This short guided exercise will help you to feel and expand Joy.
If you follow my work, you will understand that I view the human experience as being composed of 5 bodies or aspects of self - physical, emotional, mental, energetic, spiritual. If you have not, there is an early blog post on this subject.
In short:
Change occurs when all aspects of self are in alignment and agreement. We can approach things from any of the aspects of self. We usually will NOT be able to bring change through the same aspect that is currently affected or highlighted - IE we are unlikely to bring change to the emotional body by addressing the emotions - instead we need to go through one of the other channels. The physical body is the most resilient of all aspects of self. Cells have memory. We can access cellular memory through the physical body. EVERY “issue” we experience has aspects of all aspects of self……IE every “dis-ease” has an emotional component. EVERY emotion can be found within our physical self….etc.
Sit in a place where you can have some quiet and alone time for about 10 (or longer) minutes. Laying down works best as it helps to quiet the mind. Connect with your bones. Fill them in however you do until you have a complete awareness of your skeleton. Bones are about presence. Then fill in the rest of the physical body with fluids, muscle, organs, etc…..until you have all of the physical body in your awareness.
Pose the question “Where in my body is Joy?”
Listen for the answer, which will be the first thing that comes up. It might be someplace very small, like your pinky toe, or hidden just behind your rib cage on the left side. When it shows itself to you sit with it. Sit with it in your awareness and notice how it moves. If it doesnt feel like it moves, sit with it longer until the movement presents itself to you. There is always movement.
Notice the movement.
is it fast? slow?
is it smooth? choppy?
Is it circular? angular? regular? steady?
Get a really good feel for the movement of this location where your Joy is.
Then invite this to expand and allow other areas of your body to move with it. Invite it to expand as much as it will, to fill your physical body with its movement as much as you are willing to. Invite your body to move with the rhythm and movement of this Joy. (Your physical body should be actually moving). It might be a small internal movement, it might have you twirling and whirling around the room with large movements. There is no right or wrong way to do this.
When you have enough information, you may stop.
Notice how you feel.
Do you feel different than you did when you first began this exercise?
Use this piece anytime that you need to.
Change it up a bit.
Check in with the heart before you begin. Check in with the heart after. Notice what has changed?
I hope that this was helpful to you.