Removing the Veil
The 2nd Yama: Satya
Satya (pronounced SUHT-yah) is “truth” or “truthfulness” in action, speech, and thought. Beyond the simple interpretation of “not lying”, satya is a practice of removing the veil: the stories we carry about ourselves or others and our unconscious beliefs, judgments, and motivations. It’s a process of reframing and dismantling reactions, broadening perspective, and examining expectations - essentially, learning to see truth or reality for what it is and engaging with the world as it is, as opposed to how we want or expect it to be.
Satya asks the question “why?”: searching for root causes, the deeper reasons for both our and others’ reactions and motivations, as illustrated beautifully by the following allegory.
Imagine you are walking through the woods and you see a small dog. You approach the dog and move to pet the dog. It suddenly snarls and tries to bite you. The dog no longer seems cute and you may feel some fear and anger. As the wind blows, the leaves on the ground are carried away and you see the dog has one of its legs caught in a trap. Now, you feel compassion for the dog. You know it became aggressive because it is in pain and suffering.
- Tara Brach
When we practice satya, we accept that our own reactions and expectations may cloud reality. We allow our perspective to shift until we’re able to see the truth of any given situation and release our judgments, enabling us to interact with others or the world from a place of authentic presence.
Satya teaches us to:
search for the many sides of every story
put aside knee-jerk reactions and consider how we truly feel
distinguish between the story we construct - based on our own emotional reactions, assumptions, judgments, beliefs, expectations - and the reality of each situation we encounter
recognize the underlying motivations for our actions, words, and thoughts
Satya is often conflated with the pop-culture concepts of “speaking one’s truth” and “speaking hard truths”. These ideas are essentially about owning who you are and what you feel, communicating that without shame or fear, and speaking uncomfortable “truths” bluntly. While the intention behind these ideas is to empower the speaker, in practice they can be weaponized, becoming an excuse to speak or behave in a way that negates another’s feelings or opinion. When it comes to communicating with others, satya is being able to recognize your own unconscious motivations for your emotions, thoughts, and behavior; choosing to speak without blame or rancor; and understanding how the recipient of your communication receives it.
In a more universal context, satya looks beyond the constructs of belief to see reality for what it is. It’s a process of examining one’s beliefs, ethics, and judgments (both conscious and unconscious) and questioning them.
Many of the beliefs and judgments we form throughout life are directly linked to societal pressures intended to create order and harmony; we behave in ways that are socially acceptable for the security of being accepted by the group. These beliefs and judgments (especially the unconscious ones) are formed early in life through every social construct we experience: family of origin, local communities (friends, church, school, work), society at large (mass media like films, tv, magazines, newspapers, social media, the internet, advertising, etc.), and the broad social structures we’re raised and live in (cultural, political, religious, socioeconomic, and technological systems). Regardless of exactly how, when, and where we are raised, the values and beliefs of these social constructs are imprinted on us, whether or not we’re aware of it.
As we develop into individuals and start making our own conscious choices about what we believe and how we behave, we carry some of these unconscious core values within us and end up judging ourselves and others by them. Values about seemingly benign aspects of life are often driven by these unconscious beliefs: for example, expectations or values we place on being productive, being tidy or clean, being financially successful (and how we define financial success), being partnered or married, being thin/fit/attractive/healthy, etc., all have their roots in the framework of our upbringing and our society. All of these expectations, beliefs, and judgments inform our perspective on the world and ourselves - creating a veil that prevents us from seeing ourselves, others, and the world as they truly are.
Practicing satya also involves examining how we interact with and think of ourselves. For example, someone may have an unconscious belief that they’re fundamentally unlovable. This might be acted out in their behavior by rejecting emotional intimacy for fear of rejection, or by “people pleasing” or putting other’s needs in an attempt to earn love. This belief of being unlovable may show up in their inner dialogue as constant criticism or berating of themselves. Satya is the practice of dismantling the deeper motivations behind these behaviors and thoughts (the underlying belief of being unlovable, perhaps because approval or nurturing wasn’t forthcoming in childhood); seeing the truth hidden by that belief (that everyone is inherently lovable and deserving of love); and subsequently choosing different actions, words, and thoughts that reflect this truth (perhaps by doing the hard work of learning to love oneself).
Practicing Satya
It’s easy to think about putting satya into action, but much harder to even recognize our ingrained beliefs and truly examine them.
One way to practice satya on the mat is by observing the reactions you have while in a pose. As illustrated by the allegory of the dog in a trap, satya asks us to explore the origin of our reaction with the intention of seeing the bigger picture - thereby enabling us to feel compassion and understanding.
When any emotion arises in a pose, ask yourself what this feeling reminds you of. Were there other times in your life that you’ve felt this way? Does being in this pose bring up a memory? Is this an emotion you feel regularly or is it just in this pose? Does the feeling that arises make you uncomfortable, and if so, why?
If a pose feels hard, is it because you have expectations that are making it harder than it needs to be? Is the pose made harder by your own internal (and likely unconscious) resistance to it? If so, where does that resistance come from? Are you reacting to being challenged, in general? Why isn’t the challenge of a pose exciting and enlivening vs a frustrating event?
Explore your unconscious intentions on the mat. Are you fighting with your body? Are you attempting to prove something to yourself or others? Are you trying to “improve” or “better yourself” (with the underlying belief that you, as you are, are somehow not enough)? Do your unconscious intentions align with your conscious ones?
Shift your internal conversation. When we simply react without exploring underlying causes of our reaction, we get stuck in a reaction-loop with ourselves. We struggle with the pose and our bodies, staying engaged in the reaction instead of coming to a place of understanding. For example, if there’s a pose you physically cannot achieve (yet) and you know this going into it, ask yourself why it brings up frustration. What happens if you accept the fact that you cannot do the full pose (yet) and simply feel or even celebrate what you can do? What happens if you accept reality for what it is and choose to be present with it?
There is SO much more than can be explored regarding satya as a philosophical and life practice! Feel free to comment your own thoughts and experiences (both on and off the mat) below.