Satya + Growth

By the time you read this, you might already be asking yourself where your New Year’s resolutions went, or when you can start reopening your cabins for the summer. We’d all love to skip over Springtime in Minnesota, an awkward phase. As much as we’re ready to shake off winter and jump into warmer weather, there’s this challenging time of not knowing when we’ll see the fruits of our labor or enjoy the sight of life coming back to us through outward growth.  

Known as “truth” in Sanskrit, Satya is the second principle laid out in our Yamas and Niyamas; one of the eightfold paths in living our lives off the mat. So what the heck does Satya have in common with growth? The truth of the matter is, WE decide how much to grow and when. In fact, our Satya – or stated truths in life – constantly changes as well. We know this already by how much we may double down on an idea, value, or thought that worked for us in the past, only to realize it may no longer be true or beneficial to our present. If our minds and bodies can change over time, so can our beliefs.

Being human means we have the right to change as much as we deem necessary for the betterment of ourselves and community. In our collective picture, it has always been necessary and in our best interest to evolve in order to survive and possibly thrive. The way we eat, live, pray, exercise, think, and relate to others will always be a work in progress. As an optional form of reflection, I ask you to think about where you feel your Satya might still have room to grow?

For me, my past truths came in the form of trying to predict the future, especially when it comes to my projected way of being. This may sound silly, but since grade school I always held a picture in my head of the way things would be as an adult. Maybe you can relate? In every circumstance, I felt strong in my self predicted convictions regarding career, family, or way of life. Each instance of temporary belief proved to me I was in fact… wrong. 

When life before you can paint a different picture than the one in your head, there can be an initial or prolonged sense of loss or misdirection. Without further reflection or acceptance of our momentary place in life, we can get lost in the space between our inner and outer realities. So too can our Satya ebb and flow between varying states of reality until we land upon the one we feel most connected to at this time. In my previous circumstances, the predicted events in life should always happen way before the work finishes. 

For example, if I can see myself as a nurse or yoga teacher, I immediately want to become one.  It doesn’t mean I’m afraid to get my hands dirty and do the work to get there, it just means my belief of where I think I should be is already self-limiting if I don’t allow myself to grow there in the appropriate amount of time. If I were to constantly think I’m not arriving on time in my own life, my Satya could possibly lead my self-worth in a direction that begins to hurt and not help my ability to grow or evolve overtime. One truth might start to lead to another (good or bad) depending on our current perspective. This path, if negative, might even prevent us from letting go of behavior that doesn’t serve us while decreasing our flexibility in holding more than one truth at a time.

So what does that mean for me or anyone else like myself who would love to jump to summer without dealing with the frustrations of spring? It means we’re humans influenced by societal pressures to be everything, everywhere, all the time; i.e. unrealistically robotic. Through past struggles both personally and professionally, I found I am in fact not a robot, and I can hold more than one truth at a time. I can commit myself to others AND be okay with finding time for myself. I can be excited for who I might become AND be content with who I am right now without shaming myself in the process. 

This is the beauty of being alive and understanding YOUR truth. You can be whoever you say you are, and I hope in this messy and sometimes awkward season of life you continue to find your evolving Satya and keep growing in a way supporting the best version of you. 

As a pediatric operating room nurse, author, yoga instructor, and owner of MNyoga LLC, Marie offers individual or group trauma-informed yoga and meditation classes to healthcare providers, first responders, and military members. She also provides in-service sessions to professional departments looking to address accumulated secondary trauma. In addition to helping her fellow frontline workers, Marie also teaches to the general public. Her everyday intention is to support each participant’s exploration in embodied choice, movement, and breath in a safe nonjudgmental space. You can learn more about her at www.mnyoga.org.