Feeling Happy: The Yoga of Body, Heart, and Mind

​​Written without ＂yoga jargon,＂ Feeling Happy explores the nature of happiness as a basic human capacity--and illuminates how suffering, imbalanced emotion, and confusion can cast a veil over one’s ability to truly feel happy.

What is the fully embodied experience of happiness, and is there any way for it to last? Feeling Happy helps you explore what happiness is and offers practical steps toward cultivating happiness as a deep, embodied expression of life and connection to others. Using familiar examples from everyday life, traditional understanding of one’s search for happiness, stories, and humor, Freeman and Taylor demonstrate how to find your way back home to the essence of who you are, and the direct experience of what it feels like to be truly happy.

The book offers 24 accessible practices--meditations, simple movements, and breathing exercises--along with 22 black-and-white illustrative photos as guides along the path toward fully embodying happiness. These practices together with insight into the nature of being, will allow you to wake up and integrate the physical body, heart, and mind through the breath so that even in difficult times, compassion, equanimity, and happiness can emerge.

Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor draw from their years of experience practicing and teaching yoga, meditation and the philosophical interfacing of yoga and Buddhism to explore what happiness is and to offer practical steps toward cultivating happiness as a deep, embodied expression of life. They offer insight into the nature of happiness as a basic human capacity--and illuminate how suffering, imbalanced emotion, and confusion can cast a veil over one’s ability to truly feel happy.

Some of the practices included:
- Focusing and calming the mind
- Observing and engaging the breath as a guide
- Working with difficulty and vulnerability
- Keeping a tender and open heart
- Building authenticity and presence
- Attuning to yourself and to others
- Cultivating kindness and compassion in complex times
- And more

RICHARD FREEMAN has been a student of yoga since 1968. He spent nine years in Asia studying yoga āsana and prāṇāyāma, bhakti, Sufism and Sanskrit. He continues his study of Western and Eastern philosophy all of which he incorporates into his yoga and meditation practices, drawing insights into the interfacing of Buddhism and yoga as a reflection of modern life.

MARY TAYLOR began studying yoga in 1971 while at university as a means of relieving stress. Her interest grew to include an interfacing of yogic and Buddhist practices and theory as a support for a balanced and joyful approach to life. She focuses her work on weaving self-care, embodiment, and contemplative practices into daily life.

Together they teach workshops and trainings throughout the world and online. Richard’s instructional videos and CDs on yoga set the gold standard for approaching yoga as a contemplative art. Freeman and Taylor have co-authored numerous books, most recently, When Love Comes to Light.