I was riding up the ski lift on day one of the ski season and felt my body relax. My eyes were taking the glistening snow, the blue sky streaked with light wisps of clouds, and the rugged high mountains stretched out in layers all around. I felt gratitude. Gliding down the mountain, my muscles still remembering the feel of turns like it was yesterday, a smile on my face beamed with content and joy. 

SANTOSHA – CONTENTMENT

This week, the most recent Yamas and Niyamas 8-week Sangha I’m facilitating is studying Santosha (contentment).  In Patanjali Yoga Sutras 2.42, the outcome of being in a state of contentment is “supreme joy.” Swami Satchidananda’s commentary tells us, “Contentment means just to be as we are without going to outside things for happiness.” From Edwin Bryant’s book, “The Yoga Sutras,” he shares that the oldest commentary by Vyasa states, “Whatever happiness there may be in enjoyment in this world, and whatever greater happiness there may be in the celestial world, they do not amount to 1/16 of the happiness obtained from cessation of desire.”

One more commentary from Swami Prabhavananda on contentment says, “For the satisfaction of one desire immediately gives rise to another, and so the moment of happiness ends in further anxiety…And if you compare your memories, you will usually find that the moments of satisfaction have grown dim and confused, while the moments of contentment have remained for many years.”

What I experienced on the mountain was a moment of satisfaction because that specific memory will fade. Enough of those types of moments have added up in my life for me to know that when I’m in nature, it’s easy for me to connect to the beauty, awe and wonder of life. When I’m lost in a stressed mind state, I know that all I need to do is step outside and be present to find gratitude and contentment.  In order for me to have even experienced that moment on the mountain, I needed to take time to pause and be present in that moment.

FINDING JOY AND CONTENTMENT

When I read PYS 2.42, my mind is blown because I can’t comprehend what lasting “supreme joy” would be like. But, this sutra invites us to have trust and faith that the more we practice and reflect on contentment, it slowly leads us towards fully being content and joyous in every moment. It’s not something that comes from outside of us but a state of being.

I’ve found that when I regularly take time to be in the present moment, whether as a pause or the way I start my morning, or using my reactions to be present to the experience of my body and mind, contentment has a way of finding me. The present moment is also where joy lives as it clears out any story in my mind and connects me to the simple pleasures of life.

Just like the commentaries state, when our minds are in a state of anxiety, most likely we are focused on desires – a want, a should, an outcome. I encourage you to explore this for yourself. When you are in a more anxious state of mind, lean into it and explore it. What is at the root of that reaction? Most likely some kind of desire.

BEFORE CONTENTMENT…

About an hour before this moment of contentment on the ski lift, I was noticing tension in my breathing. My breath wasn’t calm, smooth, and relaxed. There was a constriction in the lower part of my ribs so I was breathing more in my upper chest. It was there because of the desire to do many things that day. My body was letting me know that wasn’t going to happen. It wasn’t feasible to do everything my mind was desiring to accomplish in the time available to me. When I realized this, it helped me get more realistic and let go of some of those expectations. By doing this, it allowed me to have that moment of contentment and joy an hour later while skiing.

Anxiety actually helped me reach being present. More than ever, in mainstream culture across the world, anxiety has become a bad word. It has become something to avoid and escape from, which actually increases it in the long run. I just recently heard this wonderful analogy from Shankar Vedantam on his podcast “Hidden Brain”: Anxiety is like a smoke alarm. Smoke alarms are loud and piercing purposefully so, because it needs to get our attention. We don’t ignore smoke alarms. We explore what’s setting it off.

ANXIETY CAN LEAD US TO CONTENTMENT

Anxiety is one of our internal ‘smoke alarms’, yet we’ve been told it’s negative and if we feel anxious there’s something wrong with us. It is a normal and necessary emotion in life. It wants to get our attention because its job is to keep us safe. By exploring it, we can learn a lot and gather data to help us make more informed, conscious decisions. 

Play around with changing your definition of anxiety. Engage with it as a friend that wants your attention because it has something important to tell you. By exploring it, you practice being in the present moment with yourself. Then, you get to find out what part of that reaction is true and what part possibly isn’t so you can take conscious action. You own your emotions instead of them owning you. Practicing to be present with our emotions helps us to be more present throughout the day.

When we try to escape and avoid the uncomfortable emotions, it leads us to avoid and escape all emotions. Have you noticed more struggle to find more moments of joy and contentment in your life? You might need to start practicing being present and curious about all your emotions.

Pause, Breathe, Notice.

Namaste.