Reclaim Your Joy

Hello and welcome to the first practice in my self-care course. Reclaim Your Joy. My name is Jamila Reddy, and as always, it's such a gift to be here with you. I'm honored to be leading this self-care course on joy. Joy is a fundamental part of caring for myself. A few years ago, I experienced the back-to-back losses of my sister and then my dad. In my moments of processing and moving through my emotions, I held onto the belief that joy was possible no matter what. Even though I felt really far from joy, I knew that there was so much joy to remember and so much joy left to experience. Even though my heart was hurting beyond anything I'd ever known, I knew that joy was possible. I knew that joy was coming again. I saw that my sadness was temporary, like all emotions, and I gave myself permission to journey through grief, fully knowing that joy was on the other side. I knew that joy was a quality that I had within me, and that even the hardest of times couldn't take it away. We all have a unique relationship with joy, and the good thing is it's a relationship we can redefine again and again, and that's what today's practice is all about. It's really easy to over identify with other people's perception of what joy or happiness means. There are so many messages in the media that the source of joy is outside of us. Every commercial, every rom-com, every trend subtly leads us to believe that if only I had this, I could be more joyful. Or if I just looked like that, I could be joyful. Or even if my circumstances were different, I could be joyful. So often we internalize all of these messages and we forget to do the work of asking ourselves what actually sparks joy for me? And that's what redefining your relationship with joy is all about. It's listening to your inner wisdom and learning how to pursue what actually lights you up. Doing this work allows you to connect with the joy that lives inside, not one that is dependent on external factors or other people to be present. Today, we'll tap into that together. Let's begin. Find a comfy position, either seated or standing, gently close your eyes or soften your gaze and start by taking some deep, deep breaths. Take a moment to really connect with your breath here. Visualize each inhale rising up from the base of your spine like a golden ball of light, traveling slowly up from your tailbone, all the way up, up, up your spine to the crown of your head, and then spilling over to the front of your body as you exhale. Breathe deeply for the next few moments, using that visualization to help you really focus on your breath. Alright, we're gonna do a new visualization practice, one where you'll need to tap into your imagination....