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july 2017yogajournal.com.austrengthen your immune system; boost
your energy; diminish your perception of
pain, anxiety, and depression; protect
you from the damaging effects of stress;
increase your ability to sleep restfully
through the night; and more. And the
best thing is you can access feelings of
joy at any time through meditation.Practice: Welcome joy’s
opposite
Every sensation, emotion, and
cognition, whether positive or negative,
is half of a whole. This is true for joy,
too. When you welcome joy into your
life, its opposite may come forward
in the form of a negative feeling. For
example, when you try to experience
joy in the face of an illness, accident,or dissolution of a relationship, you
can end up with unresolved feelings
like sadness, grief, and shame. Instead
of falling into despair, use an exercise
called Welcoming the Opposite of
Joy, which allows you to invite these
feelings in as messengers that help
you experience healing and resolution.
Try this practice next time you’re
experiencing a negative sensation,
emotion, thought, or life event, or even
during a thought or experience that is
overall positive but doesn’t necessarily
evoke joy—like finding a good parking
spot. You’ll be surprised by how this
simple exercise can have such a
life-changing effect.
With your eyes open or closed,
welcome the environment and sounds
around you: the touch of air on your
skin, sensations where your body touches
the surface that’s supporting it, your
body breathing, and sensations present
throughout your body.“The best thing is you can
access feelings of joy at any
time through meditation.”in 1964, was diagnosed with a
life-threatening illness. While
researching his disease, Cousins learned
that negative emotions are detrimental
to health and healing. He then correctly
hypothesised that positive emotions
could improve his health, and he began
reading humorous stories and watching
funny movies, essentially laughing his
way back to wellness. In 1989,validating
Cousins’s case, the Journal of the
American Medical Association published a
pioneering article on laughter therapy as
a treatment for improving the quality of
life of chronically ill patients. Research
shows that regularly experiencing joy—
whether in the form of laughter or of
activities that promote happiness and
wellbeing—can produce healthy
changes throughout your body. Joy canNow, locate a feeling of joy in your
body. This could be a feeling of connection,
wellbeing, peace, happiness, or any
sensation that feels like joy to you. If
it’s helpful, bring to mind a memory of
a person, animal, place, or object that
evokes joy. Notice where and how you
experience that joy in your body—perhaps
it’s a warm feeling in your heart or a
glow in your belly. Welcome and allow
the feeling of joy to grow and spread
throughout your body.
Now, pair your joy with an opposite,
stressful sensation, emotion, or cognition,
or with a particular stressor in your life.
Feel how this stressful thought, emotion,
or situation affects your body and mind.
Now, alternate between experiencing
the feeling of joy and the stressor. Go back
and forth, first feeling joy in your body,
then the stressor. Then, feel both at the
same time, letting joy spread throughout
your body even as you feel the stressor.
When it feels right, relinquish the stressor
and just feel joy radiating throughout your
body. Rest here for as long as you feel
comfortable.
When you’re ready, let your eyes open
and close several times as you encourage
the feeling of joy to accompany you into
your daily life. PHOTO: PIXELFIT/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM