07/01/2026
Joy is the emotion of the Heart 😁
In Chinese Medicine, joy can relate to healthy contentment, but also excess joy or overstimulation.
Joy can be a healthy state of contentment, which is for sure a beautiful place to find yourself, and very much a state that the entire body (and particularly the Heart) enJOY being in (see what I did there? 😏), because the Shen is peaceful and the Qi relaxes and slows down.
In Jeffrey Jensen Arnett’s journal article “Joy: An Integrative Theory”, he defines joy as “an intense, temporary feeling of elation combined with an appraisal of right relation between ourselves and the world, a sense that there is an ideal fit between ourselves and the world around us at that moment”.
I love this because in the context of the Heart being the Emperor of the body and the home of the Shen, and therefore very much the centre of our being, it makes sense that joy is the emotion we feel when who we are is in alignment with what we are experiencing. It’s as if the lines that separate us from the world blur for a moment and we feel that deeply peaceful sense of belonging ✨
On the flip side, “joy” also encompasses excess joy, craving and overstimulation.
Each of these emotions can disrupt the grounding of Yang and in turn agitate the Shen and the Heart, leading to symptoms like palpitations, insomnia, restlessness and talking excessively.
We live in a world that is rife with overstimulation. Understandably, most of us have nervous systems that are (at least) a little ungrounded or overwhelmed most of the time.
Are you in need of some realignment or grounding?
Maybe it’s time to speak to your Chinese Medicine Practitioner (I’ll be back in clinic at the end of this week!). Link in bio to book!
Wishing you a peacefully joyful rest of your week ❤️
