After reading a few different interpretations of santosha, I think what sums it up best is marching to the beat of your own drum. In his book, Bachman says that santosha is “being satisfied with whatever you are doing, knowing that it, like everything else, will end.” Farther down the page, he says “When we conform to what we think others expect of us, in order to save face and be accepted by others, we are not content with ourselves.

And the best: “the best, most satisfying results come from sincere effort and gradual progress over time.”

I literally just talked about this at my leadership presentation, during my limits and flexibility portion. Maybe we don’t get into a pose on the first try, but if you want to progress, you work at it. It takes preparation and building, but eventually we get there

Let’s talk about running for a moment. For some reason, when people start running, they think they need to run at a 9:00/min/mile pace right away, for 3 miles. What! This is not how this works. When I started running, I spent 3 months doing couch to 5k, where you walk run walk run walk run for gradual increases in time and distance, and then you should be able to run a 5k. I STILL do not run fast, and I’m ok with that. Part of santosha is not being jealous of others’ progress, and running is something that I am 100% on board with that. I am in awe of those who can run faster than me and applaud them. And I continue to work at my own running pace. I’m training for a half marathon (again that gradual work of progress over time), and my long runs are usually slower than my shorter runs, but the 12 miles I ran yesterday was so slow. But I was ok with it, because I knew that I was still training, it was really windy outside, and I was aware of any knee pain I was having (which was much better).

Even if the half marathon in two weeks turns out to be a slow pace, I will still be ok with it because I will have accomplished it no matter the time. I put in the work, at my own pace, to my own goals. If I’d had to conform to the goals of the first-place winner, I know I would fail and I would probably injure myself. I’m ok with my slow running pace, progressing at my own rate.. My body is really thankful for this, too. If it’s a bad running day? I got out there. If my pace isn’t as fast as I’d expected? I moved that day and got to be outside And the super fast, first-place winners? I will cheer for them all day every day, because it’s something I can work toward, even if I will never reach it.

The line from Bachman’s book that I like the best though, is this: “Slowing down, stepping back, and appreciating the little things in life creates inner happiness.” Running has helped me in that aspect more than I realize. I notice my body more while I’m running – both my breathing method and the way my muscles are reacting and moving, along with niggling issues in the feet and knees. If I’m running in the springtime, I stop at the ponds and marches to listen to the frogs. When I’m out along the fields in the summer, I’ll stop and see how tall the corn is. Running in the woods in the fall? I pause to find red leaves on the path, check the sunset over the lake, or catch a glimpse of the geese heading south for the winter. Especially when I’m on the treadmill, I’m painfully aware of every moment that passes (so slowly) but glance sideways to see the cats snoozing peacefully on the guest bed next to me.

Generally, I am a happy positive person, and I have a lot to be grateful for, or least I perceive that I do. And the older I get, the more I notice how this is a wonderful thing to have.