First Class Free

Now I clearly remember the first time I heard this teaching.  I didn’t understand it.  I thought happiness was based on getting good grades, getting engaged, getting married, getting promoted, getting more money, getting new house, bigger house, etc.  I was in a constant state of acquisition that felt like I was treading water using up all my energy to get more stuff rather than celebrating life in the moment. 

Another way to think about this is what the yogis called bliss-counsciousness.  That when we wake up and start celebrating our lives we find that inside each of us exists unlimited potential for love, truth, compassion, joy and courage.  We create our own reality and all we have to do is celebrate life! 

 “The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”  John Milton wrote in Paradise Lost

Time on the mat is where we have the opportunity to recognize our capacity for happiness. This is really the first step in yoga. It reminds us that the universe intended for us to have a joyous experience on this earth right now, no waiting and without any prerequisites to be met. So today may you feel the shakti power of being present to the happiness inside you that is then reflected in being awake to the many blessings in your life in your external world. Or as Rumi says, "hear blessings dropping their blossoms around you." 

And what if you aren’t feeling this inner ecstasy?  Then practice Gratitude.  For gratitude is the antidote to negative emotions a neutralizer of envy, hostility, worry and irritation.  The world’s most prominent researcher and writer about gratitude Robert Emmons, defines it as “a felt sense of wonder, thankfulness and appreciation for life.”  He’s saying celebrate your life regardless of what challenges you face.  Sally Kempton puts it like this, “It is actually possible to feel happy regardless of how the world is treating you, or how horrible your childhood was or the fact that all your friends are more successful than you are, you can even be happy when you’re failing something or when you’re sick.” 

So join me on the mat to awaken and illuminate the joy within your heart.  Celebrate and heal your life and you change the world!  Love the day! Silvia

HAPPINESS MEDITATION:

Close your eyes and remember a time when you felt really happy. Then take yourself into that moment, see if you can get a feeling sense of yourself in the situation. Stick with it until you actually feel happiness, then remove the details or memory of the scene and just keep the feeling. Find the place in your body where the feeling is centered then let it fill you up.  Sit with this feeling of happiness. See if you can hold it. See if for this moment you can let the happiness beocme your primary feeling. This is a glimpse, however small of your TRUE reality.   (This meditation is from old issue of Yoga Journal Magazine)