"Learn how to feel joy." - Seneca

As I was driving to class this past Tuesday, on a beautiful, bright and sunny morning, it was as though a veil lifted from my eyes and I was able to see with clarity the infinite Goodness surrounding me. I felt an intense feeling of joy at all of the incredible blessings in my life, and the awesome awareness of how incredibly amazing this place we call Earth really is. It's fascinating how we can move through our day-to-day life in a bit of a daze. Not really present to the miracle of life which is within us and all around us. The practice of Yoga is the practice of awakening to a direct, conscious and clear experience of Reality exactly as it is. This Reality is infinitely joyous, peaceful, loving, it is the Divine current of life. It is the ever-present harmony which exists in the Natural and Blissful beauty of nature, of which we are a part. We were made in the image of this Reality, of this Nature, not from the man-made world with which we often identify. Yoga attempts to reconnect us with our true nature. I was aware of what a gift it is to be driving in a car, how blessed I am to have a car, I turned my head and noticed leaves dancing with each other as the wind blew them. And of course, the poweful awareness of all the Love I experience and how grateful I am to have the relationships with each and every person in my life.

"It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing and there's this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. And that's the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and... this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video's a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember... and I need to remember... Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in." -American Beauty, 1999

This feeling of intense joy is one I've begun to experience more and more often. The teachings of Yoga teach us that to be joyous, or blissful, is our true nature. Through the practice of Yoga, we awaken to Samadhi, bliss, unbounded consciousness, abiding in oneness with our Divinity, our Highest Self, the God consciousness within each and everything, the Creator. To be in this union with the Divine energy and current is to be in the state of Yoga, awakened in Samadhi.

1. And now the teaching on yoga begins.
2. Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence.
3. When the mind is settled, we are established in our essential nature, which is unbounded consciousness.
- The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

"The nature of life is to grow toward an ever more perfect and joyous expression of itself. Each living being has a nervous system, no matter how rudimentary. This acts as a localized reflector of all-pervading consciousness, just as a mirror reflects light. The more developed the nervous system, the more it will express the qualities of consciousness-intelligence, creativity, and bliss. Yoga is the transformation into this Divine, and of this Divine into everything. Meditation is the key." - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translated and introduced by Alistair Shearer

So, I began to wonder and imagine what it might be like to feel joy, ever-present, everywhere, all the time, as Seneca mentions in his quote above. Not in just momentary instances, but moment-to-moment, breath-to-breath. And, I realized that perhaps, the feeling of joy, is an intensely powerful and positive feeling which we can experience in every cell of our Being. Imagine being in the most intense, deep stretch in Yoga, feeling deeply all throughout your body. It's possible to have a feeling of joy as deeply as this, experiencing an intensely powerful charge of positivity. This, I believe, is what experiencing the state of Yoga truly is. It's experiencing this deep awareness of joy and truly feeling it in every cell, like a current of energy moving in every part of your body, igniting the very breath of your existence and Being.

"...its hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst. Then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain, and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life.

You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry. You will someday." - American Beauty, 1999

May we awaken to our Highest Good, our Blissfuly Divine Self and know the deepest experience of joy, love, peace and consciousness in every breath we breathe. Have an infinitely Happy Thanksgiving...

Namaste!

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