THE PARADOX OF THE PATH TO HAPPINESS
I was teaching my Yin Yoga class a couple of weeks ago and I noticed myself getting distracted by different reasons: the sounds outside the room, the temperature and my own mind and thoughts about these "challenges". As the students held the seconde pose in the sequence, I reflected on the apparent contradiction of the yoga practice and particularly Yin Yoga.
In a Yin Yoga class, we often come hoping to feel calm, grounded, and at peace. But sometimes, we’re met with challenges instead. The room might be cold. There might be noise from outside. Our bodies might feel uncomfortable, or our minds unusually busy. It’s easy to think, “How can I possibly find stillness in this?”
But here’s the truth:
If we expect everything to be perfect before we can feel peaceful, then we haven’t yet truly learned how to be calm.
If we believe that we need silence, comfort, and ideal conditions in order to feel centered, then there is deeper work waiting for us. The yoga practice teaches us that peace is not something that happens when everything else cooperates—it’s something we can create within, no matter what’s happening around us.
In class, these uncomfortable moments are not disruptions to the experience. They are the experience. They are the opportunities to strengthen our ability to stay present, to breathe through resistance, to find a quiet space inside ourselves that doesn’t depend on the outside world being quiet too.
And just like on the mat, the same lesson applies in life.
If we’re only happy when life is smooth, when things go our way, when there are no distractions or obstacles—then our happiness is fragile. It’s conditional. But real happiness, like real peace, doesn’t depend on perfect circumstances. It grows from within. It’s rooted in how we respond, how we adapt, how we stay connected to ourselves in the middle of the mess.
The challenges in life are not the blocks in our path—they are the path.
They help us develop patience. They build our capacity to stay steady when things get hard. They show us what we still cling to, and they invite us to soften, to surrender, to grow. In this way, challenges are not just difficulties to survive—they are teachers that shape us into who we are becoming.
This is what the yoga practice offers us.
We use the body, the breath, and the postures to explore these deeper truths—not just to move or stretch, but to develop qualities that support our life off the mat.
If you’re curious to experience this for yourself, I invite you to join one of my Yin Yoga classes.
It’s a space where we don’t chase happiness—we create the conditions to remember it. Where every challenge, big or small, becomes a doorway back to ourselves.
Let the practice show you: the way to peace isn’t around the difficulty—it’s through it.
This is why I love Yoga.