This morning I started thinking about what brings me back to my yoga practice, day after day. The answer is pretty simple: a feeling of joy. Not happiness exactly, but a feeling of being alive and seeing the world more vividly.

Yoga and meditation can be tools to access an inner joy that is independent of external circumstances. This joy is always there, but it is often muddled with the concerns of everyday life. Stephen Cope writes beautifully about this still pool under the disturbances of the mind. In his book The Wisdom of Yoga he quotes Buddhist meditation teacher Mahasi Sayadaw:

When the mind is concentrated on the object of meditation, it does not attach itself to other thoughts, nor does it desire pleasant sights and sounds. Pleasurable objects lose their power over the mind. Dispersion and dissipation cannot occur… As concentration takes the mind to more subtle levels, deep interest arises. Rapture and joy fill one’s being. This development frees the mind… for anger and aversion cannot coexist with joy.

By focusing the mind on a single point, action and awareness come together. This experience is similar to what is often described as “flow.” Time becomes irrelevant, and we feel completely absorbed in the moment. Subduing the usual chatter in our mind lets us connect with the present moment, feeling like we are exactly where we are supposed to be. This moment may be fleeting, but through continued practice we can learn to access it again and again, for longer periods of time.