Finding your Santosha

Santosha, meaning contentment or acceptance, is the second Niyama in Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga. A Niyama is an observance or personal virtue that is cultivated on the path to enlightenment.

It’s easy to be caught up in the drive to accumulate more - our obsession with material possessions and money is so commonplace that it’s hard to recognise at all. We also covet the non-material - such as our desire for status, and compliments from others. Once on this path we are swept along with it, faster and faster, deeper and deeper. There are no practical limitations on the extent of our desire to accumulate. The richest people in the world can literally never spend all their money, or use all their possessions, yet they are still driven to accumulate more!

Santosha offers a circuit-breaker to our acquisitiveness. It helps us to recognise that the accumulation of things does not bring happiness, that our desire for the approval of others only makes us hungry for more.

Find moments to pause, to reflect: What do I really need to live, to be happy? Can I find contentment with the now, with what I already have? With who I already am? Practising Santosha gives breathing space and provides a reset.

This week, make time to observe your good fortune, to accept who you are, and to enjoy what you already have.