@The_Myth I’m bringing this back in here because I worry that my response may seem dismissive, and I don’t want to bring negativity into a thread about something many people value.
So I think there’s a lot of projection in your assumptions about my motivation. I’m not after a runner’s high as much as I like the efficiency of running for me. If doing it regularly, I can knock out 3 mi in 30 minutes, 6 in an hour, during which my outfit for work is planned and maybe I’ve done some brainstorming over a tough patient I have scheduled for the day. I’ve remembered that I never responded to a friend’s text and need to do that over breakfast.
I can do these things walking as well but mo’ miles = mo’ conditioning, and I don’t have an hour for walking in the morning before work. I experience joy while walking also, which I attribute to a combination of movement and music along with the elevated heart rate and breathing. I feel similarly joyous dancing with the dog while I’m cleaning house, or even better, two drinks in on vacation. Riding my bike to the beach on Martha’s Vineyard is a joy thing, unless it’s too hot, then it’s not. Athletic sex = joy. Snowshoeing or hiking. Breathing in the smell of fall. Sometimes breathing in the smell of the dog or my husband. My drive to work after a good workout; coffee and music and a pretty day.
My point is that bubbles of joy, or “the high” come easily to me. I like drinks and I like cannabis, but they aren’t needed for me to lift into an expansive state. Sometimes a paragraph in a book will require that I stop for a moment and let the expansion in my chest lessen while I process whatever idea has caused…maybe not joy, but something very like it.
When I came from Texas to my current hippy-heavy home, I encountered more vegetarians than I was used to. More often than not I found them wan and sort of stooped. Initially I thought it was strange they continued to eat this way when it was so apparent that it was depleting them. Then one day it occurred to me that they weren’t wan and stooped because they were vegetarian, they were vegetarian (sub in organic, vitamin-loading, whatever) because they didn’t feel well. They were looking for an external source of vitality, or blamed an external source for their lack of it.
I’m very familiar with Grof’s work. One of my kids was very close to a Grof-trained practitioner’s kid. I find it analogous to the diet thing. Something is missing, so one seeks. (Vegetarians, BTW.)
I felt joy this morning when I woke up. I have the day off and I can work out at leisure (long walk or I’ll do a video workout) (during which I’m very likely to find myself smiling). Husband is home, dog is sleeping beside me. After I finish lounging around and working out, I’ll do some housework and shower. After lunch we’ll organize our tax stuff and drop it off, then hit the grocery store. It’s not going to be as bitter as I thought this morning, so we’re planning a hike with hang-arounding in the woods. Maybe steak for dinner - been a lot of fish this week. But even if I didn’t have these awesome plans (lol) there would be stuff to look forward to. Everything I need and want is right here inside me.
So yoga is appealing as a means to stretch, but for peace or joy there’s simply no motivation to woo for me. Why burn sage when I’m comfortable with my processing of the trauma I’m exposed to?