The way to realizing your greatest joy is through yoga, taken not as a physical excercise but as a way of establishing—or regaining—contact with yourself, says renowned yoga and meditation teacher Mayur Karthik. And the good news is that to reach this state, one doesn’t have to shut oneself away in an Indian ashram (but sometimes it’s worth it).

Agnieszka Rostkowska: Shall we talk about joy? While we seek it out in workplaces, in family, in friends, Eastern philosophy and traditions quite precisely guide us to where, or how, we can find long-lasting joy.

Mayur Karthik: Human beings are social creatures—we are defined by how we interact with people, how we contribute socially, and that gives us lot of happiness. But the real joy is to blossom from within, by no longer thinking “what about me?” and shifting to a question of “how can I be of help to you”?

This is the ancient Indian concept of seva.

Seva is a sanskrit word meaning “service,” that is, doing something for others without expecting anything in return. It is important because if you’re expecting any reward—it is business, not service. Seva can be in the form of doing some cleaning, helping older people, etc. Have you noticed that while helping others you feel elevated?

This has a lot to do with so-called Karma Yoga. Karma in sanskrit means “action” and Karma Yoga is the path of action where whatever you do, you are not attached to the result. This lack of expectation of any particular outcome or effect of your actions brings you freedom and fulfillment. Why? Because it is the desire of an anticipated result that makes your mind disturbed—you worry if you succeed or fail. The mind knows that success creates happiness, while failure causes misery, and it gets caught up in jumping between these two poles. It is constantly shifting from joy to pain and from pain to joy, over and over again.

So how can you calm it down