Being happy! What does that mean? In these times of pandemic during which people face personal challenges through the implementation of repetitive confinements, curfews, rules impacting on social relations and limiting encounters and exchanges, being happy is a state of being on which everyone is invited to reflect.
Indeed, the restrictions of social exchanges invite us to seek happiness, joy, no longer through the relationship with others, but through ourselves. Happiness, joy, are states that we must learn to cultivate on our own. Alone. That is where true happiness lies, and when this happiness is established, it becomes contagious and affects others. This echoes the famous "Love yourself to love others" or Socrates' famous phrase "Know yourself".
We could say "Be happy yourself to love the world", or "Know yourself to be happy and love the world".
For that is the goal.
Love life, whatever it is, whatever it brings us, in order to be happy.
Unfortunately, in the West the concept of happiness is wrong. We live in the illusion that happiness comes from others, comes from outside, comes from material wealth and entertainment. So we look for happiness in encounters, in activities of all kinds (cultural, sports, but also through TV, alcohol, drugs, ...).
We are in a permanent quest entirely turned towards the outside world, whereas true happiness is found within us, quite simply.
The Buddha brought the Mindful Breathing Sutra to help us turn our gaze inwards. But how does it work, you may ask?
The goal is to get in touch with this force which is in each one of us, and yet for most of us well buried under a mountain of illusions, preconceived ideas, anxieties, worries, desires. All our energy is then used by thoughts and our bodies are inert in terms of feelings and therefore of energy development.
The key to happiness lies in a balance between body and mind, a union between body and mind, but when we live in thoughts, this balance, this union is broken, and the body falls asleep, the energy slows down, the states of mind turn towards negative thoughts of sadness, anxiety, fear, etc. The body loses its health, the immune defences diminish, tiredness sets in, sleep becomes difficult...
Kum, in Tibetan, means "energy body". Nye means "massage". Through Kum Nye, we massage the energies of our energy body. This massage is not done by the hands, which only give a surface massage, mainly on the physical body and on the surface channels of the energy body. This massage is triggered by the combination of attention to the feelings, attention to the breath, and the setting up of a long, slow and deep breath. Thus, over the months, the energy no longer comes to feed mainly the head, but the body. The mind calms down, the body wakes up. This is how balance takes place. The body comes back to life. The energy body. This body hidden by the illusion of our thoughts and yet very present. This body, so invisible and yet so essential because it is linked to our states of mind and therefore our happiness...
When the balancing process takes place, the inherent aspects of energy take place.
Joy, cheerfulness, enthusiasm, optimism, happiness, confidence, are aspects of this energy.
These positive aspects replace the negative aspects generated by thoughts, which generate anxiety, anguish, fear, doubts, feelings of loneliness, negative thoughts.
When the energy flows harmoniously in the physical body, the body becomes youthful, the immunity is strengthened, the organs are healthy.
We are happy and when our ministers and presidents announce curfews, bans, lockdowns, distancing measures as is the case with students for example, then these events do not have the same impact.
We embrace them with resilience. We accept them because deep inside us, confidence, peace, joy, remain strong, unwavering, like a diamond. Our mind is calm, and we feel a sense of space within us. This space is the freedom to not feel reactive to events.
The minds may be stirring around us, but we remain calm and collected in the face of the situations that arise. We know how to be satisfied with what we have, even if it is little. We know how to appreciate every moment that life offers us, and we never forget that as long as the sun shines, as long as the grass grows, as long as the rain or snow fills the rivers, life is there. A bird that sings, a tree that trembles in the breeze, these little things become a source of wonder and joy. This is life, it is all around us every day, sending us these messages, we only have to open our hearts to welcome them.
The rest, let's say the worries, the restrictions, the prohibitions, the hazards, the setbacks, are just passing by. Everything is impermanent. Nothing is fixed. Everything changes. One day these times will be nothing more than an old nightmare, or the memory of a not so difficult time. Who knows? Nobody knows. Only the future will tell.
So in the meantime we have a duty to be. The duty to learn to be. The duty to learn to find happiness within ourselves. The duty to learn to be happy.
Lamenting and waiting for some wonderful situation to manifest itself is a cowardly option that leads nowhere. We must decide to be happy and take charge of our lives by applying the tools that will allow us to bring about our transformation.
To do this, I offer you the wonderful method of the Kum Nye. Kum Nye is a Tibetan yoga brought by Tartang Tulku, the Tibetan scholar who brought mindfulness to the US in the 1970s. His method was taught for several decades in most universities in the country, a method that became the basis for many mindfulness techniques now taught around the world.
I offer you a course of 156 sessions which includes the entire teaching of Tarthang Tulku. Each session builds on the previous one, allowing us to progress from the very beginning, to learn to feel the body, then to feel this energetic body, to learn to calm the physical breath until we are able to work on the subtle breath, this particular breath which carries our consciousness. In this way, step by step, we can transform ourselves, transform our minds, and learn to be happy.
These 156 sessions can be approached in the form of 3 different sessions per week, for 1 year, or in the form of 1 session per week for 3 years. In both cases, if you fall behind, after the end of your course, you will be able to maintain access to your sessions for only 10 euros per month.
I therefore invite you to take the first step, to enter into the practice, a practice devoid of any religious aspect, open to all, atheists, practitioners of all religions, or Buddhists of all traditions, because we speak only one language: the language of the body, of the breath, of feelings, of energy. This language is universal.
See you soon
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