Santośa - The Second Niyama of the Eight Limbs of Yoga
Santośa
2.42 Santośāt Anuttamah Sukha-Lābhah
The second niyama (personal observances) is santośa (pronounced santosha or sometimes samtosha), Sutra II.42 Santośāt Anuttamah Sukha-Lābhah of Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras. When translated, santośa means “Through contentment, one obtains the highest comfort/joy.” or “The result of contentment is total happiness.”
Mr. TKV Desikachar explained and defined santośa like this: “The happiness we get from acquiring passions is only temporary. We need to find new ones and acquire them to sustain this sort of happiness. There is no end to it. But true contentment, leading to total happiness and bliss, is in a class by itself.”
The root of the word santośa is “tuš” (toosh) which means “to become calm” or “to be satisfied or pleased with.” “San” is actually “sam” which is short for samyak, which means “complete and total.” So santośa literally means “a complete calm” or “a complete satisfaction.”
There’s not much of a need for a practical definition for this niyama; however, like my teacher reminds me, “contentment is a practice, contentment is a practice, contentment is a practice!” Contentment is not something that just happens — you help it, you support it, and you cultivate it. This is similar to the lessons taught in the yamas — what you go looking for, you will find.
If you focus your attention on the things you have and the things that are going well in your life, even if it’s not much, you will be connected to those things and you will feel positivity and happiness. You will be calm.
However, if you focus your attention on the things that are not going well in your life, even it’s not much, you will feel things are not going well, that life is not fair, and that your troubles are bigger than others. You will feel unhappy, negative, and not calm.
The whole point of santośa is to intentionally put your attention in and on areas that will make you feel grateful and appreciative, and don’t put your attention on things that will make you feel the opposite.
A wonderful way to practice this is by starting a gratitude journal. These are wonderful niyama and santośa practices.
If you just write down or state out loud something which you are grateful for, expressing “I am grateful for…”, even if your current circumstances or people in your life are incredibly difficult, when you start looking for the things you appreciate about a person, a situation, or something in your life, and you write them down (making a practice out of it), the lens through which you see that person or situation with will change. If you express some appreciation, and allow that to be your starting point, it will make all of the difference!
Contentment is something that you do, not something that happens. It’s something you manifest and make happen. It’s something we do to maintain a bright outlook on life.
Another way to practice santośa is to volunteer. When you volunteer in a community where people are not as healthy, lack basic privileges, or are not free (a soup kitchen, prison, hospice facility, etc.), you will immediately have so much appreciation for how good you have it. You will come out of that volunteer experience thinking “Problems?! What problems? I don’t have any problems!” You will be grateful and appreciative.
An important side note on santośa is that contentment does not mean ignoring, or settling for, certain unpleasant things in your life, and it definitely does not mean to give up on social justice either. On the contrary, yogis are warriors, not doormats!
The essence of santośa as contentment means that we are aware of the things we are gifted and we have gratitude for them — it is to be connected internally.
A note for context: My perspective is based in the Viniyoga/Desikachar lineage. Viniyoga is a traditional Indian lineage of Yoga taught by TKV Desikachar, who was the son of Krishnamacharya. My teacher, Chase Bossart, was a 20+ year private student of Mr. Desikachar. I have studied this text with Chase, word for Sanskrit word, for over three years.
Stay tuned to learn more about the niyamas and the rest of the Eight Limbs in my upcoming blog articles.
Namaste,
Kelly