However many shoes we buy, in the end, we all just want to be happy. Now the ranks of science have stepped in to help make sense of the happiness game. And they’re discovering what yogis have known all along.
Happiness, it seems, has a biological component. Groundbreaking studies conducted over the past decade have shown that people who report high rates of happy feelings have a larger and more active left prefrontal cortex than their depressed counterparts. Other studies have concluded that happiness may be a matter of genetics. A 1996 study of 1,500 pairs of twins at the University of Minnesota found that, on a self-report happiness scale, adult twins were highly matched in their scores despite variations in income, marital status, and education.
Happiness also seems to lie outside the limits of material wealth and life events. In the Vedic tradition delight, is seen as being present in the essence of everything that exists. Happiness is not something that depends on what you have, but what you are.
In fact, many studies suggest that yoga can effect positive states of mind, despite life’s highs and lows. A team of scientists tested three relaxation techniques chair sitting, visualization, and yoga and found that yoga resulted in the greatest increase in alertness, mental and physical energy, and lust for life. Likewise, a 1994 German study, which compared a group of women practicing hatha yoga to a second group that did not, found that the yoginis showed markedly higher scores in life satisfaction, and lower scores in aggressiveness, emotionality, and sleep problems.
Whether we use yoga or something else, it’s clear that even negative people can choose to cultivate happiness. Just as a bad mood can become a bad habit that perpetuates unhappiness, so can nurturing positive feelings lead to a more positive state of mind.
