asceticism
often associated with exercising control over bodily needs, through fasting and spartan living conditions. Literally, 'ascesis' is found in the discipline and training engaged in by the athlete or ballet dancer. This has become particularised in reference to the lifesyle associated with a monastic calling, or as democratised by Puritans. Applied more generally to Christian or other religious endeavour, it can refer to personal zeal and discipline to gain what is seen as good in life, or to facilitate concentration on spiritual dimensions and the elimination of its opposites.