Santosha is about contentment and peace in our daily lives.   So often we fret about the future and worry about the past …neither of which do us any good and just leave us feeling discontented.

So we can practice Santosha by:

staying calm in success and failure… noticing the breath, breathing deeply, slowly and smoothly and staying rooted. This does not mean we don’t allow ourselves to have feelings. We can allow these to come and experience them all, but at the same time keep our equanimity and a deep inner calm and grounding;

• cutting back on wasted energy on thoughts, words or deeds which are criticizing, disliking and analysing what is;
• practicing being mindful and aware;
• living in the present, without regretting the past or anticipating the future;
• asking ourselves if we really need something else to add to our lives to make us more content ……. but don’t we have everything we really need already?

In your yoga class if you are working excessively hard to achieve a pose, ease off a little, practice santosha and be content with what you have already achieved. Accept that you may not be ready to achieve what you are attempting to do…. If you cannot get as deeply into a pose as you would like, it does not mean that your pose is “bad”, it is just as good as it is meant to be today and it will most probably, with practice, be better tomorrow.  You will never see any of the ancient Masters of yoga with contorted and tense expressions on their faces.  They are practising contentment, acceptance and inner peace. So if you notice you are trying too hard and your face is tense, then take a moment, take a deep breath, relax and continue.  Only in that spirit should yoga be practised, and only in this way, through contentment, will we find inner peace.

Finally a mantra of contentment I found recently which I believe describes Santosha perfectly:

“I am content.

I am grateful for what I have and for what I do not have.

I learn from the joys and disappointments life brings me.

I honor the good in myself and others.

I refrain from criticism and fault finding.

I accept life just the way it is.

I enjoy life!”

So, enjoy life to the full, the ups and the downs … it is only through the downs that we can find growth ..