There are ‘eight limbs’ of yoga…the postures (asanas) make up just one limb. When we really ‘get’ yoga, we grow to understand that it is about so much more than simply adopting postures and moving the body. The Niyamas are the second limb of the eight limbs of yoga. They specifically remind us of our duties towards ourselves and are considered to be character building, encouraging us to look inwards, as opposed to the Yamas, which largely have an external/social focus, looking at our relationship with others.
The second Niyama is Santosha, which literally translates to ‘complete contentment’. For many of us this would appear to be utterly unobtainable, enough to make us not want to read on, an example of ‘toxic positivity’. We may feel that this means we have to accept our lives just as they are and give up on any dreams that we may have. Santosha teaches us that this is not the case and yogic philosophy does not discourage dreams or aspirations. Instead, it teaches us that we can accept and be content with how we are now and also invest in or work towards change or improvement.
Santosha asks us to try and ‘stay in the centre’ appreciating what we already have instead of constantly being preoccupied by satisfying our wants and avoiding anything that we dislike. Oscar Wilde once said:
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