. Isvara Pranidana

SAUCHA

Saucha is the first Niyama and it means cleanliness or purity. 
A clean body and mind keep you physically and mentally healthy. When you are free from physical disturbances and mental worries, you can successfully focus on your goals and needs. But what does purity of body and mind mean practically? How can we achieve it?
Let's start with the outer appearance. First of all, purity means we should regularly have showers, wash hands, brush teeth, change clothes and maintain our daily hygiene. You can also start using a tongue scraper to clean your tongue every morning from toxins which accumulate over night and you can cleanse your nose from the inside with saltwater if you want. The list of yogic cleaning techniques is endless. Not all of them are necessary and suitable for everyone, but when you are aware of your own body's weaknesses you can choose suitable techniques. I will describe more yogic body cleansing techniques in detail in another blog entry.
The next step of cleanliness and purity comes with your nutrition.  We can take good care of our whole body system if we eat right. In German we have a saying: "Du bist, was du isst." It literally means, "You are what you eat". And I think it`s true. All that we eat becomes part of our body somehow, at least for some time.
Everyone knows that drinking too much alcohol, smoking constantly and taking strong medication poisons the inner organs and puts stress on them. It weakens the systems and can cause disease. Eating unhealthy fried or sugary junk food regularly has the same effect, just in a smaller dose. So if you want to be healthy, eat healthy. Minimize the poisons and harmful substances in your diet. Choose organic food, try not to consume drugs and chemical medication if possible, eat less meat, eat freshly cooked homemade food with fibre and consume unhealthy food as less as possible. A healthy, balanced diet takes a lot of stress of our internal organs and nurishes every cell of the body. You won't only look nicer and healthier, you will also feel healthy and fresh in body and mind.
An accordingly important influence on your body comes from your senses. What you hear, see and feel goes through your nerval system into your brain. Body and mind are highly connected. Only the body of a healthy mind can function well. That's why we have to also keep our mind clean from toxins. What are toxins for body, soul and mind? Negative emotions. If you listen to people gossiping or if you watch the news and movies where people cry and get hurt, it can create negative emotions and thoughts within you.
Negative emotions like pain, hatred, anger, disappointment or fear make you weak and psychologically sick. So stay away from people who pull you down. Chose the people around you wisely. Spend your time with people who you trust and who make you feel good and loved. Don't waste any time and energy for things and people that make you feel angry or sad. If you can't go out of their way, learn to think more positively about them. Try to develop a more peaceful, compassionate attitude against people who think in a different way from yours. Avoid negativity and replace negative thoughts with positive ones.

SANTOSA

Santosa is the second Niyama. It means contentment and it's not to be confused with happiness. Happiness is only a temporary feeling, whereas contentment is greater than that. It is a constant feeling of peace and satisfaction. Happiness depends on outside factors whereas contentment comes from within. If you are content, it doesn't matter what happens to you. You will always stay positive and peaceful like a saint or an enlightened person. Or at least you will come back to a peaceful state of mind in a very short time. The more you practise, the faster. To achieve contentment, you have to realize that there are things in life which you can't change. Nothing is for eternity so you can not always keep what you like and sometimes you don't even get what you want. Fullstop. Accept such things instead of getting bothered. Sometimes you just don't have a choice but to suffer or not to suffer. But why would you chose to suffer? If you can change something you dislike, then change it and feel good about it. If you can't change something you dislike, get over it as soon as possible. When you accept it you cam maintain your inner peace and positive attitude. But please don't suppress your negative emotions and your anger. Just wholeheartedly and honestly with your self change your point of view and become aware of the positive aspects. No matter what life brings up. Everything has its positive and negative sides.

TAPAH

Tapah can be translated as discipline. If you want to change something in your life, then you have to put some effort in to achieve it. Nothing comes from nothing. You have to set priorities and keep focused on your goal. Not only for a day or two, but continuously over a long period of time. Do what you have to do to achieve what you want to achieve. A true Yogi practices every day. No exceptions, no excuses.  No matter if physical practise, Prana yama practise, meditation or attitude practise, it requires willpower and discipline and patience to keep the practice going. Tapah is the key to make a change. You can be what ever you want to be, if you have tapah. It's all in your power.

SVADHYAYA

Svadhyaya means self-study. We are all the same, but somehow everyone is different. We have different genes, different life experiences and different memories which all form our personality. That's why people react to situations in their own way.
Svadhyaya means becoming aware of your self by observing and studying how your mind functions. It is a very helpful tool to deal with daily obstacles and disturbances. By self studying you find out who you really are, what your personality is like and why you react in a certain way in a certain situation. Ask your self: How am I feeling? Am I getting angry? Is something making me sad? Why? What is the reason deep inside me and my past, that makes me feel and react this way? It is not a reason on the surface, but deeper inside. The root of the problem. It is not easy to find, but when you find it, everything becomes so easy. It solves all problems, because all our problems are created by ourselves! We tend to blame others and find reasons outside, but the truth is, they are inside of us. Created by us.
If we study and reflect our own feelings, emotions and our behavior, we learn how to control ourselves better and how to be less effected by external circumstances. We develop distance and have the choice to react or to just let it be. If emotions control our behavior we are like puppets in a play. We have no control over ourselves and just react. Something can easily disturb our focused mind and destroy our positive state of mind. What a waste of time and energy! If you find out why something or someone triggers you, you no longer blame the person or situation. You see the situation in a reflected way, from distance and you develop acceptance and understanding.

ISVARA PRANIDHANA

Last but not least comes Isvara pranidhana. Isvara means God and pranidhana surrender. But it is not God in particular who we should surrender to. Here, God stands for any higher reality. Isvara pranidhana means to believe that there is a reason for our existance and for all that is happening. It's not a Niyama which you can practice practically like Svadhyaya by reading and reflecting or Tapah by keeping body and mind clean. It is a Niyama which can help you accept circumstances in your life much easier. To surrender to a higher reality helps to be content and to positively accept things as they are. Most people either believe in a higher reality or they don't. Some people only start to believe in a higher reality when something happens in their life, which can not be explained any other way. Personally, I do believe in a higher reality and I know from my experience that life is much easier since I trust in it. Even in physics there is the principle of cause and effect. If you hit the ball, it will move in a direction. No hitting the ball, no movement. Everything has a cause. But you can't just decide from one day to the next to believe in a purpose or cause of everything. Just be open to it. If you look for magic, you will see the magical things happen. If something happens in your life which you don't like very much, you can remind yourself, that there HAS to be a reason for it. Even if you don't know it yet, it WILL be good for something. In the end everything is meant to be and you have no choice but to do your part and make the best of it. Surrender.

 
I'll summarize them briefly so that you can keep them in mind and start practicing :-)

Saucha is to keep your body and mind clean. Avoid the influence of negative thoughts and people. Eat clean and healthy.

Santosa is contentment. Don't let anything destroy your inner peace and happiness. If you can't change it, why worry? Negative thoughts only harms your self.

Tapah. Have discipline and willpower. You can get everything you want, but nothing is for free. If you work for it, you will get the fruit. But you need patience and endurance.

Svadhyaya is self study. Reflect your self and observe your self on a deeper level of your mind. Find out who you are and become the master of your self. How? Awareness.

And Isvara Pranidhana, when you surrender to a higher reality, you trust that in the whole picture everything will make sense. Even if you  don't understand it yet, because you only see a small part of the whole picture, it is happening for a good reason and, one day, you will understand.