September’s crash course in bliss

The art of metabolizing joy

Can you still feel it?

The lingering perfume of our St Barth Summer Camp Yoga Challenge is more than a fading memory. It hums gently through the nervous system, a subtle but lasting sense of expansion that lingers long after the mat has been rolled away. Together, we embraced vulnerability, practiced letting go, and began to recognize our own brilliance and beauty.

That broken-open feeling created breakthroughs. But now, as quiet weeks pass, a question arises: how has the experience landed within you? Has it deepened your sensitivity to autumn’s first falling leaves—this season of letting go and receiving?

After the peak experience: now what?

This perennial question follows every high: after ecstasy, fullness, and profound connection… now what? How do we keep joy alive when routine creeps back in?

Clinging to memories won’t sustain it. Metabolizing joy—learning its language and digesting it fully—allows us to integrate bliss into our daily lives.

Ananda: your innate blueprint for bliss

Long before neuroscience explored nervous system regulation, yogic seers spoke of Ananda—the bliss body. This subtle layer of being is our natural state, the field where we exist as both wave and particle, essence and expression.

Yet joy can feel foreign, even threatening. Conditioned by fear, culture, or trauma, we sometimes attack joy like an autoimmune response, rejecting the very nourishment we need.

The whisper of dread: foreboding joy

Brené Brown names this inner conflict foreboding joy—the fear of leaning fully into wonderful moments, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It is like soaring in a dream, exhilarated and free—until doubt intrudes: This is too good to be true. Conditioned by family patterns or the “pain body” described by Eckhart Tolle, our nervous system mistakes joy for risk.

Rewiring for safety: expanding your window of tolerance

Psychiatrist Dan Siegel describes the Window of Tolerance as the zone where we can process life’s waves without shutting down or becoming overwhelmed.

A narrow window can make us contract at the first spark of joy. Yet this window is stretchable. Through yoga practice, meditation, journaling, and transpersonal consciousness work, we expand our capacity. We learn that joy is not danger—it is nourishment.

Embodied practices: how to metabolize joy

To metabolize joy is to integrate it at a cellular level, turning it into lasting fuel. This requires presence, repetition, and gentle commitment.

• Dip your toe in happiness: Choose small, repeatable actions that spark contentment—one sun salutation, five minutes of mindful journaling, or savoring morning coffee.
  

• Breathe through the dread: When foreboding joy arises, respond with a long exhale. Anchor in the body with meditation, place a hand on your heart, and gently name the fear: “Thank you for trying to protect me. I am safe in this joy.”
  

• Nudge toward bliss: Each conscious choice toward gratitude or connection rewires the brain. Transpersonal practices remind us that we can step off the old path and choose the higher road—safe enough to feel joy fully.
  

This is not avoidance of trauma but integration. By metabolizing joy, we build a nervous system resilient enough to hold both bliss and vulnerability.

Your invitation to come home to joy

The magic of St Barth is not just memory—it is proof that expansion is your birthright. Let it be the spark that rewires your relationship with joy.

Our offerings

• Immersive wellness retreats in Anguilla (Nov, Jan, March) : Nervous system regulation, trauma healing, and joy cultivation at Aurora Hotel & Golf through yoga, meditation, writing, and consciousness practices.
  

• Medicine journey in Peru (Dec 3–15): With Jessica Toral and Jose Campos, explore ancestral healing modalities that expand resilience and capacity for joy.
  

• Private sessions in Saint Barth (Oct–Apr): Personalized integration of yoga, meditation, and transpersonal therapy for lasting wellbeing.
  

• Online sessions any time. 

This September, begin your crash course in bliss—not by chasing permanent highs, but by metabolizing joy: turning fleeting moments into sustainable nourishment, one conscious breath at a time.