On this Thanksgiving holiday, we want to offer you a meditation on Santosha, which is the second Niyama of the eightfold path of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra that helps guide us to a meaningful and purposeful life. As we celebrate Thanksgiving, it is the perfect time of year to pause and observe Santosha and explore how practicing contentment and gratitude can help make life more meaningful and fulfilling.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra II.42 reads, “From contentment, the highest happiness is attained.” Santosha is both an attitude and a state of deep inner peace that invites us to appreciate what we have rather than focus on what is missing or lacking. Contentment blossoms when desire wanes. When we rely on things that are external to us to bring us contentment or happiness (freedom), we inevitably bind ourselves to discontentment even more. Yoga teaches us that each moment in time is complete; we do not need to look for something else. Santosha is being grateful for what we have instead of attaching to the desire for something else or something more.
When we spend our lives seeking, always looking for a better experience (bigger house, better job, fitter body, or newer car), we are placing requirements on our own happiness that we may never meet. Once we get those possessions or experiences that we seek, we often barely enjoy them before we look for the next bigger, brighter, and better thing. TKV Desikachar, a world-renowned yoga master, describes the meaning of Santosha as accepting what happens – accepting whatever life offers you and learning from it. Cold is cold. Embrace it rather than wishing it away.
Contentment is also accepting ourselves just as we are. There is no need for us to be different than we are, and there is no need for us to be any different at this moment. To come closer to finding peace, Santosha is undeniably one of the most important practices to come back to consistently – we cannot love, trust, give, or live fully until we have enough of that love inside ourselves. Santosha asks us to fall in love with our life as it is and keeps us centered in joy and abundance.
Santosha deeply enriches our lives. Invite it in and practice it - even in your most challenging moments. It may not be easy to cultivate, but when you do, a feeling of inner peace will follow. Allow yourself to savor the sweetness of Santosha, and you will discover a deeper satisfaction and appreciation of what life has to offer. This Thanksgiving, take time to not only count your blessings and share gratitude but to look for joy in each perfect moment that unfolds right before you.
Meditation Practice on Santosha:
Come into a comfortable seated posture, on the floor or in a chair. Close your eyes and allow yourself to relax by taking ten slow, deep breaths. When you feel relaxed and comfortable, bring your awareness to your heart space. For the next few minutes, think of people, places, or things in your life for which you are grateful. Connect to your deep slow inhale and relaxing exhale. As you think of the things you are grateful for, experience the warmth that gratitude brings into your heart. There is so much to be grateful for and the feeling of gratitude brings even deeper feelings of love, compassion, and understanding into your heart. Sit quietly with these feelings for a few more breaths, and when you are ready, slowly open your eyes.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Namaste
Jeanne and John Adams
Inner Connections Yoga & Wellness