santosha - contentment is cultivated
Part of the yogic lifestyle is to live by the Niyamas, five personal observances that we are asked to practice in order to make our lives more creative, effective and peaceful. The second Niyama is Santosha and it means contentment. How does one practice contentment?
First it is important to distinguish contentment from complaceny. Practicing contentment does not mean finding a way to be okay with circumstances that cause suffering. Contentment comes from just one thing: making change for the better. So practicing contentment means practicing looking around our lives and seeing what could be improved and finding a joyful way to make it so. Practicing contentment also means recognizing that this process is a never-ending process and in fact it is the flow of life itself. So rather than resisting the work of making change, we invite it and gently open to it always finding new ways to be our own solution.
We are content when we know we have the power to make positive change. We know we have this power when we practice using it everyday in little ways.
Think about it this way. Discontentment comes from a feeling of powerlessness. If things are not as we'd like them to be and we feel we cannot change them, well, yuck! We feel discontent. But if things are not quite right for us and we know we have the power to make a change (and we always do). We start that joyful journey of creating something new. This is very satisfying. This is the practice of contentment.
Santosha is an attitude that leads to intelligent action. Instead of resisting and complainging about current circumstances, we examine them with calm curiosity like a challenging cross word puzzle and we get excited about solving the problem. Practicng santosha means recognizing that how we do it is what we get. Enjoy the process of creating and recreating your life everyday and it will be a satisfying, joyful journey in which you are both content with what is and eager for what could be.
Jennifer Lynn, Maui Hawaii
Yoga Classes, Yoga Teacher Trainings, Yoga Alliance School
www.YogawithJenniferLynn.com
Copyright 2007 © Yoga with Jennifer Lynn
