Finding blissful happiness can be quite a challenging aim. I found my bliss as a result of shifting to a yogic lifestyle.
What does living a yogic lifestyle mean?
In its full physical, emotional and intellectual expression, it can be summed up into six basic life practices – the six pillars of blissful happiness.
Such shift catapulted me into reinventing myself, after my early fourties, and transforming my life from gloomy to radiant.
Yogic living tranformed me into an optimistic positive thinker. It gave me energy, strength, self-esteem and self-empowerment.
6 Pillars of a Blissful Life
At a time in my life when my soul was craving for direction, I stumbled upon yoga.
To be honest, it was thanks to my mother’s insistence that I even gave it a try (here is glance at my first awkward yoga class!).
The important part is that those first few classes triggered an insatiable thirst for soul-searching and self-improvement.
Let’s take a look at each of the 6 pillars of a blissful life individually.
1 – Finding your bliss through proper breathing
Breathing keeps us alive. This alone should be enough for us to realize how important it is to do it properly.
Controlled breathing helps oxygenate our body and mind, leading to health and clarity. It helps us relax, preparing us and guiding us into meditation but it also helps us control our feelings and emotions to achieve focus and balance.
Like anything, proper breathing comes easier for some than for others. Breathing has always been a problem for me. I used to be so tense all the time that I often held my breath and closed my fists at the same time, without even noticing it, until it was brought it to my attention. I was already in my early thirties!
“Happiness is not something ready made.
It comes from your own actions.”.
2 – Finding your bliss through meditation
Meditation is my new home. It takes me to the place I need to be to quiet and empty my mind, to let go, to focus, to visualize, to state my Sankalpa (my heartfelt desire).
Meditation allows us to turn on the radars of intuition, or gut feeling as some may call it. It awakens the little voice in the background that guides us to “go” or “don’t go”, “do it” or “don’t do it”.
My usual meditation session takes 30 minutes and it’s incredible how my mind and my body know exactly when the time is up. I often do find it difficult to keep my mind quiet just with the breathing exercises.
As an alternative, I find Yoga Nidra (guided meditation) to be very helpful and extremely effective, as it guides you for the duration of the practice (usually 30 minutes to one hour).
I am adding my two favourite yoga Nidra videos, one lasting about thirty minutes and the second one about one hour.
– Full Length Chakra Yoga Nidra Meditation With Elena Mironov
– Yoga Nidra – Manifest your Heart’s Desire!
Either of them put me in a state of pure relaxation and bliss. Do try them to be guided to a menatl state of absolute peace.
Also, check out one my favourite 10 minute meditation channels: Great Meditation.
3 -Finding your bliss through yoga practice
Physical exercise is a fundamental ingredient for happy and healthy living. Movement wakes up endorphins, the happy hormones.
Yoga, however, is so much more than just physical exercise. It is a way of life. It grows on you and, if you allow, it helps you grow with it. It’s a practice that generates energy and increasing balance, flexibility and strength.
In my experience, the progression of my yoga practice made me naturally feel the need to improve my breathing techniques, to learn to fully relax my body and calm my mind with meditation.
Ultimately, yoga practice made me adopt an even healthier diet than I already had as a vegetarian.
As a result, I transitioned from being vegetarian to vegan, and after only one month I already felt the incontestable benefits of higher energy levels, a clearer mind and an overall feeling of wellbeing.
If you haven’t given yoga a chance, I highly recommend trying some classes. If you prefer homepractice, watch the free Mindavalley Yoga Quest MasterClass below. Another alternative is to go on a yoga retreat for a few days. Beware that your first yoga classes may be frustrating at first, but hang in there. Once you tune in, the benefits are countless and the wellbeing only to be experienced.
4 – Finding your bliss through proper diet
I know this is a delicate subject for many people. It certainly has been for me. From the age of fourteen, until recently, I battled with constant weight shifts. These ups and downs are so soul-destroying, not to mention true self-esteem killers and very unhealthy over time.
Over the years, I followed all types of weight-loss diets, only to gain it all back. This is no news for many people, especially for women.
With yoga practice, my outlook on food and my body’s requierement started to change.
The best motivation for a proper diet is information. I cannot underline that enough.
I am sharing below the first documentary I ever watched about food and nutrition. This was the first of many to follow.
This documentary, along with yoga practice, triggered big changes in my food choices.
From the moment I started researching about nutrition, processed foods, organic versus non-organic foods, effects of dairy products, gluten and pesticides, and all kinds of health-related topics, I could no longer consciously bring myself to put certain foods in my body.
All of a sudden, I started to look at cheese and ice cream (my all-time favourites) as poison to my body.
The visible physical and emotional benefits of adopting a healthy diet are amazing and truly transformational. As you see your body change and energy levels increase, you experience increased self-esteem and gain the incentive to put in the additional effort to go the extra mile, whatever that means in your dietary habits context.
5 – Finding your bliss through relaxation
Most of us live very stressful lives, always running around trying not to miss appointments, commitments, take and pick up kids from schools, you name it.
Needless to say, stress is the cause of many diseases and fatal consequent outcomes. It is in our own interest and in the interest of our loved ones that we keep a healthy mind free of stress.
Finding time to relax is crucial to our wellbeing. It’s a form of preventive medicine.
Relaxation can be obtained in many ways. In my case, the most important is through the practice of yoga, however there are so many other simple ways to find peace. Sitting quietly listening to peaceful music, observing the beauty of nature and its vibrant colours, doing what I like to call cloud meditation, which is basically looking up to the sky to observe clouds forming and moving, are just to name a few. I find that petting animals or listening to a symphony of birds singing also brings immense peace. Reading an inspirational book is yet another way to release tension.
The methods are endless. You just need to choose the most accessible and convenient for you.
6 – Finding your bliss through positive thinking
If only I had known many years ago what I know now about positive thinking and its influence on happiness, I would have saved myself a lifetime of grief, emotional agony and pain. I am aware, however, that it was not lost time, rather, it was simply the time I needed to experience and learn.
To think positive and to have a positive attitude is a choice, an attitude and a practice that is solely in our own hands. I cannot highlight this enough. It is not an easy exercise, especially when things don’t go exactly as we have envisioned them. Nonetheless, if we can master positive thinking and the trilogy of learning with the past, living the present and planning for a better future, life takes on a much brighter colour.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is incontestable that the regular practice of yoga can have a fundamental role in finding your bliss. The full yoga experience, however, involves a lot more than just physical activity. The combination of asanas (the physical part of yoga), with proper breathing, relaxation before and after practice, accompanied by a proper healthy diet, positive thinking and meditation, will gradually increase physical and emotional strength, flexibility, balance, focus and clarity, ultimately leading to a sense of blissful happiness.
I do want to highlight that by no means do I intend to present these pillars as the absolute universal truth, applicable to all. They have worked for me and are my source of energy and happiness. However, I am aware that we are all unique, with different values, realities, experiences, ideas and opinions, so some people may disagree, which is ok.
You can follow my journey by subscribing to my private journal and witness first hand what a yoga lifestyle looks like. It may inspire you to give it a try.
Reading suggestion for yoga home practice
I call this book my “Yoga Bible”. It was written by teachers of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta School and it was actually my inspiration to start the blog Finding the Bliss.
This book is a great introduction to the yogic lifestyle.
WHAT WILL YOU LEARN:
- The 5 pillars of yoga;
- Classic yoga poses, each with very comprehensive step-by-step instructions to perform each pose and sequence, for all levels;
- Programmes for 20, 40 and 60 minutes, of home practice;
- Benefits of breathing, meditation and positive thinking;
- Delicious vegetarian recipes.
Did you like this post?
If you did, please, share it on your social media, forward it to a friend who might benefit from reading it and leave your comments below. Your feedback is very important.
If you really liked this post, you may also buy my a coffee by clicking the button below. It will fuel my inspiration and help support this blog.
Get inspired by our yoga products
Check >>> The Bliss Shop/Yoga accessories!
(Your purchases keep this blog alive and help us spread our message.) 
0 Comments