Contentment

“When we feel connected to the vastness of life and are confident of life’s abundance, we are naturally generous and able to practice the third yama, non-stealing (asteya).” - Donna Farhi, Teaching Yoga

This week's classes revolved around the practice of Asteya, non-stealing. Asteya is the third of the five Yamas, the universal vows of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. The Yamas also make up the first limb of Patanjali's Eight Limbed Path, a guide toward leading a moral, purposeful, and meaningful life.

Chapter two, verse 37 of The Yoga Sutra teaches us that “to one established in Asteya, all wealth comes.” If we learn not to steal in any form, we will realize that all we need comes to us naturally. Think of a time when something good found you, without your having to try.  This is how I found myself where I am today.  Each progression in this direction came to me without effort.  This morning I woke up and realized I had arrived.  I'm not looking for the next chapter, the next big idea, the next event.  I'm content. Coming to that realization meant also realizing that until this day, I had never been truly content.  When we are open to receive, receive we will.  When we are confident in the abundance of good things, we come to realize those things. People steal for fear of lack of abundance.  We don't realize that we already have everything we could ever need right within us. 

When we come to our yoga practice, we learn to be confident that our body has the abundance of energy it needs for each pose, for each practice.  We find that it will tell us when it has met its limits, and then, with practice, we celebrate our limitations. When we force our bodies into a variation of a pose it is not ready for, we rob our body of its opportunity to naturally and honestly open to into that pose. Eka Pada Galavasana, or Flying Pigeon, has been the peak pose of many of my classes this week. It is a pose that must be treated with respect and honesty. A pose that requires courage, strength, and confidence but that teaches us, at the same time, to honor our boundaries.  If our hips are too tight or upper body strength too weak, we must respect those limitations, knowing that as we continue to practice, we will someday be ready to fly.  When we connect mindfully to our body and breath, and release our ego, the practice of Asteya can be fully realized. 

Asteya reminds us also that when we partake it such behaviors as stealing, jealousy, envy, or discontentment, we are contributing to our own suffering. We are denying our minds peace by believing that we are not whole.  Our perception that we are lacking in some form - on our yoga mat, at home, in our job, in our relationships - leads to discontentment, to struggle with our desires for things that others have or poses that our bodies won't allow.  To recognize and celebrate our own unique gifts and qualities is to find peace of mind.  When we are content with ourselves, our lives, our practice, we feel no lack of abundance.  When we let go of striving to be like those around us and recognize ourselves as truly whole, we begin to appreciate and receive what we already have. 

“Be content with what you have;rejoice in the way things are.When you realize there is nothing lacking,the whole world belongs to you.” ― Lao Tzu