As the sun was just cresting the horizon, turning the sky orange-pink-lavender-blue, I sat near the doorway of the cave-like alter at the heart of Thiksay Monastery. From a peak around 13,000 feet above sea level, each morning the Tibetan Buddhist monks send out meditations of loving compassion to all sentient beings, and I had the honor to join them summer of 2017 in Ladakh, India. Although it was summer, the morning had a chill crisp to the air, and the smell of incense blanketed us while the monks filled the space with vibrations of ancient Tibetan chants. The sounds felt as if they permeated my body. They both grounded me and kept me alert. I closed my eyes and let the experience wash over me, as if bathing in their prayers. I turned my attention to the felt sense of my body and asked that my body be at ease. Observing my breath, I invited a sense of calm. And then—as if spontaneously—a spark of joy rose within me. The more I sat with the aliveness of joy, the clearer it became, and the more the feeling expanded. It was a light that had started deep within, and began to shine out.

In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali it states…