About Joy of Living

Mingyur Rinpoche • 4 min

What is the Joy of Living?

Joy of Living is a meditation path designed by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, a renowned spiritual teacher, best-selling author, and TED speaker.

Rooted in the ancient Buddhist teachings of Tibet, it’s open to everyone, regardless of cultural or religious background.

Receive access to over 100 video teachings and guided meditations from Mingyur Rinpoche.

Engage with a structured, three-level curriculum covering awareness, compassion, and wisdom.

Benefit from live webinars with experienced meditation instructors and an online community.

Track your progress with our free app, including space for reflections and optional daily reminders.

Try a Meditation

Open Awareness with the Breath

Mingyur Rinpoche • 8 min

0:00 0:00

Different Ways of Joining

1

Self-Paced Course

Embark on your journey of self-discovery at your own pace. Our step-by-step self-paced option allows you to explore the Joy of Living teachings at your own pace, with the flexibility to revisit materials whenever needed.
Support your practice with audio-guided meditations
Participate in live webinars and forums
Schedule 1-on-1 meetings with Tergar guides for expert guidance and answer your questions.
Learn, share, and connect during live Community Circle meetings with Tergar instructor Tim Olmsted.
Self-Paced
1 Self-Paced
Course
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Cohort

Join a supportive community of fellow learners and experience the Joy of Living teachings together. Our six-month cohort-based options provide interactive and friendly environments where you can share insights, ask questions, and grow alongside others.
Cohort
2 Cohort
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Find a Local Community

Connect with like-minded individuals in your area and practice the Joy of Living teachings in a welcoming and supportive setting. Located all around the world, local communities offer a space for group meditation, discussion, and mutual encouragement on your path to a more joyful life.
Community
3 Find
a Local
Community

Subscribe to Joy of Living

Your subscription includes access to all online courses in the Joy of Living program at joy.tergar.org, including weekly live sessions, webinars, personal interviews with Tergar guides, over a hundred guided meditations, and much more.

We aim to make the Joy of Living program accessible to everyone by providing three different pricing options. Feel free to choose the one that best suits your needs.

Reduced
$2500
USD billed monthly after a 10-day free trial.
Cancel anytime.

Discounted fee available for anyone facing financial constraints or currency discrepancies.

  • 10-day free trial
  • 10+ courses included
  • Monthly Webinars
  • Weekly Live Sessions
Sponsor
$5000
USD billed monthly after a 10-day free trial.
Cancel anytime.

Your generosity will help us to offer a discounted rate to those in need of financial assistance.

  • 10-day free trial
  • 10+ courses included
  • Monthly Webinars
  • Weekly Live Sessions
Reduced
$2083
USD per month, billed semiannually at $125 twice a year after a 10-day free trial.
Cancel anytime.

You save $25

Discounted fee available for anyone facing financial constraints or currency discrepancies.

  • 10-day free trial
  • 10+ courses included
  • Monthly Webinars
  • Weekly Live Sessions
Sponsor
$4167
USD per month, billed semiannually at $250 twice a year after a 10-day free trial.
Cancel anytime.

You save $50

Your generosity will help us to offer a discounted rate to those in need of financial assistance.

  • 10-day free trial
  • 10+ courses included
  • Monthly Webinars
  • Weekly Live Sessions
Reduced
$1875
USD per month, billed annually at $225/year after a 10-day free trial.
Cancel anytime.

You save $50

Discounted fee available for anyone facing financial constraints or currency discrepancies.

  • 10-day free trial
  • 10+ courses included
  • Monthly Webinars
  • Weekly Live Sessions
Sponsor
$3750
USD per month, billed annually at $450/year after a 10-day free trial.
Cancel anytime.

You save $100

Your generosity will help us to offer a discounted rate to those in need of financial assistance.

  • 10-day free trial
  • 10+ courses included
  • Monthly Webinars
  • Weekly Live Sessions

You will make the first payment after the free trial period. The subscription will automatically be renewed in accordance with the frequency you have selected. You can unsubscribe anytime, and no additional fees will be charged.

Tergar is committed to making the benefits of meditation available to everyone. If the subscription rate of 25 USD per month is a hindrance for you financially, please do not hesitate to reach out to us via [email protected] to ask for a further reduced rate. We offer financial assistance rates for certain countries, for students with limited budgets, and for the ordained community.

Explore More Resources

A Guided Meditation for Difficult Moments with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

From: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

You Don’t Need to Clear Your Mind to Meditate + Guided Meditation with Mingyur Rinpoche

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How Can I Meditate in a Fast-Paced Urban Life? — Ask Mingyur Rinpoche

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Wisdom for the Next Generation: Heart Advice for Young People with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

From: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

Can Meditation Transform How You Experience Pain?

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The Power of Meditating on Sensations

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Embracing Our Responsibility to Nature with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

From: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

How to Connect with Your Innate Well-Being? — Mingyur Rinpoche

From: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

This Subtle Difference Between Empathy and Compassion is Life-Changing with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

From: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

I Felt Profound Peace Once—How Do I Meditate Without Chasing It? — Ask Mingyur Rinpoche

From: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

Why Community Is Essential for Meditation Growth — Mingyur Rinpoche

From: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

Meditating with Sleep and Sleepiness

From: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

Benefits of Meditation
Abandoning, Transforming, Recognizing Retreat Encompasses Totality of Practice

If you find that your emotions are challenging, join us on a transformative meditative journey as Justin Kelley reflects on Mingyur Rinpoche’s November retreat, “Abandoning, Transforming, Recognizing,” and the power of meeting the teachings where they come alive — at Tergar Osel Ling Monastery in Kathmandu.

Benefits of Meditation
Riding the Waves in the Ocean of Emotions

Merra Young offers a compassionate guide to being present with our difficult emotions — learning not just to survive life’s waves, but to ride them.

Community
From Cynicism to Pure Perception Hana Ko

After years of burnout and cynicism as a clinical psychologist, Hana Ko found renewed faith in humanity through the teachings of Mingyur Rinpoche.

Community
Meditation and University Life: A Conversation with Tshepo Molekwa

For first-year university student Tshepo Molekwa, meditation has become more than just a stress reliever — it’s a way to stay grounded, make wiser choices, and bring deeper meaning into student life.

Community
Mingyur Rinpoche's Visit to South Africa

Mingyur Rinpoche’s 2025 visit to South Africa brought together decades of Buddhist practice and fresh inspiration for a growing meditation community.

Community
Aging, Awakening Wisdom

With humor, tenderness, and deep trust in the teachings, writer Susan Barrett reflects on aging, loss, and wisdom — discovering how even wrinkles, hearing aids, and peony blossoms can become reminders of beauty and awakening.

Community
Deep Silence -- A Call to the Path

Drawn by a quiet call and a sense that life held something more, Diane McQueen-Smith shares her deeply personal journey into the heart of the dharma—from a chance encounter with sacred texts to the life-changing guidance of Mingyur Rinpoche.

Community
Boundless Compassion in Cape Town

The spirit of boundless compassionate Ubuntu filled the St George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa on Mingyur Rinpoche's first-ever visit to the continent.

How to meditate
The Best Meditation Routine

What is the best meditation that can be done amidst hungry kids, barking dog, and busy boardrooms? Read more from Chris Pacheco, father of four young boys.

Benefits of Meditation
The Power of the Joy of Living Cohort

What happens when awareness, community, and friendship come together in a Joy of Living Cohort?

Meditation in Everyday Life
Middle Age: Full Catastrophe Living

"From raising kids to caring for aging parents, Amy Roth invites us into the heart of middle age — where the dharma meets daily life in all its complexity, humor, and unexpected beauty."

Community
Finding Freedom Beyond Addiction

In this moving account, Alex Kunkhyen reveals how the suffering of addiction became the unexpected path to freedom through the Dharma.

Meditation in Everyday Life
Householder Yogi: From Ballpark to Boardroom

What if becoming a householder yogi—a spiritual seeker embedded in real-world responsibilities—could help you find calm amidst the noise of modern life?

How to meditate
Navigating Conflict: Abandon, Transform, Transcend

What if the conflicts that fracture us could become the gold that mends us? In this deeply personal reflection, Emilda Rahim offers a meditative journey through the pain of disconnection toward healing, clarity, and quiet transformation.

Community
The Quiet Power of Returning—Again and Again—to the Path

Ever found yourself starting something over and over again—only to realize each beginning brought you a little closer to home? In this honest and richly textured reflection, Alex Welte traces a winding path through science, spirituality, and personal struggle to the quiet power of returning—again and again—to the path of dharma.

Meditation in Everyday Life
Just Keep Walking

In the midst of her mother’s devastating illness, Masha discovers unexpected gems of compassion, creativity, and presence.

Community
A Dharma Journey of Looking and Relaxing

Maura Peglar reflects on her lifelong spiritual journey, from childhood curiosity to a deep engagement with Tibetan Buddhism, guided by various teachers and personal experiences of loss and transformation.

Meditation in Everyday Life
The Joy of Teaching

Like riding a bike without training wheels for the first time, a simple teaching from Mingyur Rinpoche unlocked a path of freedom, carrying one meditator across continents, through crisis, and into the heart of awareness—where teaching others became the greatest joy of all.

Community
A Student's Journey Through the Abhidharma

A student shares about her experience going through the Exploring Buddhism (Abhidharma) transmission.

Community
A University Student’s Search for Lasting Happiness

As a university student, Aadam Sherazi believed a fresh start would be the key to happiness — that new experiences and achievements would finally make life feel complete. But along the way, he discovered that lasting contentment doesn’t come from the outside world.

Books by Mingyur Rinpoche

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The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness

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Joyful Wisdom: Embracing Change and Finding Freedom

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In Love with the World: A Monk’s Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying

Stories of
Transformation

Meet Mingyur Rinpoche

+ 60,000

hours of Rinpoche’s life spent in formal meditation

+ 500,000

of students and followers around the world

+ 30

countries with meditation centers

Meet Mingyur Rinpoche

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a renowned meditation teacher, best-selling author, TED speaker, and spiritual leader of the Tergar Meditation Community.

Rinpoche blends ancient Tibetan wisdom with modern scientific research and has worked with famous neuroscientists to examine the effects of meditation on the brain.

He has written several books, including The Joy of Living, which has been translated into over twenty languages. Rinpoche teaches worldwide and founded Tergar International to provide both secular and Buddhist meditation programs. He is also involved in various social engagement projects and is committed to helping people and communities live with boundless awareness, compassion, and wisdom.

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