Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. A time of harvest feasting and family meetings, a day for dressing down, board games, fireplace chats, or long walks counting colors in the leaves. This year, thanks to the encouragement of yoga teachers at Root and their reminders to breathe in with gratitude and out without expectation. (thank you, Nikki!) And, strangely enough, to times of uncertainty and the sort of changes in the wind that can make you feel you’re walking a tight rope, I found myself more immersed than I’d ever been in a practice of real Thanksgiving. It all started when a few of my Facebook friends began to post their gratitudes daily. Their thankfulness reminded me to practice my own. I read about scientific evidence that giving gratitude is good for health, for mind, body, spirit, and the people around you too. I found a gratitude journal online. And then I gave daily gratitude a try. I decided to write gratitudes down, to speak them aloud. The result? Less worry, less heaviness, more and more room for the breath in and the release of expectation.The holiday season is upon us now, a time of anticipation, bustle and busy, when it’s easy to get caught up in planning and doing, always thinking ahead. Perhaps, this year we can extend our attitudes of gratitude. We can slow down and be thankful in the moment. It’s possible. Just as yoga poses are possible through practice, the concepts we encounter on our mats are possible too, even outside the studio in the big, scary world. Practice gratitude all year. Write it, speak it, live it.
What are you thankful for, Root friends? Comment below!