i have chosen SANTOSHA to be my focus-- this NIYAMA (or OBSERVANCE, as a piece of the Eight Limbed Yogic Path)means "contentment" by rough definition, though i call it "SWEET" because it was once described in this way by a teacher of mine, and truly, i can think of nothing sweeter...and possibly, more difficult to achieve..."santosha" involves the practice of gratitude and joyfulness—maintaining calm at all costs. this state of mind does not depend on any external forces or dynamics, but still exists in connection with them....
my hope for myself is to find the sweetness in the immediate moment.
i have been realizing more and more that i fall neatly into the cliche of not knowing what i have until it's taken away. in the now, i recognize that there is the capacity for beauty, for goodness, for joy, for peace-- but i am never content with it...the possibility that this sweetness IS true is never enough to convince me that i need to change, to move "forward." so rarely can i just be with something, sit with it, and not need to analyze it-- weigh its pros and cons. i long for the sweetness in which this tension doesn't drive me. i trust that it exists.
so, through yoga and its many facets (specifically the YAMA of SATYA or "truthfulness," asana (with sequences i will include here), and pranayama), through poetry and stories, through conversations with my brilliant girls, through inspiration from my enchanted southwestern home and the people who make it so-- i dream of putting wisdom, calm, strength, and vision that i cultivate on my mat into my perspective and approach to the world, and my place in it.
so, to start with some poetry: e.e. cummings' "seeker of truth"
seeker of truth
follow no path
all paths lead where
truth is here.
No comments:
Post a Comment