ON NIYAMA "SAMTOSA"

For the past few weeks I've been asking myself and friends for a definition of contentment, the Niyama Samtosa. The quick answer is usually "to be happy". When explored in further discussion we wondered if contentment was a "a fullness" or "an emptiness".

Now I may not know what contentment is but I certainly know discontentment.

Discontentment for me is edginess with movement behind it like a train rumbling on the track. You can feel it and hear it before it arrives before you. My reaction to discontent has been to make a big change to avoid the arrival of the train. Some examples of things I've done to avoid the train are: I moved to Italy for 5 months, I broken up love relationships and started new ones, I picked fights with my husband and I'd change jobs. Very recently I started to figure out this pattern and to "get it". I began to acknowledge and deal with the fact that contentment and tranquility are states of mind.

My discontent was a very personal restless yearning. Like a crying out or lament. Jiko Linda Cutts says that this restless yearning," is a crying out for help that is not recognized. And then she asks, "Can we understand this and turn the light inward to look at what are the causes and conditions of the feeling. Rather than believing that the environment is wrong for us or that there is someone to blame? Or something to change?"

Now this light turned inward is a difficult practice for me. It probably is for most of us. But, I know that there are a number of things we can do to experience a little more Samtosa. We can attend to our discontent by not reacting to it. We can attend to the dissatisfaction or dis-ease within the self. We can be a friend to ourselves. We can avoid being rigid and work to be pliable, resilient and light in mind and body. We can refocus on details of daily yoga practice.

I know that the effort of this practice is worthwhile. The train rumbles on the tracks far less often.

Wishing you Samtosa,