Joy can be hard to find as we have many emotions. This is about my experience of finding joy through Yoga that inspired me to make Yoga my healing pathway.
Can Yoga help us feel joy? If it does, then I think it is something profoundly needed in our lives today. The ancient Yoga sages tell us that joy is right there inside you and you only have to look within. So, is this really true and possible to do in our modern lives? What do we mean when we talk about joy and how do we find it?
My story about finding joy through yoga
As a young adult I never really believed that I could regain the state of joy I remembered feeling as a child. However, Yoga showed me that I could. It was during a particularly miserable period of my life when I sought joy anywhere but within. I spent my time desperately seeking relief from the feelings inside, by doing things on the outside, but whatever I did I just felt the same. I found myself grasping at external happenings or people and nothing made any difference.
One day, I turned to face myself. I gave myself fully to my Yoga practice. I let myself feel my pain and made myself stay with my body just as it was. I did not let myself run away or be distracted and I stayed with the intensity. I found myself moving slowly into poses, pausing, breathing and sinking into whatever I felt, and I completely surrendered. I made movements of opening and closing my chest area, and this allowed the tears to move through as my lungs and heart were given space.
Somewhere in this practice, to my utter surprise, I felt an inner exuberance arise as if out of nowhere. It felt like joy arose from the cells of my body. This experience and the realisation that I did not have to strain, and search gave me tremendous relief and a new confidence in my life. If joy is right here, always present even if hidden, I do not have to go anywhere to feel it and it is not dependent on external happenings. This felt like a new freedom and understanding – Joy resides within the cells of my body!
What do we mean by joy?
We all know the joy we feel when something good happens that we want, or we see beauty. Our heart lifts, our mind clears, and we feel present and positive. Then, something difficult happens and the joy evaporates, and negative responses tend to dominate. This is a temporary kind of joy. These different states are part of life, but is there a deeper steadier joy to be discovered? My experience tells me there is and this is what Yoga can help us find. This blog is about how we can discover this underlying happiness and how Yoga philosophy explains the nature of this joy.
The joy I am interested in is the joy of simply being alive. This joy still experiences sadness, pain and anxiety but holds it all in its warm embrace. It is like a back- ground joy that enables us to have a positive perspective on the challenges that life brings. We could call it the joy of our true nature or describe it as a joy that is as steady and expansive as the blue sky.
The sky is a useful metaphor because it is always there. All too often there are also clouds which obscure the sky. These clouds represent our negative or painful thoughts and emotions that we believe in and get lost in. The clouds disconnect us from our innate happiness. Yoga is concerned with lifting and shifting the layers to reveal our joy and our true self.
How does Yoga explain our life state of joy?
Yoga philosophy written in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Upanishads were developed through the in-depth meditative experience of the Hindu mystics. These seers acutely observed what was happening within and developed a structure to define what it is to be human. The seers perceived five sheaths known as the Panchakoshas.
These sheaths permeate and affect each other. The inner most sheath is called the Ananda kosha, and this is the sheath at the core of our being through which we experience joy and bliss. It is intimately connected to the source of life. This Kosha is also connected to ideas of enlightenment and Samadhi (merging with the cosmos) and can seem unobtainable and not to do with our ordinary life. However, this state is our birth-right and we can touch into it in our ordinary lives, as ordinary people. We do not need to meditate for years in a cave, although practice of Yoga and other paths help us to reveal this state. This bliss is available to us to some degree in many ways; slowing down, pausing, being in nature or, if you have ever felt that all was right with the world after a good yoga class – this is you getting in touch with your Ananda Kosha.
How is your joy?
Look back over the last week. Is there a moment where you felt that sense of connection, well-being, uplift or expansiveness that you would call joy? Perhaps stop reading this blog, close your eyes and reflect right now.
Did it come because something really good happened?
Did it happen when you slowed down or paused? Or something else?
How would you describe this state that you are remembering?
If you can’t remember any sense of joy, then acknowledge this to yourself with compassion. You may be feeling a great weight in your heart. Be reassured that everything changes and with the right support you can find your way to healing and a happier state.
What is Yoga Therapy? What has it got to do with joy?
You might come for Yoga Therapy because you have a physical problem or pain, experience anxiety or there is something in your life that you wish to attend to or change. Sometimes you don’t really know what you need or want, but maybe there is a lack of joy. Yoga Therapy guides us to get out of our head and into our body. As we tend to live in our heads and disconnect from the wisdom of our body, dropping into our body sensations can be a very relaxing and enjoyable experience. We can feel an enriched sense of nurture and connection that is deeply restorative. However, we also can meet our ‘clouds’ in the form of aches and pains, difficult emotions and other sensations. This is not always pleasant, and we can spend a lot of energy trying to avoid this aspect of ourselves. With the support and presence of a skilled practitioner we can learn to trust ourselves and be present with whatever arises as we move and breathe. In this safe space, we can unfold in our own time and allow any clouds we have to surface, be acknowledged and to move through. A Yoga Therapy session is a collaboration between therapist and health seeker that integrates mind, body and emotions. On this transformative journey through a course of sessions the door can open to our innate joy through Yoga. If you would like to try out an introductory session, please contact me at www.healingwithyoga.co.uk or email me at pip.yoga@live.co.uk
Pippa Graham. BA Hons in Fine Art, ITEC in Therapeutic massage, CIC Mindfulness teacher trained.
British Wheel accredited: Inner Yoga Trust dip., Birthlight Well Woman Dip., Trainee Yoga Therapist with YUYT. Qualify in Oct 2025.
Such a beautifully written reflection on rediscovering inner joy through yoga. It’s amazing how practices like mindful movement and breathwork can reconnect us to that deeper peace within. I recently came across this insightful read on balanced living and nutrition that complements this idea of holistic wellbeing https://www.shemed.co.uk/blog/understanding-the-glycaemic-index-gi-for-better-food-choices
.
HI Aria
Thank you for reading and your feedback and yes thats a good article. Best wishes to you.