December Dispatch: Radical Joy
Poet Ross Gay on Joy:
“My hunch is that joy is an ember for or precursor to wild and unpredictable and transgressive and unboundaried solidarity…My hunch is that joy, emerging from our common sorrow…might depolarize us and de-atomize us enough that we can consider what, in common, we love.”
Welcome to the Galaxy Dispatch, and December! Our theme for the month is JOY, which is a small word with a lot of complexity. In Buddhism, we talk about Mudita, or selfless joy, and practice cultivating the feeling of joy as an outwardly-directed (re: not selfish) feeling. In a month where it can feel like we’re all being carried down the raging river of materialism and unbridled capitalism, I thought we all might appreciate a re-frame of what joy means, and how we can best embody it.
When talking with a super smart FOTG (that’s Friend Of the Galaxy), she mentioned that joy can be an act of rebellion - it’s a way of allowing ourselves to be exactly as we are, to experience big feelings and delight that oppressive systems and structures might tell us are inappropriate. In fact, joy can be a powerful way of beginning to uproot and change oppressive structures. That made me think of this lovely little Daniel Ladinsky poem, inspired by Meister Eckhart:
“When were you last really happy?
Let that experience ferment,
Bring it to mind once
In a while
Surely, in the genesis of that past moment
When you danced
You would not have wanted a constable to have knocked
On your
Door
Or have said, “You just entered a restricted ground.”
Why are there so many stars and souls
With no end in sight for them?
Because nothing can interrupt God
When he is having fun
Creating!”
My journey to understand and unpack joy then brought me to one of my favorite writers, Ross Gay, who has a lot to say about joy and delight, and was reminded that joy has nuance and shadow to it. Some of the most powerful experiences of joy are intertwined with our own reckoning with mortality - we love and delight in experiences and people all the more because we know they’re only temporary. Gay talks about caring for his father in the end stages of his life, and of the joy he experienced in those moments, and I knew exactly what he meant.
This summer, I was able to be with my father as he entered into hospice care for metastatic colon cancer, and was with him, in the exact hospital where I was born 43 years earlier, as he prepared to transition out of the earthly world.
(Get a load of baby Anna and my Dad’s amazing mustache.)
Before he transferred to hospice care, I helped care for him at his home, and there were absolutely amazing days of sitting with him in the living room, talking, signing, listening to music, and just being, that were some of the best moments of my life with him. My golden retriever-like energy and boisterousness come straight from my Dad, who maintained a sharp intellect, goofy sense of humor and boundless capacity to love until the very end (Side note: I still feel the warm blanket of his love, and think I will forever. That’s a post for another day…). One of my most vivid memories of those last days with him is listening to Steve Martin singing King Tut on the record player, and my dad singing and dancing along to it. Pure Joy, in the face of death: what a gift to have been able to be there and feel it.
So joy runs deep, galactic friends. Deeper than material pleasures, and I guess, just deeper than the entire concept of pleasure. Joy has nuance, shadow, richness, and staying power - which is weird, because I think joy is also defined by its impermanence. We feel it and remember it, because we know it will eventually go away.
My sincere wish for you in these last days of the year is that you’ll embrace this time of darkness and introspection to find some deep joy. The holidays can absolutely be a catalyst for that… but I hope you’ll dig a little deeper and connect a little more substantially than what the world sometimes deems appropriate, safe, or acceptable.
I’m picturing us doing our best impression of Molly Shannon playing Helen Madden, Licensed Joyologist, and saying “I LOVE IT!”
What I’m Reading
It’s no secret that my recommendation is going to be a Ross Gay book or two! We’ve got The Book of Delights, Catalog Of Unabashed Gratitude, and his newest book, a collection of essays titled Inciting Joy for sale at the studio, if you’re curious what joy and delight looks like through Ross Gay’s eyes. I also highly recommend this Zadie Smith essay on joy - it goes to some unexpected places, and is a favorite read of mine.
What’s Happening in the Galaxy:
I’m bowled over by the talents and creativity of the team of Galaxy teachers, and we’ve got a great lineup of workshops ready for December. Head to our Workshops and Events tab to browse our offerings, or click on the picture above - they are eclectic, and you’ll find opportunities to learn, celebrate, and relax among them.
Looking into 2023, we’re finalizing details on what will be a dreamy (and pretty affordable) retreat, and preparing to announce our 2023 teacher training program!
December Class Announcements, Part One!
We’re adding in a couple of Slow Flow opportunities - join Bridget on Tuesdays at 7:30, and B on Fridays at 4:30 for a slower practice that is appropriate for all levels.
We’ve got a couple more exciting announcements coming your way, regarding class programming, so stay tuned for that!
