Being a yoga teacher, I am constantly reading books and articles on being present in life, opening your heart, awakening dormant energies in our bodies, and other such things that will help improve my yoga practice and ultimately my life. Things that I can therefore carry with me to my classes and pass on to my students.
One thing that I often say in class is "find your joy!", usually set in the context of holding Warrior 2 for five long breathes and I try to encourage my students to focus on something other than the burn so they don't kill me. This theme is something that, although I say it to kill the silence and distract students from their burning muscles, is also meant to plant a seed in those receptive minds, that they can use in their yoga practice, but can also carry it through to their life off their yoga mat.
As Canadians, we often lose sight of our joy, the things in life that cultivate happiness and bliss. Generally speaking, we don't lose our joy due to poverty, famine, civil wars, lack of education, and therefore lack of job prospects. Typically, we lose our joy due to trying to keep up with the jones', and therefore overworking in jobs we dislike, commuting long distances to get to those jobs, buying homes that put us in economic strain, eating "quick" food due to lack of time to prepare healthy meals, putting on excessive amounts of weight, spending our hard earned money on crazy quick fix schemes to lose that weight, and ultimately being "required" to work even more at the job we hate just to keep the deadly and unhappy cycle going. It is an exhausting life if we let it be, and honestly after living in Asia and traveling in all of the countries I have, I see that in most cases even those who are faced with truly difficult living conditions and circumstances still have joy, and happiness, and generally on a more consistent basis than we do in our comparatively comfortable lives. They know how to find their joy. They make time for those things, and keep everything in perspective.
I am not at all an expert on joy, I would love to be one, but I don't think that they actually exist. All I can do is draw upon things I read, feel, and experience and hope that I can develop a strong understanding of how to find joy, and then the even harder task, how to keep that joy coming on a consistent basis.
I have been trying to cultivate a life for myself where I consistently have joy. It is certainly more difficult since having come back from Asia, and I have run off the track a few times since coming home in May, but after having read my dear friend
Mary's blog post the other day about "
joy triggers", I decided to put it all out there, following suit with Mary, and answering her question:
"What things bring me joy?"
Yoga...quite simply any one yoga posture will instantly brighten my day...standing on my head, a backbend of any kind, opening my heart, and smiling while doing it!
Having a bath while listening to music and singing with the wonderful acoustics of the bathroom.
Watching inspiring talks on TED and feeling uplifted, hopeful, understood, and an overwhelming warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart.
Hugging and loving my precious niece Rayah.
Writing, whether I ever publish it in a blog post or a book doesn't matter, what matters is that I get it out of my heart and head and into the universe.
Tattoos, examining my existing ones, dreaming up new ones, and seeing them turn into reality...once the funds are available of course.
Having a giant cup of green tea in a colourful mug with a good friend, a good book, a good movie, good music, and/or a comfy blanket.
Visiting with my nanny(grandma) who has Alzheimer's, and answering her question, "do you have a boyfriend yet?!" differently every time she asks...which is generally every 5 minutes. (Some people may think of this as mean, but it makes me giggle, doesn't harm her, and is certainly better than the alternative of repeating myself a hundred times and getting irritated and my nanny ultimately sensing that irritation.
hiking, walking, biking...anything that takes me outside where the fresh air can touch my cheeks the way it feels when a hand gently caresses my cheek before a kiss.
Chocolate...dark, milk, white, with nuts, raisins, granola, caramel...doesn't matter in what form or combination, chocolate just does it for me!
Hannah, my cat, when she comes running to the door to greet me, when she rubs her head against mine (ps. she's doing this as I write!), and when she gives me little sandpaper kisses.
Watching a breathtaking sunset.
Looking at a plant and remembering its botanical(latin) name and english name after three years of being out of that field.
Sleeping in...which is rare, but when it happens oh god let the joy flow!
Taking pictures of anything, namely plants, animals, children, and elderly people...anything is life, or colour, or that tells a story.
Four dollar martinis on a Friday night.
Wearing dresses...they're so flowy and free!
and numerous other little things...
This concept of identifying those small, seemingly unimportant things that bring joy to my life, is a tricky one...probably trickier for some...but still tricky for me, a self-aware yoga teacher who teaches others to find their joy in their practice and in their life! Give it a try, you don't need to share it with others, just share it with yourself!
