Connecting to Joy

At the end of yesterday's entry I spoke of inviting my students to experience a greater awakening and joy in their practice.

At the end of his recent newsletter, Todd Norian, a Senior Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher makes these suggestions for connecting with joy if you are having a bad day or simply can't experience joy in the present moment:

1. Take a time-out from the activity of your day.
2. Do some yoga in a quiet, uncluttered space.
3. Ride the waves of your breath as you move and stretch.
4. Give your mind a time-out from having to figure everything out...
5. Go into your right brain and merge with the flow of breath and body sensation.. Be in the Present Moment for at least 20 - 30 minutes a day.
6. Consciously choose to open to Grace and turn it over to the Divine.
7. At the end of your practice, sit in total silence for a couple of minutes and receive the blessing of the Divine. Then repeat these affirmations to yourself several times:

I am worthy.
I am great.
I have the seeds of greatness inside my heart.
I am one of a kind.
I am an original.
I am a masterpiece of the Divine in living form.
I have the DNA of the Divine.
My worth comes from the inside.
Everything I touch prospers.
I have everything I need already inside of me.
The Universe is always pointing the way for me.
Everything that happens in my life is for my awakening.

As I reflected on these suggestions for connecting with joy, I recalled that ancient Egyptians, at their passing, were asked two questions before they could be admitted to the afterlife:

Did you find joy?
Did you bring joy?

If they could not answer "yes" to either one of these - these ancient Egyptians were not deemed worthy of the afterlife.

Yogananda taught that happiness is a conscious choice we make. Only we can hurt ourselves, and if we do not choose to be happy - no one will be able to make us happy.

All of this is so similar to what Eckhart Tolle has been saying in A New Earth.

Go out and experience joy in some form or another - at least once during this magnificent day!

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