Think Happy!

A French Buddhist monk is, according to Scientists, the world’s happiest man. And the good news is that he is sharing his secrets to make the world a happier place.

The trick, he reckons, is to put some effort into it. In essence, happiness is a “skill” to be learned.

Matthieu Ricard, 60, abandoned his distinguished academic career in biochemsitry to study Tibetan Buddhism in the Himalayas. He now works as the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama and took part in studies aimed to demonstrate that meditation can cause significant and lasting change in the levels of happiness.

MRI scans showed that he and other long-term meditators - who had completed more than 10,000 hours each - experienced a huge level of “positive emotions” in the left pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which is associated with happiness. The right-hand side, which handles negative thoughts, is suppressed.

Further studies have shown that even novices who have done only a little meditation have increased levels of happiness. But Mr Ricard’s abilities were head and shoulders above the others involved in the trials.

Personally speaking, the most important factor in learning to relax has been studying Aikido. There are all sorts of reasons for that - and it is something that I intend to write on at length at some other time - but meditation has been a part of it that I have taken into my daily life. The form of meditation that we use as a method to relax, centre ourselves and unify body and mind involves ‘Ki breathing’. Ki breathing also has a number of physical benefits: improvement of circulation, strengthening the body’s immune system, delivery of fresh oxygen and bringing fresh ki into our body in great quantities…

However - and more experienced practitioners of Aikido may want to challenge me on this - in essence it is simply an advanced form of deep, slow breathing, similar to other techniques like yogic breathing. And, isn’t that the first thing that every parent teaches to a child who is stressed or panicking about something?

“Calm down. Breathe. Count to ten.”

Perhaps the path to happiness is less elusive and more natural than we may have thought?