Heart Of Joy

This meditation is a gentle, guided practice designed to help you slow down during the busy holiday season, reconnect with your body, and cultivate joy. You’ll begin by choosing a comfortable position—lying down or sitting—and grounding yourself through awareness of your senses and physical sensations. The practice then moves into a three-part breath technique, expanding awareness from the belly to the ribs to the chest, encouraging deep, fluid breathing. You’ll be guided to recall a joyful holiday moment, visualize it as a bright, radiant light at your heart center, and allow that joy to fill your whole body. The meditation closes with self-love and gratitude, leaving you with a sense of peace and a reminder to nurture joy throughout the season.

Transcript

You can lay down if that feels comfortable.

And if you decide to lay down,

Maybe there's a pillow under your head or maybe something's under your knees.

If you decide to do this meditation seated,

Ensuring that you feel supported yet upright as much as you can.

You don't necessarily need to feel rigid and stiff,

But elongation of the body.

It helps the energy to move when we are in a pose that holds the integrity of the body.

This meditation is based on the season that we're in.

So approaching the holiday season.

Some holidays we have celebrated,

Some we have not.

And this time of year could be quite chaotic at times.

It can feel really busy.

It can feel overwhelming.

And these are the times when our meditation practice,

These moments to slow down and to be still are even more important.

So when we are feeling that chaos of that busyness,

However you might be feeling this holiday season,

Really finding the yin,

The slowing down,

Nurturing side to balance out the quicker paced yang aspect of this time of year.

And specifically this meditation tonight is going to be about finding joy.

Finding joy inside our bodies.

We'll feel it.

Finding joy outside of ourselves.

And then really even trying to change up our perspective.

So sometimes when we do get bogged down by the busyness of the season,

I imagine just the Grinch mode starts,

You know,

Kicking in sometimes.

And so we really want to bring awareness to the joy.

As we're beginning,

I just want to get oriented with the space that you occupy in this present moment.

And our eyes are going to be closed.

So we're going to release the sense of vision.

But I do want you to turn on the sense of hearing.

Beginning to notice the sounds around you that you might hear.

And maybe perhaps you begin with sounds that are further away.

Or maybe even just beginning with sounds that are more obvious.

And those ones might be a little bit closer.

And I want you to really stay inside the body as you listen to the sounds.

So there's a difference between searching out sounds and creating effort and work.

Then staying inward and letting the sounds come to you.

And this evening,

I really want to have you create the least amount of work as possible.

So allow those sounds to find you.

Just sit back or lie back.

And just listen.

And noticing if you want to maybe even just stay with one sound.

Maybe perhaps it feels calming to the body.

The other option is to travel from one sound to the next.

And we're going to notice our sense of touch.

Notice all the points that are behind the body or underneath the body that support the position that you're in.

Feel the weight of the body.

Acknowledge that some points are heavier.

They feel more weighted.

Some parts are lighter.

If you're lying down,

The back of the head,

The glutes,

The heels,

They might feel heavier than the calves or portions of the back.

And if you're seated,

It would be your glutes,

Areas of the feet.

If you're seated in a chair,

It's the soles of the feet,

Maybe even the back that feel a little heavier,

More grounded.

And now turning more inward.

Taking note of how the physical body feels in this present moment.

And sometimes when we ask ourselves or start to check into the body,

Emotions might pop up.

I feel tired.

I feel anxious.

I feel happy right now.

But how do you know that you feel that way?

If you're tired,

Does the body feel really heavy?

If you're anxious,

Are there certain parts of the body that feel constricted or tight?

If you're happy,

Does the face feel bright?

Do the shoulders feel light as if they are floating?

Really staying inward with the sensations of the physical body.

And this will just be our baseline for this evening,

Giving a little bit of a check-in as we first begin.

And for some of us,

This might be quite easy to do.

And for some of us,

Tonight might not be the night where it's easy.

And so always we meet ourselves where we are in meditation.

And always acknowledging that some parts of these types of meditation really resonate with us.

Maybe the orienting of the sound was a little bit more accessible than feeling in the body.

So just acknowledge that.

Acknowledge where you are in this present moment.

We're going to begin to go inward to the breath now.

Specifically,

We're going to be working with our three-part breath.

I will direct you to each of those three points,

And then we're going to put all of them together as we breathe.

And I'll explain further as we continue.

Bringing awareness into the belly.

Feeling the breath moving,

Lifting,

Expanding with the inhale.

Falling,

Releasing,

Letting go with the exhale.

And specifically,

In the belly.

And then we'll also bring awareness to the fact that sometimes when we're in fight or flight,

The breath does not go down into the belly.

And so you might be feeling it move a little bit or not really at all.

And you can use imagery if that's the case that's happening for you right now.

The second part we're going to bring awareness to is the rib area underneath of the breastbone.

Same exact thing.

As you inhale,

Feel the breath in this area now.

There'll be an expansion.

You might even feel the ribs open laterally.

You might even feel the ribs touch the sides of the arms.

If your arms are alongside the body.

Feel the breath in this middle portion of the body in the torso.

Feel the inhale.

Feel the letting go,

Exhale.

Now the third part is going to be the chest.

Underneath of the collarbones,

There's the space right there,

Specifically that we are focusing on.

The collarbones are those two bones that are alongside the throat region.

They're actually directly below the throat.

They're those bones that protrude a bit from the skin.

Right underneath of that,

In that space between the collarbones and the breastbones,

Feeling now the breath in this area.

And in this area,

It might be a little bit easier to feel than the other two portions of the body.

Feeling that physical movement with the inhale and exhale in this area.

Now we're going to put all of that together.

Almost imagine as if the torso is a container of water.

And when you pour water into the container,

It begins at the bottom,

Fills the middle portion of your torso cup,

And then the top is the last part to be filled.

And if you pour the water out,

It will leave the top,

The middle,

And then the very bottom of the glass.

And this is how we're going to breathe.

This is how we're going to focus on our breath.

Inhaling,

Feel belly,

Ribs,

Chest.

Exhale,

Chest,

Ribs,

Belly.

Maybe when you're first beginning to do this,

You stop in each of the parts.

There's a bit of a pause.

But I ask you,

As you continue along,

Allow the breath,

The movement,

To become a little bit more fluid,

Just like if you were pouring water in.

It wouldn't stop in each of the three parts.

It would pour in and then pour out fluidly.

And as we are doing this,

Maybe you stick with imagery.

Maybe you just stick with your imagination.

Or maybe you actually do feel the movement.

So again,

Meet yourself where you are.

You don't need to work very hard as we are meditating.

We'll just continue this for another moment or so.

I'll give you another moment or so of silence to continue this three-part breath.

And then drop the awareness to the breath.

And I asked you to turn inward to the physical body again.

Noticing now how you might physically feel.

Is your jaw tight?

How do your shoulders feel?

The back?

The hands?

Noticing temperatures.

Noticing pressure.

Heaviness.

Openness.

Restriction.

And maybe even going further,

Really examining how you're physically feeling.

And now I'm going to ask you to call to mind something that has brought you joy this holiday season.

Maybe it's an interaction between a child,

Maybe it's something that your child did.

Maybe it's a recent situation that has brought you deep joy.

Perhaps it's giving to somebody.

It's an act of kindness from you or someone else.

Or maybe there's some very special tradition that you do each year.

And as you call to mind that joy,

Notice how the body feels inside now.

What changed?

What's the same?

What do you physically feel?

Is there a brightness to the face,

Even a little smile?

Did something that was once tight release,

Even just a bit?

Did all of a sudden your feet just move?

Or something that was holding let go?

This is always just such a lovely reminder that when you do call upon joy,

We can physically feel it inside the body.

And I want you to think about even placing that person or that situation,

Whatever you call to mind,

Placing it right in your heart,

Your heart chakra to be specific.

So it's an energy center right at the center of the chest.

And a last one.

That situation that occurred that brings you deep joy will start to spark into this bright light.

If someone was looking at you right now,

They would have to look away.

It would be so bright.

Like this bright star is beginning to form right at the center of your chest.

And inviting in joy into the center of the chest or heart chakra.

And allowing joy to fill down to the cellular level.

The deepest part of your being is touched by this joy.

And see the joy expand,

The light expand,

Filling the body.

And maybe the light begins very slowly and just rises up,

Travels through arms,

Down through the legs.

Or maybe your imagery sees it travel quickly.

And this is the fun part.

You get to decide how you want to creatively spread this light throughout your physical being.

You can imagine as if this joy is transmuting any of those negative emotions associated with this present time of year.

Whether grief or sadness,

Overwhelm.

The light is just absorbing and transmuting and filling your whole being.

The body is just filled.

Your color of your light may be different.

Maybe it's golden or white.

Maybe you end up with a holiday color,

A blue or a green,

Or maybe a purple.

This is still part of the fun and that creativity.

You assign any color that feels right right now.

And bask in this light.

And acknowledge that if something will take this light away,

Maybe you don't do it.

Maybe you set boundaries for yourself so that you keep your joy filling the body.

Maybe it's a change of something that you've always done.

Because you feel like you have to.

Maybe it's sharing how you feel with a loved one.

Spending time more with those people that bring you deep joy.

And even if you notice that your day is maybe filled with less than favorable joy,

Could you change your perspective?

Could you see the joy within your day?

Maybe note that sometimes there's more of that.

Sometimes we let those overwhelms overtake us and fill us.

But really acknowledging the joy.

Taking note of even those little moments throughout the day.

And as you observe them,

Pause and feel them.

And allow the spark to ignite again or the spark to refill.

I'll give you a moment of silence.

Just be in this light.

And take another moment or so just basking in your joyful light.

And as we start to conclude,

Connecting to your heart space where we first ignited that joy.

Whether it's just an acknowledgement in the space or physical touch of the hands,

One on top of the other on your heart center.

Or maybe it's the hands in Anjali mudra prayer right in front of the heart space.

We're going to fill this place with one more thing.

And it's going to be centered entirely around ourselves.

In your heart space,

I want you to place love for you,

Gratitude for you,

Acknowledgement,

Grace,

Even just a kind message or affirmation.

Doesn't have to be this well thought out affirmation.

It really could just be saying I love you to yourself and keeping it that simple.

And a reminder that this is something that you can always take with you.

Whether it's any time of the year.

If you notice that you start going down a negative path,

Think of something that brings you joy or makes you content.

Physically feel it.

And then allow it to ignite and shine throughout the body.

Sometimes it's just that change of perspective can go a long way.

I wish you peace and joy this holiday season and beyond.

From my heart center to yours,

Namaste.