Santosha: Connect with Contentment
What does santosha mean in yoga? In this blog, we’re delving into the second of the niyamas – santosha.
Being Content
Santosha is the practice of contentment. In a modern world, we’re so driven by the next best thing that we forget to count our current blessings. It’s okay to desire more, but can we do so from a place of gratitude?
Practicing santosha doesn’t mean you don’t desire more. It means you’re thankful for what you have + patient for what’s to come. It also simply means accepting + appreciating what we have and what we are already, + moving forward from there.
We can practice santosha to enhance various aspects of our lives, just like the yamas + niyamas. Santosha can be practiced anywhere + everywhere, whether on the yoga mat, during meditation, or in our daily lives.
Acceptance + Appreciation
On the mat, santosha can be cultivated by embracing + accepting the sensations in our bodies. We acknowledge areas of tension or tightness and make modifications as needed.
When frustration arises during postures, santosha can ground us. We remind ourselves that yoga asana is about more than physical appearance. We focus on our achievements, our current state, + trust in what lies ahead. Finding contentment in our bodies is a liberating experience, and the yoga mat serves as a beautiful space for this connection.
In our meditation practice, santosha can be applied by embracing stillness + slowness. We let go of the constant desire for more activity + learn to be content with simply being. We accept that our minds naturally wander during meditation.
Beyond the mat, there are countless opportunities to practice santosha in our daily lives. Let’s explore these opportunities together.
Gratitude for Now + What’s Coming
Santosha can teach us to connect with gratitude + appreciation for all that is present in our lives now. It’s so easy to fall into a narrative of ‘I’ll be happy when’ or ‘I’ll be happy if’ + all that does is put an overwhelming amount of pressure on ourselves to constantly be chasing all the time. This puts us in a state of lack – of never feeling like we have enough, never feeling like we are enough + placing our ‘happiness’ on things outside of ourselves.
Santosha can help us find acceptance, allowing us to focus on what we can control, what we can accept, and where acceptance can help us find freedom and peace.
Santosha can help us find acceptance for the present moment. Acceptance doesn’t mean idly sitting back and relinquishing the need to do anything. It doesn’t mean that we accept when we have been wronged in the past. But we can find acceptance for the things that are outside of our control. We can find acceptance that we have (and no one else has) control over the past and future. It hugely frees up our mental and physical energy. We can then accept that we have control over the present. We can then focus on the things that we CAN control.
Santosha, Now
We can place so much of our ‘happiness’ or future happiness on the desire for physical things. There is nothing wrong with desiring more, but not letting that desire consume us or attaching our life’s happiness to materialistic objects is actually liberating! The desire can really take up so much of our mental headspace.
We have dreams/goals in life, but when we achieve them and live them, we sometimes forget just how much they mean to us. ‘Remember that you once dreamed of where you are right now.’ Practicing santosha can help us celebrate just how far we have come and helps us to take the time to appreciate all the beauty we have in our lives. You’ve journeyed through so much – it’s time to celebrate + appreciate just how far you have come.
The well-known yogic text, the Bhagavad Gita, teaches us not to look outside of ourselves for happiness but to realize that peace + happiness lie within. As clichéd as it sounds – it really is true.
‘Happiness consists not in having much but being content with little.’ Here is a beautiful affirmation to help you practice santosha daily:
I step into all I want to be but express gratitude for all I am + just how far I have come. It helps us to focus on our future selves but from a place of celebration for how we’ve come, but also an appreciation of gratitude for where we are right now – in the present moment.
Learn More
Learn more about santosha + how to live a yoga-inspired life over on the Inspired Club.