सन्तोष Santosha
11 Aug 2011 2 Comments
This month in teacher training, part of our homework is to focus our attention on one yama and one niyama of Patanjali’s yoga sutras. The niyama of the month is Santosha, translated loosely to mean “contentment”, or “not wanting more”. I tattooed a dandelion and the sanskrit symbol for this on my right arm a couple weeks ago, because as a child of an eccentric inventor lightyears before his time, and a person who deals with symptoms of ADHD and an upregulated autonomic nervous system, I need a very constant reminder not to spend my time on trying to fix things or make them better. I need to be reminded not to spend to much time wishing on or planning the future, for I’m likely to miss my entire life that way.
My intention with this post is to explore the topic of Santosha and it’s implications in our lives. I’ll be posting more on this later but wanted to get this posted to begin getting feedback on how contentment (santosha) can lead to joy or bliss (ananda), and if any of you have been successful at implementing this idea into your daily life. Is there danger in choosing to be content withlife as it is? How could pursuing contentment lead to being a doormat? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Aug 21, 2011 @ 13:45:50
Will you post a photo of your tattoo? I am researching how to tattoo “santosha” in Sanskrit and came across your blog
I am planning to get the same word tattooed along with a lotus flower.
Aug 21, 2011 @ 18:06:29
here’s my tattoo, though because it’s a picture it’s shown backwards. if you google the word santosha, and then click “Images” in the upper right corner, you’ll find plenty of examples