I Have a student who does not take her morning bath b4 coming to class. I was hoping that in time she would get a better self-esteem, as her level of self-acceptance seems low, and that she would take more interest in herself. Well, she hasn’t yet, and it has been over 6 months… Her odor is quite strong, so that I burn incense during class to cover it up. I usually only burn incense b4 class as it can bother some people. I don’t want to offend her, but I also don’t want to offend the other students in the class by not addressing this issue. We are in a relatively small space, so there is no way to “get away” from her. Have you faced this problem? Have you found a tactful way to address it? Do you think this cleanliness issue merits addressing as it affects student/teacher relationship?
It is important to address this topic. Under the Yamas we find that cleanliness and purity (saucha) are cited in II, 40-41 as being prerequisites for Asana practices. You can give a talk about the virtues of this act and how yoga strives for both internal and external cleanliness. The sutras as rendered in my upcoming book is as follows –
“From purity arises a desire to protect one’s body and a cessation of adverse contact with others. From the purification of one’s essence cheerfulness arises, and with it, one-pointed concentration, mastery of the senses, and the capacity for sustaining the vision of the True Self.”
Clearly the sutras go beyond taking a bath. So for the teacher and student the purification is not attained until one is free from reactions to aromatic or unpleasant smells.