Satya

The second ethical precept set forth in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is Satya. Loosely translated Satya is a Sanskrit word that means truth. When we think of the word truth most of us probably think of “telling the truth.” - or not telling a lie. Actually living one’s truth goes much deeper than simply telling the truth. It is the deepest level of self-discovery.

Ask yourself this question: Do you live your truth or your authentic self, or are you living the life that others (parents, friends, spouse) think (or thought) you should?

At our moment of birth we are our truth. From then on, as we become influenced by our "teachers." Our parents teach us what [they believe] is right or wrong. We go to school and our teachers do the same. Their beliefs or truths become ours. If we had different parents or teachers would our view of ourselves and our world would be different from what we currently believe?

How do we get back to that truth? How do we discover who we really are? I believe that as yogis, we continually rediscover our truth. Through our practice (meditation and asana) we continually delve deeper into self-discovery. We learn to trust in our "inner voice" and begin to question what we hold or don't hold to be true. Eventually it becomes a mindset and we suddenly find ourselves peeling off layers of “shoulds” or “should nots” and free ourselves of the stuff that we came to hold on to as our own beliefs.

I recently experienced this very thing. As some of you know, I posted a site on Facebook asking you to vote for me in a pose competition. To all of you who did, thank you - very heartwarming! However, I need to explain how this experience became “my teacher” for which I am grateful.

When I saw the email announcing the contest from Yoga Journal, I thought “what the heck! I am proud to express how I came to my yoga and how it fulfills me, and if that posting, along with a picture of me in a pose, gets me a new yoga wardrobe, yeah!" When I got the email that my picture DID make it onto the site - after the initial embarrassment - I became excited. I posted the site onto FB and asked my "friends" to vote for me. I thought: "humm, if I post it daily, will that annoy my "friends?" I asked some of my friends to repost it to their sites. The competition had begun!! About a week into this madness, I suddenly was reminded of how I felt in 2002 when I returned from my first Yoga Journal Conference. From the gymnastic performance at the opening of the Conference, to the expensive yoga clothes and jewelry for sale, hundreds of people crammed into classes where "famous" yogis taught impersonal exhibitions, I wondered, “what does this have to do with my yoga, my truth?” I vowed I'd never go to another Yoga Conference again.

Remembering that experience I began to look at my intention for entering the pose contest - a contest....about a yoga pose....and expensive yoga clothes.....??? Discomfort began to seep into my bones, and I asked myself: "What does this have to do with my yoga, my truth?" Nothing! Nothing but judging my own worth by the number of votes I could muster up which would, if I ever got enough votes to become a finalist, make me somehow more important or more popular than all the other yogis out there practicing yoga? NOT! 

I happen to enjoy purchasing my yoga clothes on ebay and at "Salvo (Salvation Army)!!" I don't need expensive yoga clothes and besides (and most important) something that makes me uncomfortable certainly is not an expression of my truth.

So I've decided to back out of the "contest." No more posting of my picture, no more soliciting votes. I am simply letting it go and feeling much better about myself for doing so, and I thank my internal "teacher," for another lesson learned. A little slip on my part, but: "hey, we're not perfect, right?" Isn't that what we yoga teachers teach--there is no perfection; there is no end goal. There is no perfect pose.

Yoga is a continual journey of discovery. Oh, how thankful I am on that path!!