As part of my yoga-teacher training, we were asked to review and sign off on the ethical guidelines for yoga teachers. This means living my yoga based on Patañjali’s yamas and niyamas that are part of the Yoga Sutras.

One of the guidelines in particular really struck a chord with me, and I have promised to live by it.

I promise to practice gratitude and contentment on my yoga path.

This promise is based on the second niyama called Santosha, which means contentment. Basically, this means that instead of wishing for things you don’t have, find happiness, joy, and gratitude in what you do have. Be present and seek out happiness right where you are, even going so far as to take responsibility for your current situation and determining how you will grow from there.

I guess if you really want to bring this contentment thing down to another level, think about it this way, wouldn’t it be kick-ass if we were content in our day all day long? Wouldn’t it be cool to feel gratitude even if it is Monday or raining or we have to do something we don’t want to do today, content in the life we have created, living the best we can, and grateful for what we have? Who wouldn’t want to have peace and happiness all day long?

Yeah, this promise in particular should be extremely easy for me, because I am incredibly content with my yoga path (actually, I’m more than content, I’m ecstatic), and I feel a ton of gratitude for my teachers and fellow students who are making the journey so amazing. I am so grateful that I am able to be a student again and can take this path at this point in my life.

No broken promises for moi. I’m planning on having a kick-ass day of contentment today! How about you?

Image: Sanja Gjenero