An attitude of contentment (santosha) gives rise to unexcelled happiness, mental comfort, joy, and satisfaction. ||42||
In Marin County/San Francisco we are now at exactly 20 weeks since the first day of the shutdown. That is a very long time, and much has happened in those five months.
One of the teachings of yoga which has become a bit controversial these days is a practice called Santosha. In that practice, the yogi assumes that everything is perfect as it is, and goes about making living their life in that way.
Here is the underlying principle. If you react to something you do not like, it creates a condition, a likelihood that that the condition will stay the same, or keep repeating in the life. By choosing to look at everything as perfect, the yogi plants a seed for everything to unfold perfectly. Here is an example (and I’m not saying this is true or not true, it’s just a hypothetical example)
During the shutdown, many people who live their lives with relative freedom experienced, maybe for the first time in their lives, a degree of oppression that prevented them from walking down the street, eating where they wanted to, going to church, hanging out in a bar, earning morning. Whatever it is. Everyone had a different experience of this, and many felt oppressed. In that oppression minds were opened to understand a little better what life feels like for those who live in perpetual oppression. We had a big shift. Things may not be resolved as of yet, but there was definitely a shift. So the yogi, understanding that everything is perfect, knows that only a shutdown of this magnitude would have created the pressure cooker in which so many minds and hearts could be changed.
On a more personal level it’s useful to look at where we each are right now. What happened for us? What shifted? In those shiftings, what opportunities were created? Sometimes we just have to train ourselves to see them.
Long before I practiced yoga, a very savvy NY recruiter was sending me out to interview for paralegal positions in some of the fanciest law firms in New York City. Good pay, great benefits. She also sent me to this tiny little firm, two attorneys, just hiring their first patent clerk. I saw an opportunity. She was astounded. It turns out that she just included them because she knew one of their daughters. They taught me so much about patents at that little firm, and it served me well for years to come. Things are not always what they appear.
So, in yoga, the maximal push of a posture is not always the means to the biggest result. On one level, when we first start, that’s how we “feel” progress. But in yoga the subtle shifts are sometimes the most powerful.
संतोषातनुत्तमस्सुखलाभ
saṁtoṣāt-anuttamas-sukhalābhaḥ
From the practice of contentment, one obtains unsurpassed comfort and joy.
Natalie Ullmann 