
The path to joy in your personal yoga practice, in many ways mirrors the path to joy in your life. Our practice on our mats is a sort of metaphor for all of the life we live off of our mats. So how do we find joy in the midst of a chair pose that lasts for 8 full rounds of breath? How do we find joy while sitting in traffic or dealing with difficult people?
I'm glad you asked! I think the first step toward joy is understanding what it is and what it isn't. Joy is a deep happiness that is not dependent on circumstance.
I try to be transparent...
I usually end up choosing my class intentions related to what I am going through personally at the time and what God is dealing with me on. If I'm honest, I have had a difficult time lately cultivating joy and allowing it to inform my day and my dealings with others. I have struggled with confidence, comparison, lack of motivation, questioning my purpose, and so many other things that have honestly crowded out the joy that I want to pour out of my life. Sometimes I make it all too complicated and it really can be as simple as the wisdom shared in the quotes and verses at the end of this post. Our lives are never going to be perfect. Our practice is never going to be perfect, our attitudes will never be perfect....relationships, jobs, parenting.....none of it will ever be perfect. But we can work to cultivate a sense of joy amidst it all. We can ask the holy spirit to fill us with a joy that cannot be explained with words.
Make joy a habit.
Bob Goff says, "When joy is a habit, love is a reflex." When we make joy a habit, we train ourselves to extract happiness and gratitude from every moment. When we are filled with joy, the natural outpouring will be a sincere love for others, for our practice, and for ourselves.
Find joy in the ordinary moments.

Sometimes when I'm on my mat and I'm feeling blah, I focus on the simplicity of the grounding of my body into the earth. There is something profound about rooting down in my feet and pressing the earth away...feeling myself get taller, more confident, more full of joy in the moment. Focusing on being fully present in the ordinary moments of our practice helps to cultivate a joy that is deep and abiding. I love how Brene Brown puts it. She says, "Joy comes to us in the ordinary moments. We risk missing out when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary."
I find sometimes as an instructor, I want to create and deliver the most interesting and challenging flows. I think so often, this misses the point. As instructors and yogis, we can and should find joy in the simplest of flows, the simplest of postures. Sometimes the more creative and challenging flows can rob us of the mental space we need to simply focus on the intention.

A simple smile can go a long way!
Take it from someone with severe RBF, smiling can change everything! Thich Nhat Hahn says, "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, and sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy." Sometimes the best way to cultivate a sense of joy is to put a smile on your face. When you don't feel like smiling, but choose to do it anyway, you'll find that your mood will match your expression. I always encourage my students to take a moment at the end of class, with their hands at heart center to feel their hearts beating against their thumbs and to feel the rise and fall of their chest with the breath and to allow their hearts to fill with gratitude and joy for taking the time for themselves on their mats. We bow to each other and there are always smiles and a joyful energy.
I love to share quotes in my classes. Here are some quotes on the intention of JOY:
Check out my Sunny Power playlist below!
Thanks for reading! I wish you a joyful practice and a joyful life full of gratitude and love for others and yourself!

This is so good! Thank you so much for sharing this! I am so thankful that I landed in your class. It's such an encouragement every time! Thank You!