Awakening

सन्तोष Santosha

sabrinabodden — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 03:41:40 +0000

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.

“Practice what you preach”

sabrinabodden — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:03:47 +0000

My business has been taking off, thanks to the support of Bliss Flow Yoga & Wellness Center and the guidance of the teachers at Alignment Yoga. I’m happy to say that I have to step back from marketing a little because my calendar is too full. It’s satisfying knowing that most clients who need more work are willing to rebook with me, but it means new clients and even regular clients are having difficulty finding appointment times within the time frame recommended in their treatment plan because I’m fully booked several weeks out. This is an unexpected situation for me, considering I only began my business a couple of months ago and I never expected to be able to give a great massage because of the disability I once suffered in my hands and arms. While I’d like to be able to expand and provide more appointment times, I’m finding my body is having a difficult time keeping up.

I spend every day identifying the underlying patterns and habits people carry that cause them suffering and disease, and working with them to help them be healthier. In the process, I’ve overwhelmed my schedule and made it difficult, if not impossible, to keep myself healthy. While I am balancing my need for more income and my role in a team of therapists supporting another business, I also need to consider my own health, and prioritize it as my number one concern. I am all to aware that if I do not choose my health over all other priorities, that I will no longer be able to keep up with the demands of my daily life.

While I’ve kept myself very healthy for many years (never catching colds for more than a couple hours before I’m able to fight whatever comes my way), I’ve developed a slew of symptoms over the past month or two that tell me that my body isn’t holding up the fight. I cannot influence the lives of my clients for the better if I can’t model the lifestyle needed for good health. It’s time I practice what I preach and take care of myself, too.

I started a blog!

sabrinabodden — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 02:43:31 +0000

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