My favorite of all the yoga lessons in all the yoga philosophy is that of SANTOSHA. Santosha is one of the steps on the 8-fold path of yoga. It's the 2nd of the NIYAMAS-- the 5 personal practices which promote positive change within.
Practicing santosha means cultivating GRATITUDE + CONTENTMENT for all of our circumstances, abilities, and bounties in our lives. The human condition suggests to us that nothing is ever enough. We can easily spend our time seeking out something different/better than what we have now.
BUT! what if we were just CONTENT to accept things as they are RIGHT NOW in this moment? Take our asana practice, for example. People often lament to me their difficulties in asana or how they compare themselves to other people's yoga practices.
For one, I think we should be pleased just to be able to do a yoga practice. And two, if we can think of our practice as a long-term approach, and vow simply to keep working at things as they come up, then PROGRESS will come. And I can be content with that.
TODAY, I am grateful for Lucas, for my parents, for Tuesday lunch with Grandma, for One Tree Yoga, for sunny days, for hamstring strengtheners, for cold brew coffee, and for yoga philosophy from Nicholai Bachman.
