Inviting Joy Into The Heart

This guided practice is an excerpt from a live talk and practice session on Insight Timer. When under stress, joy can feel foreign and even uncomfortable. In this practice, we ground and center in the heart to awaken the joy that lives beneath the activity of the mind. We work with gentle repetition of phrases inviting access to joy.

Transcript

So,

I will invite you to go ahead and find your most suited position for practice today that your body wants to be in,

Whether that's seated or lying down.

If you're seated,

It can be helpful to have something behind the back.

If you're lying down,

Let there be something beneath the knees and beneath the head,

Just to support the spine and the neck,

So that everything can feel easeful and restful,

So you can stay in this position with relative stillness for the next roughly 20 minutes or so.

So,

Going ahead and making any adjustments to your posture,

If you have a blanket or a shawl,

I invite you to lay that down over you or around the shoulders,

Just to add a little bit of weight to the body.

This invites the nervous system to settle,

And it also helps keep the body temperature regulated.

So,

When we practice,

Our body temperature drops,

So even when it's hot,

Our temperature will drop when we practice,

So invite something to just cover the body.

Then making any final adjustments that you need.

And once you're there,

Going ahead and closing the eyes,

And allowing that to be an invitation to release the connection to the outer world for a moment and draw your awareness inward.

And then from here,

Taking a full breath in through the nose,

Pause at the top of that breath,

And then open the mouth and sigh out loud,

Softening through the forehead,

The eyes,

The jaw,

And the tongue.

And drawing in another full breath in through the nose,

You might feel the ribcage gently expand as the heart opens,

Hold,

And then open the mouth and sigh.

Gently releasing and softening through the neck and the shoulders,

The upper body,

All the way down to the fingertips.

And one more breath in this way,

Drawing in through the nose,

Feeling the belly and the diaphragm lift and expand,

Hold at the top of that breath,

Then open the mouth,

Exhale,

Sigh it out,

Allowing the body to sink into the support beneath you.

And as the breath finds a natural rhythm,

Allowing the breath to flow fluidly as the body sinks further into the support beneath and behind you,

Just feeling fully supported,

You gently begin to notice any sensations that are present in the body.

You notice an uncomfortable sensation or emotion,

Simply giving it some space.

You might even smile and greet it,

Saying,

Ah,

I see you.

Thank you for letting me know that you're here.

Continuing to scan the body from head to toe and toe to head,

Welcoming all sensations and all emotions.

All is welcome here,

All is okay.

Gently drawing the hands together,

Rubbing them together until they're nice and warm.

Once they're nice and warm,

Just setting the palms face down,

Either on the lap or off to the side,

And gathering the ring finger and pinky finger to the thumb and holding prana mudra,

Allowing the hands to rest,

Gently holding this position to bring your awareness now to the top of the head and softening through the crown of the head,

Forehead,

Allowing the eyes to sink just a little deeper into the sockets as you soften around the cheeks,

Jaw,

Lips,

Softening the tongue,

The neck,

Softening through both shoulders and shoulder blades,

Allowing the upper arms,

Elbows,

And forearms to soften,

Allowing the front of the chest,

The belly,

The whole front of the body to soften,

And then softening through the length of the spine,

The mid-back,

And the low-back,

Softening through both hips,

Buttocks,

Both thighs,

Both knees,

And lower legs,

Softening.

Both ankles,

Tops of the feet,

Bottoms of the feet,

And all 10 toes,

Soften,

Just noticing the whole body,

The whole body fully supported,

Softening and sinking into the support beneath and behind you,

The whole body fully supported as the breath flows effortlessly.

Each breath is soft and long,

Fluid and steady.

You might imagine the breath coming in through the crown of the head and then resting at the center of the heart,

Then exhale,

Letting the breath flow from the heart down through the base of the spine,

The next inhale might come in through the base of the spine into the heart and gather,

Then exhale,

Coming up out through the crown of the head,

Inhale,

Crown to heart,

Exhale,

Heart to base of spine,

Inhale,

Base of spine to heart,

Exhale,

Continuing to breathe in this way,

Alternating between the crown and the root,

Gathering at the heart.

You might notice the space inside the heart or the breath transitions,

Beginning to softly illuminate,

Soft,

Joyful light,

Soft radiance here at the center of the heart.

As you hold your awareness here,

You might become aware of a sensation,

A familiar sensation,

A sensation that reminds you of a time of simplicity,

Ease,

Simple enjoyment,

You might be reminded of a memory,

Watching a sunrise or sunset,

Being in nature,

Of sipping your favorite beverage,

Sitting with a loved one or animal,

Sensing softness in the body and the openness of the heart,

The ease of the breath,

Seeing and sensing this clearly,

Soft light radiating from the heart,

Illuminating the whole body,

Being,

Softening into joy,

A soft quality of easefulness and receptivity.

You might visualize yourself held here in this illuminated space within the heart and gently directing these words,

May I be open,

May I be present for joy,

May I softly release my resistance to feeling good,

May I welcome and embrace the joy in my life,

May I be open,

May I be present for joy,

May I softly release my resistance to feeling good,

May I welcome and embrace the joy in my life,

May I be open,

May I be present for joy,

May I release my resistance to feeling good,

May I welcome and embrace the joy in my life.

Now gently calling your name to yourself three times,

Calling your name to yourself one more time and repeating the following,

You have permission to feel good,

You have permission to let go,

You have permission to feel joy,

Calling your name to yourself,

You have permission to feel good,

You have permission to let go,

You have permission to feel joy,

Calling your name to yourself,

You have permission to feel good,

You have permission to let go,

You have permission to feel joy,

I'm here with you,

I love you,

Calling your name to yourself,

I'm here with you,

I love you,

It's okay to feel joy,

Deepening the breath,

May I be open,

May I be present for joy,

May I release my resistance to feeling good,

May I welcome and embrace the joy in my life,

May I welcome and embrace the joy within me,

May I welcome and embrace the joy that is me,

May I welcome and embrace the joy that is me,

Deepening the breath,

Sensing and feeling the radiant light in the heart begin to pulse outward,

Filling the whole body,

Each inhale the heart light becomes a little bit brighter,

With each exhale it radiates outward flooding the whole body,

Whole body illuminated with the light of your joy,

May I welcome and embrace the joy that is me,

You might imagine this light radiating outward beyond the body,

Illuminating space around you,

Above you,

Behind you,

All is illuminated,

Gently drawing that light closer and closer into the body,

Each inhale gathering that light into the heart and each exhale,

Feeling that pulsation,

Your light,

Your joy,

May I welcome and embrace the joy that is me,

Gathering the joy into the heart and feeling the lightness,

The softness,

As you gently become aware of the points of the body that are in contact with the support that is beneath you,

The heart illuminated,

You notice the backs of the heels touching the surface beneath you,

Heart illuminated,

You notice the contact between the hips and the support beneath you,

The backs of the shoulder blades supported,

Backs of the hands held,

As you deepen the breath,

Those points of contact between the supports beneath and behind you and the body become more apparent,

Whole body fully supported,

Radiance illuminated and fully supported,

As you gently become aware of your body in the space around you,

Breath deepening,

As you gently draw all the fingers into the palm of the hand,

Making a fist and then on the exhale,

Gently opening the hands completely out wide,

Splaying all five fingers out wide,

Inhale gathering the hands and perhaps even the toes and then exhale,

Releasing,

Splaying the fingers and the toes out wide,

Inviting the soft subtle movement into the body,

Just noticing how this movement feels in the body,

Notice the radiance is unchanged,

Here you might feel a desire to lift the arms up into a big stretch,

Pointing the toes and exhale,

Releasing the hands,

Perhaps sighing,

You're lying down,

You might draw the knees into the chest and give them a hug and rock side to side or you might stay perfectly still,

You're seated,

You might gently begin to make small circles in the shoulders,

Perhaps move the neck side to side,

But keeping the eyes closed,

If you can,

You might notice that the radiance of the heart remains,

Even as you gently move the body,

You're lying down,

You might take the arm closest to the sky,

As you roll over to the side,

Taking that arm and pressing it into the earth,

Allowing it to help you come back to a seated position where we will all gather and meet,

Seated with eyes closed and once you're here,

Taking a moment and lifting the arms up overhead into a big V shape,

Palms are facing one another,

Shoulders are easeful,

Your eyes are still closed,

You might invite a soft grin to form on the lips,

Deep sigh as you exhale and just feeling this expansion in the shoulders,

The arms,

If this doesn't feel good in the body,

Simply visualizing yourself holding this posture,

Arms up raised in a V,

Chin slightly high,

Soft grin and bring the palms together as you gather this energy and draw it down towards the center of the heart into a prayer position,

So hands in front of the heart,

Feeling again this radiance as you start to rub the hands together,

Generating some heat,

Letting them get nice and warm,

Then placing one hand over the heart and the other on top of that,

As you hold and embrace your joy,

Breathing deeply into the heart space underneath the hands,

Just feeling and noticing,

Noticing how the body feels different perhaps in any way than it did maybe 25 minutes ago,

Sensing into your radiance,

May I be open,

May I be present for joy,

May I release my resistance to feeling good,

May I welcome and embrace the joy in my life,

May I welcome and embrace joy that is my life,

May I welcome and embrace the joy that is me,

Taking a deep breath in,

Open the mouth,

Exhale,

Tuck chin to chest and pause,

Invite a soft grin to form on the lips,

One that says yes to you,

Then gently opening your eyes,

Lifting your gaze and coming back to center,

Welcome back.

Reviews

This is beautiful! Summer is my favorite time of year. Thank you for the reminder to welcome and embrace it, being open to all the joy it brings.

So deeply appreciate your leadership in this space 🙏🏻

Lovely, felt really good to start the day with this meditation. Thank you.

Beautiful! I love Dr.Patty!💜

Thank you! I appreciate your soothing voice, “May I…” statements, and gentle invitations that were great anchors to the present moment for me. I definitely feel lighter than I did before this practice. Thank you for sharing your gifts!

Wonderful

Very helpful. Thank you.

Patty, I think this is your best meditation yet. Thank you. May I (we all) welcome and embrace the joy that is my life 🙏🏻❤️😄

Thank you Patti for posting the meditation from your live, This is great because if I missed your live I can listen to your meditation and read your notes! I really appreciate all the attention and care that you put into Insight Timer. You’re truly a wonderful therapist who cares about humanity! Thank you for being so forthcoming and sharing wholeheartedly🤗💕🌺