Sam Chase - Yoga and the Pursuit of Happiness: A Guide to Finding Joy in Unexpected Places

Yoga and the Pursuit of Happiness weaves together philosophy, centuries-old yoga tools, and the modern day sciences of psychology and neurobiology with incredible readability. It takes years of study, lots of deep thinking, and plenty of practice to untangle key threads and weave them together in in such a completely accessible, thorough, and totally relevant way. This is a must-read for all yoga practitionersand anyone who wants to cultivate more happiness.

Megan McDonough, CEO of Wholebeing Institute, and author of Infinity in a Box and Radically Receptive Meditation

This is one of those rare books that can change your life for the better. By bridging yoga and psychology, philosophical discourse and practical tips, and personal stories and rigorous research, Sam Chase takes us on a journey of self-discovery and self-transformation.

Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD, best-selling author of Happier and Choose the Life You Want

In this book, Sam Chase manages to explain deep and complex questions that cut to the core of the human mind, heart, and body with the easy and intimate tone of good friends having a conversation over tea. I laughed out loud. I reached for my pen to underline sentences. I didnt want to stop reading. The book is filled with so much wisdom, depth, humor, and compassion. Chase takes us on a journey to happiness that begins with an inability to touch his toes and ends with an understanding of ourselves as more vast and precious than we could possibly imagine.

Yael Shy, senior director of Global Spiritual Life at New York University, and founder and director of MindfulNYU

Weaving together ideas from various traditionsincluding yoga, Buddhism, and positive psychologySam Chase gives his readers an enjoyable manual for developing happiness. Yoga and the Pursuit of Happiness contains no pictures or postures, just sound guidance on how to reconnect with your innate joyfulness.

Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

Yoga and the Pursuit of Happiness is a comprehensive book that presents the traditional goals of yoga as they are understood by modern neuroscience and positive psychology. Certainly, this is not a book about how to perform yoga poses. Sam Chase offers a heartfelt and genuine account of his discovery of yoga. With numerous personal anecdotes and scientific evidencemany of them written with candor and a great sense of humorSam advises us to take yoga as an exploration, and tells us that with open eyes and curiosity we can discover many things that we had not noticed before. From the opening pages, Chase affirms that the ultimate goal of yoga is to achieve happiness. This is a recommended book for all yoga practitioners and curious minds who would like to know and explore the true meaning of yoga.

Germn A. Bravo-Casas, president of the Yoga Club at the United Nations (UNSRC)

Sam Chases new book is a delightful and extremely informative examination of the practical genius of yoga. Chase has a particularly good eye for storytelling and illuminating scientific discovery, and he weaves these together in such a compelling way that I guarantee that you wont want to put this book down! Yoga studentsbeginners as well as advancedwill be very glad, indeed, to have this new book.

Stephen Cope, senior scholar in residence at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, and author of the best-selling Yoga and the Quest for the True Self

Publishers Note

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

The VIA Classification of Character Strengths and Values in chapter 6 is copyright 20042014, VIA Institute on Character. Used with permission; all rights reserved. http://www.viacharacter.org.

Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

Copyright 2016 by Sam Chase

New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

5674 Shattuck Avenue

Oakland, CA 94609

www.newharbinger.com

Cover design by Sara Christian

Acquired by Melissa Kirk

Edited by Marisa Sols

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Chase, Sam, author.

Title: Yoga and the pursuit of happiness : a guide to finding joy in unexpected places / Sam Chase.

Description: Oakland, CA : New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 2016. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015049025 (print) | LCCN 2016001328 (ebook) | ISBN 9781626252875 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781626252882 (pdf e-book) | ISBN 9781626252899 (epub) | ISBN 9781626252882 (PDF e-book) | ISBN 9781626252899 (ePub)

Subjects: LCSH: Yoga. | Happiness.

Classification: LCC B132.Y6 C565 2016 (print) | LCC B132.Y6 (ebook) | DDC 204/.36--dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015049025

I started yoga because I wanted to be able to touch my toes. I had no higher aspirations at the time. Growing up severely asthmatic and comically unathletic, I finished the mile run during elementary school gym class dead last in 15 minutes, then promptly threw up. My body and I were not on what you would call speaking terms. I regarded it as a constantly malfunctioning annoyance, and it routinely lived up to the low expectation I set.

I knew a losing bet even as a grade-schooler, and quickly swapped physical pursuits for intellectual ones. For a while it seemed like Id struck quite a deal on the trade: I graduated as valedictorian of my high school class, then of my college class as well. My mind was clearly succeeding where my body had failed, so Good riddance, I thought.

And thats when things started to fall apart. At the end of college, I was invited to apply to a scholarship program to study in England, one of the most prestigious in my field at the time, with only a handful awarded among thousands of applicants around the country. I have a vivid memory of getting the congratulatory call that ought to have elated me. For a young academic, there was no higher pinnacle, and I was standing at the top. It was supposed to be the best moment of my life. Instead, panic flooded in where joy should have been setting sail, and the familiar wheeze of vanishing breath returned. And then I threw up.

With that, my old nemesismy bodybegan its most brilliant betrayal. I tried desperately to will myself to enjoy the sudden success, but something in me refused. And whatever it was, it dug its heels in deep. In the days that followed, each congratulatory pat on the back felt like a punch in the guts. Every time I thought of the door to my future, now standing wide open, I broke out in a cold sweat.

I knew, even then, that I was agonizing over an incredibly privileged problem, a fact that made the wound even saltier. But every time I tried to jump at the opportunity of a lifetime, something held me down at the ankles. After a week of self-flagellating deliberation, I said no to the scholarship. Friends and professors called me a fool. I agreed. I had no backup plan, no brighter future in mind. The awkward breathlessness of my youth began to blossom into an adulthood of apathy and anxiety.