Your Path to Happiness
Sometimes Happiness is coffee topped with whipped cream!
Wake up to Your Happiness
I feel like I wake up twice each morning.
The first time I wake up I’m sometimes full of grumbling remnants of the past: like my irritation over what happened yesterday and anxiety about the future.
But then I wake up again. On my meditation cushion and yoga mat I release body and mind as I bow to the morning sun. I surrender my ego in recognition of the divine that resides both within and without; the energy of life that sparks creation and connects all things.
My morning practice is a daily ritual. Some hurried days it may only be a lengthening of the spine and a few deep breaths, although most days it is formal seated meditation and hatha yoga. This practice helps me bring this second waking into my day that I may serve with a clear mind and open heart.
Now fully awake to my humanity within all of divinity, I can move through my day with renewed clarity. As a bird carves the sky I balance between the human and divine, gliding with both, yet trapped by neither.
The gifts of my teachers have brought me to this place of daily practice. I practice Integral Yoga, a modern iteration of yoga organized by Sri Swami Satchidananda from the ancient practice of yoga with roots in Tamil Saiva Yoga Siddhar tradition, the Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and the teachings Sri Swami Sivananda.
For me, practicing consistent techniques of breathing, moving, serving, self-study, book-study, and meditation has led to an ever deepening understanding of myself and how to serve with compassion.
Find Your Path to Happiness
But finding our way to living with joyful awareness of our divine nature can take many forms. I have friends in many traditions from western chemists, pilots, Buddhist practitioners, and Taoist priests. We are all united in our dedication to being humble, curious, and happy!
The simple daily practices and attitudes to cultivate happiness are found throughout many wisdom traditions; the key is to find a practice you really enjoy and stick with it!
The basic instructions for a joyful and easeful life are simple. Here’s a list that I’ve cultivated over the years; see what resonates with you:
Move your body everyday. Use a combination of activities that are slow, fast, strengthening, and stretching.
Eat whole and nourishing foods from the earth.
Spend time each day in quiet contemplation, mediation, or prayer.
Sing uplifting songs.
Dance with others and by yourself.
Listen to elders and sit at their feet with humility.
Forgive easily, and forget even easier. This is not to be confused with condoning bad behavior, this forgetting is the kind where you don’t make it your mission to carry the wounds of others as your own. By keeping a peaceful heart, you heal not only yourself but the world.
Keep your ease; promote emotional steadiness by choosing friends and activities that support your emotional stability.
Manage your energy with massage, energy treatments like acupuncture, take salt water soaks, enjoy an infrared sauna, or soak in a hot spring.
Laugh! Laughter is the best medicine and deep belly laughs are the best breathing exercises!
Make sure to hug people.
Learning to say, “I can see how you feel that way” with deep empathy and understanding goes a long way to developing your peace.
Get regular physicals and check-ups with your primary care doctor, dentist, eye doctor, and other western medicine healthcare specialists
Get sunshine and get outside. Spending time in nature is profoundly healing and so simple to do!
May your life be filled with peace & joy, love & light!
Om Shanthi, Peace to You,
Gita