Yoga and Happiness
By
Happy Yoga Session by Andresr at Dreamstime
Guest post by Kara Bonet-Johnson
Of all the tools out there to help one get or stay happy, I would say yoga is towards the top of that list. Of course, being a yoga instructor I guess it’s not a ‘stretch’ that I would say that! I would love to see everyone doing yoga.
Yoga: At First Glance …
A famous saying is that yoga helps a person become ‘one’ with themselves, to really know oneself. When you know yourself, you can better figure out what makes you truly happy. You don’t have to waste your precious self on addictions and other distractions that are going to make you feel worse later.
The good news is, when you figure out what you need to be happy, you realize your happiness helps you open up to help others be happy too. It’s great for you, and it’s great for the world to be authentically happy. You aren’t being selfish or weak; you’re being smart and strong to do the work to live a full and purposeful life of happiness.
At first glance, yoga is a bunch of funny poses with people who already seem to be in shape for the most part. We all know more or less about a happy body helping with a happy mind and spirit, so it makes sense that a person would want a happy, healthy body. The thing to know about yoga is that you don’t have to be healthy and fit already to begin practicing yoga. It doesn’t matter where you are on the path of happiness, yoga will help you out.
Focus on the Present and Be Aware
It is important to stick with your yoga practice. In the past, I used the analogy that it takes a long time to create disease (which doesn’t have to be a horrible illness, it can just be ‘dis-ease’) in the body, so it will take time to work out whatever blocks need to be removed to get to the core of what we need to work on to get better. But now I don’t talk about time with students, I say don’t even worry about how long it will take to get happy, just focus on the very present moment and work on being aware. Happiness is a process, and it is not avoiding suffering; that goes back to addictions and distractions. Happiness is being aware and present, changing what you can, and accepting and letting go what you can’t change. But this would be a whole separate article if I start talking about the art of letting go! Just remember, our exploration of happiness, just like our learning curve in everything else, is a constant practice.
So you want to get happy! Whether you want to be happy in mind, spirit, or you want some nice abs…that would make you happy too! Yes, it certainly is a component of my happiness, having a body that I treat as a temple and works well! So, you come to yoga class and you are taught techniques to be aware of your breath. You turn in, you are aware of your breath. Then you learn about your body. You learn to love your body, and you are aware of your body with all its beautiful idiosyncrasies. And really, if you are trying to be super aware of these two things, you will truly have your hands full for awhile! If you get super aware, you will know what your body needs to feel good. You will notice your state of mind, when it trails off your practice, you’ll notice what makes you uncomfortable. Then you can work from there and ask why does this make me uncomfortable? So you begin to get happy in mind, body and spirit, one stretch at a time, and so on and on, until you get through the whys and you get through to the present moment AND you have a great physical work out. When you lie down at the end of class for Shavasana (relaxation pose, or corpse pose) and are done with class you realize: Hey, I feel good! I am happy!
But we must not get attached. Trying to sustain that feeling, to grasp onto happiness, you will find that it will slip through your fingers. Don’t get serious about it, just go on back to the present moment, and work from there. Notice your breath, elongate and slow it down if you start to feel it speeding up and stressing you out. You know, like when you get cut off when you are driving in rush hour traffic! You may not be able to get on the floor and do a fancy yoga pose, but you can watch that breath.
Unique Teaching Style
There are so many components to happiness. I may be a little different style of yoga instructor than you are used to, depending on your exposure to yoga. I have my own way of teaching happiness and yoga. Besides teaching poses, breath, and some introspection, I also want you to laugh and smile if you feel you want to. I use a lot of humor in class. Why I use humor is, at the risk of sounding trite, because laughter is the best medicine. I like to say we still take our yoga seriously, just seriously fun! Studies have shown you can correlate a lot of happiness to laughter.
Another thing a student may find unique about me is I also encourage people to get to know one another. You usually won’t spend a class next to someone you never even get to say hello to, or not know their name. Sometimes it can be a vivacious and group participatory take on a yoga class. This is because I think happiness, though it most certainly lies within and ultimately rests within oneself, is not complete without being in this world, in our amazing life with the amazing people around us. We all need one another, and even if we are particularly introverted, at least we can admit we need to be able to function with one another. I can’t quantify the amount of incredible love I see flowing between students, and the way everyone realizes they are not alone with their troubles, and the way friendships and bonds are formed and we become one ‘tribe’ of humans, through the practice of a yoga class. To eradicate a feeling of isolation from your soul is to elevate one’s happiness!
Lastly, I haven’t even touched on the increased serotonin levels a physical workout does, or how certain poses counteract depression. I’m out of time and space right now. But rest assured, all this and more is ready for you if you choose to try yoga as part of your ‘happiness’ diet! Thanks for letting me gush about yoga and best wishes to everyone on their special life journey.
Have you ever noticed the connection between yoga and happiness before?
What is your favorite style of yoga and how does it make you feel?
If you haven’t tried yoga, why are you waiting?
April’s Monthly Muse guest article is written by Kara Bonnet Johnson who is a yoga teacher specializing in Hatha and Ashtanga yoga. Hatha yoga is the general term for yoga, and she teaches this for beginners to intermediate practitioners. Ashtanga yoga is a specific set series of challenging yoga poses incorporated into a flow of movement. She also teaches the Five Tibetans, a series of yogic exercises that are touted as the ‘fountain of youth’. If you have further questions on yoga, email Kara at joyousyoga at cox dot net or visit her website at www.joyousyoga.com
© 2010 Joyous Yoga LLC / Kara Bonet-Johnosn
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