Today in ‘Feel Good Friday Yoga’ in Rugby, we continued our journey exploring the water element. As we have seen over the past few weeks, the sacral chakra is home of our water element and reflects, our emotions, the ups and downs of life, the circle of life, our passion and being open to joy.
Today, I shared a little bit about the yogis take on joy. We can often I think, I’m going to be happy when I get that promotion at work, when I finish renovations on the house, when I get my new car, when my new outfit arrives. And yes these can bring us joyous moments.
But note with this approach, it is about an event in the future and it is external to us. For yogis, the expression, “Happiness is an inside job,” really resonates well.
According to yoga philosophy, contentment (santosha), is a form of self-discipline. In other words, happiness is a skill and practice.
The thinking here is that happier people do not have easier lives, with less hard work, grief, divorce, or financial strain than the rest of us. And there is no fancy yoga pose, brilliant book that can manufacture or deliver your happiness.
It comes from within you. One of the ways in which yogis practise this is through simply being more grateful for what we have and choose to be conscious of contentment more often.
So happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognising and appreciating what we do have.
And this is why we often practice gratitude on the mat. It helps us to take a step back and look for something to appreciate.
What are you grateful for today?