Tapas is the discomfort we feel when we are deliberately changing a habit or way of thinking, and I think that discomfort can be physical, mental, and emotional.

Tapas is actually heat – by challenging our long-standing beliefs and ways of life, we “burn up” our old patterns so we can grow, physically and spiritually. It takes time to create a new behavior – I think I read somewhere that it takes at least two weeks of regular practice of any new thing in our lives for it to becomes more behavior like. It might be more, since humans are creatures of habit and take time to change.

Because I am a stubborn middle-aged coot, when I decide to do something, I usually do it. Unless it’s unfathomably out of reach or a stupid idea, I generally follow through on my goals. So when I decided to start running regularly, I did it. It was hard at first, but I powered through. When I started doing yoga every day, I did it because it was my goal. It was hard to do it every day at first, but now it feels weird if I miss a day. When I decided to stop eating corn syrup, and I had to read all the food labels, I was like, whyyyyy, at first. Now it’s second nature.

The discomfort of starting each of those habits was pretty intense, but now it’s not a problem at all; second nature.

The thing that’s interesting about tapas, and this goes back to santosha, is that our habits and viewpoints, especially when it comes to social issues or non-tangible things, can take time to evolve. Does this create the heat of discomfort? Many times, our opinions about such things just gradually change little by little until we have a different viewpoint on it. Take, for instance, public opinion on same-sex marriage. In 2001, less than 40% of people in the US supported same-sex marriage, and in 2018, that was up to more than 60%. Over the course of less than 20 years, 20% of the population changed their minds. I would posit that opinions weren’t magically changed overnight for many people. Maybe it was a more pervasive representation of the LGBTQIA+ community in media; maybe someone had a family member who came out (which, initially could have caused some tapas); maybe there were enough thinkpieces floating about that people went from NO to well, maybe to huh I guess it could be ok to ok yes, everyone should have a chance to consensually marry who they love.

The gradual work we do in santosha is intertwined with tapas. Maybe the work is so gradual that the discomfort we feel during the change of habit isn’t overwhelming. Or maybe people want that discomfort to be in their face and the work to be less gradual. But we all have a process, and santosha and tapas are a part of it. And likely worth it 🙂