6 Ways to Spark Joy
by Radha Agrawal
1. design a joy practice for yourself that you can build a routine around! Make sure to include brain/body practices like dance, yoga, forest bathing, breathwork etc. (take our free joy quiz at Daybreaker.com and check out Daybreaker+ our platform built for joy (the first ever focused on joy!) where we filmed over 200+ joy practices! dose.daybreaker.com
2. Understand your D.O.S.E.! Understanding how our animal brain works is the fastest way to spark joy - and practicing how to release our dose naturally, and easefully is the name of the game. DOSE stands for dopamine oxytocin serotonin and endorphins and each neurotransmitter is connected with joy. Dopamine is the joy neurotransmitter focused on pleasure, reward and drive. Oxytocin is focused on trust and connection, serotonin is focused on mood management and reducing stress, anxiety and depression and endorphins is focused on pain reduction and euphoria. Once we practice how to unlock them, our joy becomes self-prescribed - the more we practice how to naturally release them, the more in charge we are of our joy!
3. Courageously find experiences that spark COLLECTIVE joy - dance is one of these magical joy activators - moving in unison with people around you to music takes you from being inside your head and into your body, and from your ego to transcedance outside of yourself. Dancing with reckless abandon is the courageous magic sauce to joy.
4. Walking slowly in nature - i'm half japanese (my mom is from Tokyo) and there's a japanese practice called Shinrin Yoku - or forest bathing - which is a science backed practice of aimlessly walking under a canopy of trees. There are also magical properties that trees "exhale" called phytoncides that fight cancer and are incredible for the human body. Being outdoors and in the sun is also a serotonin activator!
5. My dad is from Varanasi India and he taught me about the importance of pranayama breath and coming home to our breath - our lifeforce or "prana". Taking deep slow inhales through the nose, holding for three breaths at the top of the breath while smiling (even if it's fake smiling induces serotonin as well!) and long audible exhales (haaaaaaa) through the mouth are incredible joy activators well. Our breath is our gateway to good health and deep joy. remember that!
6. Food - our gut is a pathway to joy - so eating foods that don't create inflammation in your body are also a pathway to spark joy! There's been a recent discovery of our "gut/brain" axis and how what we eat informs the happy neurochemicals - particularly serotonin where 90% is created in your gut!
EnJOY!
