Archive for the ‘yoga for happiness’ Category

By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

Yoga is a science of life. The quality of our lives is improved through Yoga practice. With that said, a Yogi is one who pursues a path of harmony, tolerance, peace, compassion, loving kindness, and the cultivation of positive energy. The path less traveled is indeed a difficult one.

It is easy to be swept up in the moment. The news media indicates these are the worst of times. Yet, it must be realized that bad news has never traveled faster than it does today. In an instant, we can become “Chicken Little.” Imagine being hit on the head with an acorn and believing that the sky is falling.

As children, we might laugh at this fable; but as adults, we easily “buy in” to bad news. Some adults wear bad news on their faces, and they envision life as a daily struggle, complete with traps and pitfalls around every corner. While it is true that we should be cautious in our actions, it is also true that we cannot sit down and enjoy a steady drone of sad events.

Most of us have come to the realization that the cultivation of positive energy is essential to having the best quality life. In Yoga, we cultivate vital energy through pranayama (Yogic breathing techniques). This is an excellent way to gather and store positive energy, as well.

Yet, the cultivation and storage of positive energy, within the mind, requires some additional techniques. One method is to focus on where you are and where you want to go. This may sound easy, but some Gurus will tell you this is their key to attainment.

One point you should not focus on is the one that will cloud your judgment. This will usually cause you to take your eyes off your objective. Our objectives should be realistic, and we should not place extreme pressure on ourselves to accomplish goals. All of the little things in life should be appreciated.

As an example of this: Attaining positive feelings requires quite a bit of mental focus, while attaining Samadhi is unusual. This does not mean that attaining Samadhi is impossible, but transcending into an advanced state of consciousness requires guidance, focus, study, and work.

Why should we make the journey into a competitive race? It’s human to want everything right now, but it is not realistic. Positive energy is abundant, and it is easy to cultivate it if we stop to enjoy our lives and appreciate those around us.

Copyright 2009 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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Health Care and a Key to Unconditional Joy 

By Carina-Patricia Schierz

Sun demands no reason to shine; Water demands no reason to flow; A child demands no reason to be happy; Why do we need a reason to laugh? The concept of Laughter Yoga was developed in 1995 by Dr. Madan Kataria, an Indian medical doctor.

Laughter Yoga is practised now all over the world, with over 6.000 laughter clubs in more than 60 different countries. But what exactly is Laughter Yoga, what are its health benefits and what has laughter got to do with Yoga? Many people ask why we need to go to laughter clubs and “exercise” laughter – why not just laugh in real life?

Laughter became rare in our society as most people are not happy with their lives. In a world full of competition, success and failure, the longing for happiness became a struggle. When we read the newspaper, we’re confronted with violence and crisis. There might not be many reasons for us to be happy and laugh, when we look at it from this point.

Lots of people are living in a constant state of fear. So for many of us the question occurs: “How do you laugh when you’re in no mood to laugh or you don’t have any reason to laugh?” Laughter Yoga counters with another question: “Why do you need a reason to laugh? Why not laugh for the sake of laughing?” This means, that you don’t need to be happy to laugh – you need to laugh to be happy.

In Laughter Clubs, people come together to laugh regularly, despite life’s ups and downs. In real life, we leave laughter to chance, rather than, to a commitment. We depend on circumstances and on humour to create laughter. But this kind of humour is intellectual, it comes from the mind.

Humour always depends on the individual and its culture, and it is varying from person to person. While humour can separate people by only letting people laugh together who have the same sense of humour while others are excluded, the spirit of laughter is to connect all people, beyond humour.

Laughter is not so much about happiness, rather than joyfulness. Happiness is usually a conditional response, subject to the fulfilment of certain desires of the mind. Joyfulness is a state of being, expressing unconditional commitment to be happy despite the challenges of life. What happens when people meet for laughter? How do you trigger unconditional laughter? In Laughter Yoga, laughter is combined with Yogic breathing (pranayama).

Laughter is simulated as a body exercise in a group but with eye contact and childlike playfulness, it soon turns into real and contagious laughter. Laughter Yoga is based on the idea that anyone can laugh – without jokes, humour or comedy. You just need the willingness to participate in laughter.

It’s important that you physically engage in laughter yoga exercises. You have to be active and start moving so that you can trigger laughter in your body. When it comes to “faking” laughter, most people sceptically raise their eyebrow: “But laughter has to come from the heart, what is the point in faking laughter?” Well, usually the fake laughter turns quickly into real laughter, but when we talk about the health benefits of laughter, it is not even necessary that it’s “real”.

Believe it or not, but it is scientifically proven that our body can’t distinguish between real and faked laughter. So all the processes happening in your body – the psychological and physiological health benefits – are exactly the same. Your mind might say “well, but I know that I’m not really laughing”. So what! Your body doesn’t know. And if you give it a try, you will experience real laughter – a deeper laughter than you ever imagined.

Unconditional laughter is so much more intense than the laughter that arises from the mind. “The very essence of laughter is absurdity. Where there is logic, there is no laughter.” Take a look at children, they are the best examples for unconditional laughter. As a child we didn’t laugh because we had an extraordinary sense of humour; we laughed because it was our nature to be joyful.

Why can children laugh more than 300-400 times a day whereas adults only laugh up to 15 times? Adults use their brain to first comprehend humour and then laugh. Children haven’t decided upon any conditions for their laughter. Their laughter comes straight from the body, not using any intellectual capacity of the brain.

The source of laughter is within our body. It is our mind that thinks we need a reason for laughter. But when we can let go of thought and enter a state of playfulness, our hearts can open up to the joy of laughter.

The child in us wants to be awakened, it wants our permission to laugh freely, without a reason. Our laughter depends on so many pre-conditions, but this way we only limit ourselves as our happiness becomes conditional. If we can learn again to laugh unconditionally, also our happiness will be unconditional.

With laughter you’ll develop a new attitude towards life: Issues appear less overwhelming. Still we are touched by the issue, but it doesn’t have that power anymore. If we pay too much attention to our issues, they can become our focus. If we are able to laugh about things they diminish. This way laughter can be seen as a mental and emotional hygiene.

You can laugh away the troubles. It is said that laughter is the best medicine. And it seems that it really is – it is actually incredible what laughter can do for our body! Laughter is one of the best muscle-relaxants. It expands blood vessels, and that way it sends more blood to the extremities and other muscles all over the body.

Laughter reduces stress hormones and releases endorphins which work as a natural opiate, creating a positive state of mind and they also act as natural pain killers. Don’t underestimate the influence stress can have on our body and well-being: it is crucial, stress is harming our body and many diseases are related to stress.

High blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks, arthritis, asthma, diabetes, cancer, chronic fatigue, anxiety attacks, mood swings, psychological distress, depression, sleep problems, eating disorders, peptic ulcers, poor immune function, chronic pain, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, colds, flu, viruses, headaches, migraines, alcoholism, drug abuse… seems like the list is endless!

Laughter quickly reduces the levels of stress chemicals – it occurs in minutes and can last for days. But not only your hormones are affected, laughter also boosts your immune system with fast increases in levels of anti-viral and anti-infection cells. Laughter will protect you against viral infections, such as coughs and colds. Laughter is also an aerobic exercise.

Your heart rate increases and one minute of hearty laughter is equal to 10 minutes of jogging. But that’s still not all laughter will do for you: by massaging your internal organs through deep breathing, exercising the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, it’s like “inner jogging”, stimulating the digestive and lymphatic systems.

Laughter is also a great exercise for asthma and bronchitis. It improves the lung capacity and oxygen levels in the blood. And due to the increased oxygen supply, laughter will make you feel relaxed and refreshed. People who suffer from mind-related diseases like anxiety, depression, nervous breakdowns and sleeplessness also benefit on laughter. Laughter elevates mood, laughter brings hope.

Laughter stimulates the calming branch of our nervous system. On the psychological level, laughter helps us to remove mental blocks and layers of inhibition. It helps us to express all our emotions freely. To produce the significant physiological and biochemical changes, the laughter has to be frequent, for at least 10-15 minutes in a day.

That is why Laughter Yoga Exercises are so important to bring measurable physiological changes like oxygen levels in the blood, muscle relaxation, blood circulation and release of certain hormones in the body. For our body it really doesn’t matter whether laughter comes from the humour in the mind, or playfulness in the body – the health benefits we experience will be the same.

The process of laughter is deeply connected with our breath. That’s why pranayama plays an important role in Laughter Yoga. Dr. Kataria saw the similarities between the fast-breathing-exercises like Kapalbhati and Bhastrika and laughter – in both you find rhythmic movement of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles.

In Yoga, there’s usually a focus on proper exhalation, and that’s exactly what laughter does: laughter prolongs your exhalation, squeezing all the residual air out of your lungs until inhale happens naturally. Breathing became one of the most important parts of Laughter Yoga – it is used in between the exercises to give some pauses, increasing the vital capacity of the lungs and therefore the capacity to laugh.

Breathing is fundamental to our life. A lack of oxygen in the body cells is one of the basic reasons for getting sick. Most people don’t breathe correctly, their breath is shallow and irregular. Laughter Yoga exercises are designed to bring awareness of laughter in the belly, engaging the diaphragm. Deep laughter shifts our breathing pattern from upper chest to belly breathing.

Breathing is the only function of the autonomic nervous system that can be consciously regulated or changed. And the change in your breathing will not only make a difference on the physical level but also on the mental: there is a direct relation between breathing patterns and the state of mind.

By changing the way you breathe, you can change your state of mind. Usually we let our mind influence our breathing. For example, if your mind is upset, you can notice that breathing becomes fast, irregular, and shallow. During stress, you breathe from the upper part of the chest.

All our negative thoughts and all the tension that we hold is influencing the way we breathe. When the mind is at peace, the breathing becomes slower, more regular, and deeper. Through laughter and breathing exercises, you can bring change to your mind. Deep breathing will calm your mind and bring you peace.

The same applies for your mood: even if you are not happy in your mind, if you act like a happy person, your mind will experience the state of happiness. That is why Laughter Yoga always produces real laughter in the end: If you can’t laugh, bring laughter to your body first and your mind will follow.

Yoga is about uniting and connecting. Laughter Yoga brings people together through the gift of laughter. With eye contact, touch and love, people are connected through joy. No matter where you come from, religion or politics, age or social background don’t matter as everyone can laugh together.

Carina-Patricia Schierz is a certified Yoga teacher. She teaches Yoga classes in the Wien, Austria area.

By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

How can Yoga help someone with establishing and maintaining good relationships? Successful relationships require mutual effort from both sides. Whether a relationship is with someone at work, at home, or with a friend, there is a need to maintain a stable connection. If there is an emotional connection, such as love or romance, this can be complicated, but Santosha can still be applied.

What is Santosha? In the Yoga Sutras, Santosha is one of the listed Niyamas (moral observances). The Niyamas could easily be identified as virtues. Within the Yoga Sutras, Maharishi Patanjali reveals Santosha and its value in daily life.

Santosha is often described as a state of contentment. If you can maintain a state of contentment, you can find happiness, and you can remain happier for longer periods of time. We should be pro-active in our cultivation of contentment, in order to release the mind from the burdens of pain.

Yet, how does this apply toward cultivating successful and healthy relationships? Practice complete acceptance of friends, co-workers, associates, and family members. In other words: Accept each individual for who he, or she, is, without pre-conditions.

Do not hold anyone to your expectations. To accept people for who they are is extremely difficult for some people. Relationships often fail because of pre-conceived expectations. Many people go out on a “first date” with a pre-qualifying list of requirements for a prospective partner to fulfill.

While it is true that each of us has expectations in regard to the pursuit of a “soul mate,” it is also true that you cannot change people to suit your requirements. This concept applies to every relationship we have. You can choose your spouse and friendships carefully, but you must accept what you cannot control.

A passive state of mind will also help cultivate your work, business, and family relationships. Patanjali points us toward the appreciation of life’s difficulties. It is easy to embrace joy, happiness, and bliss. On the other hand, life can be full of suffering, pain, and sorrow.

Santosha teaches each of us to accept and learn from the difficult experiences we will encounter in life. Know that life will change, and we should be happy with what we have at this moment. When we stop the outer world from affecting our inner-being, we have found true happiness.

It is hard to believe that one Niyama can be so valuable, but contentment, and the resulting states of happiness, will serve a Yoga practitioner like a flashlight down a dark path. Light gives us vision and focus. With the help of Santosha, a dark path that we were once lost on, can become an adventurous journey.

Copyright 2008 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

Jnana Yoga is often considered the “Yoga of truth.” This form of truth, in Yoga practice, is found through self-discovery and by carefully performing honest self-analysis. Yet, all that we change from within will not change the world around us, unless we interact with it.

Relationships are our interaction, with the people we see, in the course of a day. We cannot change the world by sitting and meditating in a cave for the rest of our lives. Yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and loving kindness are put into practice when we engage in balanced relationships.

In all relationships, the keys to success can be found. Take the following key and apply it toward all of your relationships in work, with family, at home, and with your friends. In this way, you can apply time-tested Yogic principles in your daily life.

The Key of Mutual Trust

You have a right to be skeptical of everything you encounter, but when you wear skepticism like a badge, people will become skeptical of you. This does not imply that you should trust everyone and train your children to “take candy from strangers.” However, when you assume that everyone has a hidden agenda, and you do not trust anyone, you encourage an atmosphere of mistrust.

Supervisors and business owners set the tone within a company. If mistrust starts at the top, it trickles down to the foundation of the company. An atmosphere of mistrust breeds a multitude of problems. The supervisor who does not trust his or her help is most likely to take credit for the help’s ideas.

Similarly, the same supervisor is least likely to take responsibility for his or her mistakes. It is very tempting, when you do not trust anyone, to see everyone as potential enemies. It is also possible to view every subordinate as a threat to job security. Do you think the workers who answer to an openly distrustful supervisor will be loyal?

So far, all we have considered is the level of mutual trust in business relationships, but the key of mutual trust is part of every aspect of life. If you treat your children and spouse with mistrust, you will definitely encounter mutual feelings from them.

Whether trust is earned, or violated, do not ignore it. There is no need to carry a grudge forever or assume that one act of kindness makes someone a saint. We have to accept people the way they are, without going through harsh judgments or leaving ourselves unnecessarily open to be taken advantage of.

Yoga teaches each of us about living in balance and harmony. There is no need to let life’s highs or lows throw you out of balance for long. Granted, we are all human and mistakes are part of a lifelong learning process, but Yoga can help us find the higher purposes of life.

© Copyright 2008 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

Yoga is most often defined as “union.” Harmony can be defined as many things. The most common definitions for harmony would be agreement and compatibility. It is not difficult to see that Yoga, harmony, and happiness can work together for mental and emotional stability.

This leads to a round of questions for us to ponder. What is happiness? Is happiness being successful? How do you define success? As you know, each of us cannot reach a state of happiness in the same way.

Happiness is a positive emotion that we experience when we are in a state of well-being. We could also state that happiness is bliss, contentment, satisfaction, or joy. Some of us can find this same feeling on a warm beach in the tropics.

Yet, many of us also have family and financial obligations that make living permanently, at a warm tropical beach, difficult. At the same time, not everyone is happy at the beach. Again, we realize that happiness is a choice and a personal decision.

Although success is often linked with happiness, you could say that personal happiness is more dependent on a purposeful life, than a successful life. What do I mean by this? Some people are quite content to sleep all day, avoid work, and let others support them. They have no purpose or goals. A few animals and insects also display this behavior.

As humans, we call this behavior “laziness.” Most humans are inherently driven to plan, discover, and create. We consider these qualities admirable, but successful people are not always happy. To be successful and sad at the same time is a strange paradox, but it exists.

How is this possible? A successful person may not be living the happy life that he or she envisions. For example: If you are born into a position of social status that you did not choose, you may feel that you are not a success in life. Whether we are rich or poor, anyone can have these feelings.

We have now gone “full circle” in this discussion. Therefore, I ask you, “How do you define success?” The answer to that question should give you a deep sense of contentment. It is worth the time to practice Yoga, meditation, breathe with purpose, and do some soul searching, before you envision your true picture of happiness and success.

In short, happiness requires balance, agreement, and compatibility, with our surrounding environment. You cannot force yourself to be happy, but each form of Yoga can bring about inner harmony and states of happiness.

© Copyright 2008 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

How can Yoga help you find mental and emotional balance during a crisis situation? It is so easy to become upset over current events, a traffic jam, or a domestic dispute. How can Yoga help us “keep our cool,” when we are being tested by real life situations?

One realization that each of us should come to is that we can create a state of anxiety from within. If you watch a flock of birds, the birds who feel the most anxiety, create a state of panic within the entire flock. Humans are just as guilty of creating a state of fear within groups.

You can witness this behavior first-hand by watching any stock exchange, on any given day. Some forms of mass hysteria have caused violent behavior in the form of witch hunts, genocide, and lynch mobs. Fear can take on a sense of reality, when we collectively anticipate the worst.

If we know that unjustified fear can only make a crisis situation worsen, why do we adopt it? The average person’s natural viewpoint of life is to see it on the outside. We see life all around us, but how many of us see life from within. Yoga teaches us that the path to happiness, and the solutions for management, of any crisis, is within each of us.

When a person cannot find the answers within, or does not have time to make a rational decision, that person would be better off to get help from the most balanced friend he, or she, knows. In contrast, through training the mind, a Yoga practitioner reaches a state of self-realization, where there is no need to make irrational decisions and harsh judgments.

Each of us has strengths and weaknesses, so there is no need to be upset with oneself over personal faults. We can learn to change our faults, if we recognize them; but it is worth noting that all of our planned changes will not happen at once.

One of the biggest positive changes you can bring into your life, is to regulate the daily news, and information, you absorb. With the power of the Internet, current events and financial reports arrive to you in “real time.” This can lead to a flood of anxiety and negativity. Compounding this negative effect, listening to people divulge personal information about each other can also take a toll on your outlook of life.

Awareness of each moment, as it occurs, is a key to complete happiness. If Yoga teachers truly want to help others, we must strive to live in a state of purposeful attention. The teachings of Yoga sages from the past, and present, prepare us for any real problems in the future.

© Copyright 2008 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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FREE CONTENT: If you are a Yoga Teacher, Yoga studio, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles) – Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste, Paul
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By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

Hatha Yoga teachers often teach their students about stress management techniques. Yet, how many teach their students how to be happy, successful, and how to apply these principles, in daily life, outside the Yoga class?

This is why we mention the word “practice” in a classroom setting – Your life outside the class, in work, commuting, in traffic, and at home, is “real life.” It is easy for me to teach you how to relax, in a Yoga session, but how will you react when you open the mail box or when you listen to the daily news?

We know it is easy to let stress take over your life. In good economic times, people worry about moving fast enough to keep up with the pace around them. In bad economic times, people worry about food, clothing, and shelter.

In truth, worrying is the problem. Many of us look for something to worry about the moment we wake up from bedtime. In this case, it is a matter of focusing the mind on what is truly important. Some people refer to this as envisioning a goal, an achievement, or success.

Some of my colleagues argue against teaching students about abundance and success. The general consensus is that Yoga students might abuse these techniques and become greedy. However, the world is in need of innovative and goal oriented people, right now.

My feeling is this world needs success more than ever. If we have enough people, who become prosperous, many of them will be charitable, as well. Here are a few ideas for envisioning your success in life. You can reflect on them, meditate on them, or visualize them, but you must act on them.

Be very specific about your goals. See yourself as successful. Feel what it will be like to give to others who need your help. Write your aspirations down and be clear about what you want to accomplish. There may be some “twists and turns” in life, but do not let it bother you.

Keep your “eyes on the prize.” Too many people get caught up in worrying about each hurdle in life. Let God take care of the details. Life is a big picture, not a brush stroke. If you make a mistake, do your best at repairing it and move forward.

Be ready to “turn on a dime.” If you visualize a path of success, be prepared for a “long and winding road.” Do not let the changes bother you, because you are navigating through unfamiliar territory. Imagine how Christopher Columbus felt when he saw “all that land.”

Lastly, look at an ethical example of success. If possible, do some research into how he or she made the achievements you desire. If you see a clear example of this, why should you have to “reinvent the wheel?” It is much easier to replicate success than to invent it from “scratch.”

Yoga teaches us many things, but Yogic principles must be applied to real life situations. In this way, each of us will experience optimum health and true happiness.

© Copyright 2008 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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FREE CONTENT: If you are a Yoga Teacher, Yoga studio, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles) – Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste, Paul
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By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

Yoga is a gateway to happiness. Through a proactive lifestyle, anyone can be happy at the worst of times, because internal happiness is a choice. If you talk to a survivor of a war, holocaust, or natural disaster, about his or her experiences, each one of them will admit they had to tap into their proactive will to survive.

Yet, within Yoga, there is an underlying belief that we should wait for life to do something to us, and then we should react to it. Some teachers will state that we should wait for the results of life’s actions, which produce situations that may be either good or bad.

It is easy to forget that Karma means “action.” We can wait for life to happen to us or we can embrace each day – whether it is good or not. In fact, we do not have to wait for a “bad day” to look for solutions to problems. Sometimes, the need for a solution is obvious.

How many people died in automobile accidents before seat belts and air bags were required as standard equipment? Unfortunately, far too many car accidents happened without the standard of safety equipment we see today.

It is worth noting that Nils Bohlin, a Swedish inventor, created the contemporary “three point” seat belt, which is now standard equipment. His invention was not the first seat belt, but he modified the concept, improved it, and saved more lives.

How can we apply this to Karma Yoga? Do not wait for life to come to you. Life is just not long enough to wait for solutions to “fall in your lap.” Another lesson we can learn from the example of Nils Bohlin, is that you can build and improve on the existing solutions of past innovators.

When you reflect back on your life, do you regret inaction? Most of us feel the same way, but our lives are not over. We still have time to “make” good changes happen. If you feel happiness from within, you should share it with those who will appreciate it. Spread the wealth of loving kindness and happiness when it is possible; especially, when good feelings are flowing throughout your inner-being.

Do not wait for someone else to show the first act of loving kindness. If you show acts of kindness, happiness will follow you wherever you go. For every action you take, there is always an equal reaction, which comes back to you.

You may ask for nothing in return for acts of loving kindness, but the Law of Karma will always bear fruit. Everyone deserves happiness. If you find yourself in the middle of a surplus, make sure you are always generous.

© Copyright 2008 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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Free Podcasts. Bonus: Free Yoga e-Book, “Yoga in Practice.”
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FREE CONTENT: If you are a Yoga Teacher, Yoga studio, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles) – Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste, Paul
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