A Yogi’s Guide to Finding Joy in 2017

(NewsUSA) – Many people claim to be searching for peace and joy in their lives, especially as a new year begins after the intense and often stressful holiday season. However, many joy seekers may be looking in the wrong places, according to yogi and spiritual teacher Sadhguru. The founder of the Isha Foundation and social activist has published a new book on finding joy within oneself rather than expecting to find it in the outside world. His book, Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy (Spiegel & Grau Hardcover/Random House, September 20, 2016), emphasizes that self-awareness is one of the keys to unlocking a life of joy from the inside.

In a recent interview with Yoga Journal, Sadhguru said that joy comes from creating an “inner chemistry of blissfulness where being joyful is not being subject to something outside of you.”

“[If] someone or something can make you happy or unhappy, [that] means what happens within you is determined by an aspect outside of you. This is the worst form of slavery,” he emphasizes.

The book features sadhanas, daily guidelines designed to help individuals lead a life of joy by looking inward, and other insights on joyful living. To begin, Sadhguru asks readers to consider what constitutes a state of well-being. He defines it as a sense of pleasantness. “When pleasantness is within, it is termed peace, joy, happiness,” he writes.

He encourages individuals to focus on happiness within to help them create pleasantness, and therefore joy, in the world at large. “When you are in a pleasant inner state, you are naturally pleasant to everyone and everything around you,” he notes. “Inner pleasantness is a surefire insurance for the making of a peaceful society and a joyful world.”

The editors at Yoga Journal suggest the following meditation for finding inner joy by invoking a state of well-being:

*Breathe deeply, relax, and think of a time of great joy and well-being.

*Try to remember all the details of that joyful experience, including sights, sounds, and smells, and try to recall how your mind and body felt in that moment.

*Practice recalling your joyful moment each day for a week, and ultimately you may be able to tune in to the general feeling of joy without recalling the specific occasion.

For more information about Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy, visit the book site at http://isha.sadhguru.org/us-en/ie-book.