Breakthrough To Joy

An empowering practice to help you let go of limiting thoughts & step into your highest expression of joy. You will learn to notice where you're sabotaging yourself, and you'll work to envision the greatest that your life can be. This meditation will connect you to your purpose and help you trust that you are capable of so much more thank you think. In the first few minutes, Lou shares his inspiration for the practice.

Transcript

Hello this is Lou and today we're going to talk about the glass ceiling and not the glass ceiling like women in business glass ceiling but the glass ceiling of joy that we put over our lives and what I mean by this is often we have things in our life that are going good and they start to go really really good and then we sabotage ourselves by thinking oh my gosh it can't be this good it can't be this good it it something has to happen we go into our our fear or survival instinct because that's just how we're programmed we're always looking out for the future always looking at what might go wrong and I caught myself doing this just a couple weeks back where I was having some things and opportunities come into my life and things were just going really really well and it was continuing to move forward and then I ended up getting a text from someone who I hadn't spoken to in a few years and who was startling to me and I'm not going to share the context of why but in essence I had assumed I made up a story in my head that when I would call this person back I knew what the situation was and I had thought okay this is it right this is what is gonna bring me back down right this is my reality check it can't really get any better and I ended up having that conversation with this person and it was completely different than what I had thought and I had just totally made up a story in my head and made myself anxious and fearful for absolutely no reason how often do we do this how often do we see ourselves doing well and think hmm what's gonna go wrong and just that thought is a sabotaging mindset so I understand that yes we are human and will always be navigating this rollercoaster but what if we allow ourselves to really feel joy what if we allow ourselves to not only feel it but grow it express it and allow it to get better and that is what this practice is all about so go ahead and begin to shift things around in your body and allow yourself to settle into your meditative practice you know first setting our posture setting ourselves up to receive and to allow the guidance not only from me to be led but the guidance from out there to come in and bless you for this this next 20 or so minutes that will be together and allow your breath to open yourself up to that open yourself up to that that trusting trusting optimism that we can cultivate on our path and is taking a moment finding allowing each inhale to grow and expand allowing each exhale to root and ground opening yourself up to what is not seen Bernay Brown the wonderful wonderful speaker and teacher and she does a study around joy and what she found is that the people who allow themselves to feel joy the most the thing they have in common is gratitude so we're gonna kind of ground in gratitude I'm just on very basic basic gratitude just to set us up for our practice and the first thing is just going to be gratitude for your breath gratitude for an ability its ability to allow you to live gratitude for the constant flow just bringing the breath into your heart and any appreciation that you have for it really feeling the sensation of your breathing and appreciating that that sensation is present and moving on to gratitude for the physicality of your breath and moving on to gratitude for the physical body wherever whatever shape is in noticing what feels good and allowing what doesn't to be still finding appreciation for what is there and then lastly finding gratitude for something that worked today something that worked before this maybe the coffee maker turned on maybe if this is at night you're listening to this car turned on when you went to work or went somewhere something small that worked this morning that if it didn't probably be frustrated or have some sort of negative emotion something that we take for granted and just find gratitude in in this small thing and let's take a breath in together and let that go now we're going to move into a visualization practice so I'd like you to into bring your awareness into your mind's eye the area right in between the brow behind the forehead allowing ourselves to be able to express to our imagination and our creative visualization I'd like you to imagine yourself laying down somewhere looking at the sky and this could be anywhere that feels right for you so it may be the beach maybe a park maybe the mountains by a pool and it may be day or night and whatever it is to paint this picture with all of your senses so first let's just check in with all of the things that we see noticing if there's clouds in the sky it's night if there's stars noticing if there's trees birds flying above I'm just painting any picture that is coming to you there's no right way to do this and if you get lost you can always just come back into your breathing and connecting now to how does it feel to lay down on this ground maybe you can feel the grass behind your back you can feel the towel and the sand beneath your body what does the physical body feel like resting here and you're just breathing and just noticing and still just looking out at this scene and checking in now what are you hearing what is going on are there other people are there other people are there other people are there other things that you're noticing and you're just looking at the sky and you're just looking at the sky what is going on are there other people other kids playing birds chirping wind rustling through the trees continue to allow yourself to sink in to your body that's laying down of each breath releasing into the sounds of the wind rustling through the trees and then lastly noticing if there's anything that you smell or that you can smell food in the distance salty air fresh air pine stale言 I'm And bringing in all of the feelings and sounds and sights all in at once.

Just taking a breath to take it all in.

And then sinking deeper into your place.

And go ahead and take a good breath in.

And let that go.

And this might seem a little bit odd,

But I'm going to invite you to change your perspective in how we're viewing this visualization.

So I'd actually like you to imagine that from your body,

That you are floating up and outside of your body that is laying down.

And you are now looking down at your body in this scene that you already created.

So you are actually floating up in the sky.

And just notice if there's a shift in the way that you feel just by changing this perspective,

Just by looking down.

And maybe kind of feel the lightness,

Feel the freedom of being up in the sky to be in the clouds or in the night sky wherever you are.

And notice if there's any different kind of expansiveness to the body.

And from this space,

I'd like you to think about something in your life that is going well.

And so it might be your spirituality,

Your family,

Your job,

Your health,

Relationships,

Something that is going well.

And if you happen to be in a difficult place right now in your life,

Maybe what's going well is that you are getting out of bed and you are showering and you are still showing up for your life.

And just see if you can breathe in and find gratitude for this thing that's going well.

See if you can feel the joy of this positive aspect of your life.

You know,

Not pushing away the negative,

But just really feeling the joy of what's going well.

And feel yourself grow and start to move even higher,

Even higher up through the sky as you feel this expansiveness and this joy of what is well in your life right now.

And I'd like you to think about where do you hit your glass ceiling?

Where do you cut this joy off?

Maybe you worry and think that it can't last.

Maybe you have this love for your child,

But then think,

Oh,

What is going to happen?

Is something going to go wrong with my child at some point?

Is something bad going to happen to them?

And realize this is a very natural human physiological experience to be looking for threat.

Is it a word for you?

Is it a word that you say to yourself?

How do you sabotage yourself?

Maybe you can in your visualization feel yourself hitting that glass ceiling and wanting to feel more joy,

But you just can't go any higher.

So from this kind of block that we are at,

I'm going to offer you to think about what would happen if this joy continued.

Think about this to really stretch our imagination.

What would 10 times this joy look like?

Think about that.

What would it look like if this thing that was going well was 10 times what it is right now?

And note the resistance to it initially.

Right now,

Let yourself be unrealistic.

Let yourself dream bigger than you think you once had.

And see if you can imagine what that life,

What that situation would look like.

And coming back to that grateful place and like it repeat these words to yourself either out loud or silently.

It can keep getting better.

My joy can grow stronger.

I am capable of so much more than I think.

I am meant to feel all the joy that life has in store for me.

I am limitless.

It can keep getting better.

My joy can grow stronger.

I am capable of so much more than I think.

I am meant to feel all the joy that life has in store for me.

I am limitless.

And I'd like you to keep repeating that last one.

Keep repeating to yourself,

I am limitless.

Hold in mind that vision for your joy times 10.

And as you keep breathing and feeling and expanding that joy outwards,

See if you can eventually feel yourself break through that glass ceiling.

Feel yourself break through.

Allow that glass ceiling to shatter down.

And allow yourself to shoot through towards outside the sky.

Maybe feeling your spirit move up into outer space,

Feeling the limitless nature of who you really are.

Stepping into that full abundant joy.

Allow yourself to float and hang and feel this for a few moments.

Feel the immensity of this true power that you have.

And when you feel ready,

You can start to come back down through the sky,

Back down to your body laying down wherever in that place that we created.

And eventually letting go of the visualization and coming back to yourself sitting in your seat.

And just come back to the rhythm of your breath.

Knowing that you did some work.

Now in this moment,

Allow each breath in to let joy in and allow each breath out to move you forward on your path.

Breath in joy and breath out to guide you.

And whenever it's finally ready,

You can open your eyes and come back into your room.

I thank you for allowing me to guide you on that little journey.

And I deeply,

Deeply,

Deeply want to see you express and feel the joy that is your true nature in this world.

I believe that if we do create it in our minds and see it,

That it is a way.

There is a way for us to move towards that.

And that is what this journey allows us to do.

So I thank you for being with me as always.

I love sharing these practices with you.

And let me know always what you thought.

And I love to engage.

And I have so much love to you and much guidance on your path and your journey.

Namaste.

Reviews

Thank you for the beautiful mystical journey upwards 💫
So much joy to you !!

Thanks so much for your lovely meditation. May the joy be with you. Nàmaste

I’ve been out of practice for a few weeks and realised just now how much i missed your visualisations! Loved loved loved this one 🙏🏼 Thanks Lou 💫

Thank you so much. My favourite affirmation has been restored! “Today is the BEST day of my life!” Grateful that my internet is working to enjoy this meditation. Blessings!

One of the best meditations I've experienced in a while. Thank you!

I cannot day how much I needed that. I didn’t realise how much I put a limit on my own happiness. Thank you x

I enjoyed this. I was able to vividly journey back to a memory of my mom and I taking a long walk, getting an ice cream then taking a carefree nap in the grass. That must have been 40 yrs ago. You brought me back there. I could smell the grass and hear the cars go by. I loved it!!!! 😁
Thank you.

Absolutely amazing! I feel such sense of joy and calm after meditating today. I still have the image in my mind being happy and grateful. I allowed myself to experience this joy on a new level! Thank you so much for your guidance!

What a wonderful uplifting and empowering journey! I feel much lighter and more expansive! Thank you Lou, much love and blessings to you dear soul 💜 x

Such a great guidance! Loved the end of breath in joy... Thank you 🙏

Thank you for this wonderful tool that expands my experience and expression of joy. What an amazing gift! I will continue to use it for myself and others. 🙏💖🥰👏🍃🕊✨

This was so empowering for me. A few years ago I suddenly, for no apparent reason, felt absolute joy for two years straight and then that feeling went away as suddenly as it came and I have rarely felt it since. My mind keeps telling me that I will never feel that way again, so I was very grateful for this meditation to remind me that I can feel that same pure joy again and it can grow more than I could imagine.

I enjoy your meditations so much and am grateful for all the effort you put into them. Thank you. 🙏💜

Thank you Lou!! That was a most beautiful perfect journey! I am grateful! 💕🌻🦋

Thank you! 🙏🏼❤️

This truly is something special! It cultivated so much relaxation, joy, expansiveness, and perspective that it shifted my entire state of mind and overall mood. Thank you deeply for sharing! 🌻

Love this. Thanks Lou 🙏🏻🌺

Wonderful, empowering and peaceful meditation - thank you

That is a keeper, thank you so much. I have been struggling of late and it is amazing how these things just find you! Thank you for your words.

Thank you! Felt a filling up and encircling expansive joy with more ease and release in my heart and solar plexus chakras which was much needed. Namaste 🙏