To Be Happy! What Does That Really Mean?
In these times of pandemic, when people face personal challenges through repeated lockdowns, curfews, and rules that impact social relationships and limit gatherings and exchanges, being happy is a state of being that each of us is invited to reflect upon.
Indeed, the restrictions on social interaction invite us to seek happiness and joy not through relationships with others, but within ourselves. Happiness and joy are states we must learn to cultivate on our own. Alone. That is true happiness—and when it is established, it becomes contagious and touches others. This echoes the famous “Love yourself in order to love others,” or Socrates’ well-known phrase, “Know thyself.”
We could say: “Be happy yourself in order to love the world,” or “Know yourself in order to be happy and to love the world.”
For that is the goal: to love life, whatever it may bring, in order to be happy.
The Western Misunderstanding of Happiness
Unfortunately, in the West the concept of happiness is often mistaken. We live under the illusion that happiness comes from others, from the outside world, from material wealth and entertainments. So we chase happiness in relationships, in all kinds of activities (cultural, sporting, and also television, alcohol, drugs…).
We are in a constant quest turned outward, while true happiness lies within us. Simply.
Simply… and yet so hard to access. The Buddha gave us the Sutra of Mindful Breathing to help us turn our gaze inward. But how does it work, you may ask?
Happiness and the Body-Mind Connection
The aim is to come into contact with the force that is within each of us, yet buried under a mountain of illusions, preconceptions, anxieties, worries, desires. Our energy is consumed by thoughts, and our bodies become inert in terms of sensation and energy development.
The key to happiness lies in balance—body and mind united. When we live in thoughts, this union breaks. The body falls asleep, energy slows, the mind leans toward negative states—sadness, anxiety, fear. The body loses health, immunity weakens, fatigue sets in, sleep becomes difficult.
Kum Nye: The Massage of the Subtle Body
Kum, in Tibetan, means “energy body.” Nye means “massage.” Through Kum Nye, we massage the energies of the subtle body. This massage is not done with the hands—hands only reach the surface, the physical body, and superficial energy channels.
Instead, this massage is activated through attention to sensation, awareness of the breath, and the cultivation of long, slow, deep breathing. Over time, energy ceases to feed only the head and begins to nourish the body. The mind calms, the body awakens. Balance takes its place. The energy body—hidden by our illusions, yet essential because it is connected to our states of mind, and therefore to our happiness—returns to life.
As the balancing process unfolds, the qualities inherent in energy emerge: joy, cheerfulness, enthusiasm, optimism, happiness, confidence.
These positive aspects replace the negative states generated by thoughts: anxiety, fear, doubt, loneliness, negativity.
When energy flows harmoniously within the physical body, it regains vitality and youthfulness. Immunity strengthens. The health of the organs manifests.
Happiness as Resilience
When happiness takes root, the announcements of ministers and presidents—curfews, restrictions, lockdowns, social distancing—do not have the same impact.
We welcome them with resilience. We accept them because, deep within us, trust, peace, and joy remain strong, unshakable—like a diamond. The mind is calm, and within we feel space. That space is freedom: the freedom not to react blindly to events.
While others may become agitated, we remain calm and serene before whatever arises. We know how to be content with what we have, even if it is little. We know how to appreciate each moment life offers us. We never forget: as long as the sun shines, as long as grass grows, as long as rain and snow feed the rivers, life is here.
A bird singing, a tree shivering in the breeze—these small things become sources of wonder and joy. Life is here, around us every day, sending us these messages. We have only to open our hearts to receive them.
The rest—worries, restrictions, prohibitions, setbacks—will pass. Everything is impermanent. Nothing is fixed. Everything changes. One day, these current times will be only a bad dream, or perhaps just the memory of a period not so difficult after all. Who knows? No one. Only the future will tell.
The Duty to Be Happy
In the meantime, we have the duty to be. The duty to learn to be. The duty to learn to find happiness within. The duty to learn to be happy.
To complain and wait for some marvelous situation to appear is a coward’s option that leads nowhere. We must decide to be happy and take responsibility by applying the tools that will allow our transformation.
For this, I propose the wonderful method of Kum Nye. Kum Nye is a Tibetan yoga introduced by Tarthang Tulku, a great scholar of the Tibetan world who brought mindfulness to the United States in the 1970s. His method was taught for decades in many universities and became a foundation for numerous mindfulness techniques now taught all over the world.
A Path of 156 Sessions
I offer you a curriculum of 156 sessions covering the entirety of Tarthang Tulku’s teaching. Each session builds on the previous one, guiding you step by step: first learning to feel the body, then the energy body, learning to calm the physical breath until you can work with the subtle breath—that special breath that carries our consciousness.
Step by step, we can transform ourselves, transform our minds, and learn to be happy.
These 156 sessions can be followed either as three sessions per week for one year, or one session per week over three years. In both cases, if you fall behind, you can continue accessing your sessions afterwards for only 10 euros per month.
An Invitation
So now, I invite you to take the first step: to enter into practice. A practice free of religious aspect, open to everyone—atheists, practitioners of any faith, or Buddhists of all traditions. Because here we speak only one language: the language of the body, the breath, sensations, and energy.
This language is universal.
See you soon.
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