Why Thanksgiving is Made for Yogis
Yoga on Thanksgiving. It’s one of my favorite traditions that I picked up while living in San Francisco over a decade ago. To this day, I still do my best to be in San Francisco on Thanksgiving Day to practice yoga with my most influential of teachers, Rusty Wells, because of the rich benefits I get from it. Yes, it feels awesome to get a good workout in to help balance the outsized food intake. However, it’s more than that. It helps realign my mind, body, and soul into a state that benefits my overall wellbeing.
Specifically, yoga recenters my attention away from the hustle and bustle of the holidays and all the things I “need” to or the possessions I “need,” but don’t have. It brings me back into a state of gratitude.
After all, Thanksgiving is the day of thanks! And, well, gratitude is one of the secrets to a more joyful life.
When you acknowledge and appreciate all you have, you eliminate the sense of lack. By seeing all that you have, you don’t notice what you lack. Your focus becomes your reality. When you see your abundance, you start living a life of abundance.
Abundance gives you peace and stability. This state allows you to navigate through life with more grace. Studies have also shown that being grateful can improve your sleep, mood, and immunity. It can decrease stress, depression, and anxiety.
Gratitude should be practiced daily, not just one day of the year. And it is a practice. This means it might not come so easy at first. However, when you keep at it, you’ll get better, and it will come naturally. Like any other practice, if you stop, you’ll lose the habit. Keep at it so you keep growing and it becomes more and more a part of you.
One great tip on bringing gratitude into your life is starting your day with a Gratitude List. Set a little time aside and write down, with pen and paper, a Top 10 List of the things for which you’re grateful. Be kind to yourself and don’t get freaked out if you stumble at first. Give it some time... and know there are no wrong answers. Allow yourself to have fun and think of all the little things, too. Our lives are full of reasons to feel thankful. Sometimes we just need to remember to notice them.
Ponder your list before moving on with your day so you have a good connection with that vibe. When you start your day with a grateful mindset, it will prime you for the rest of your day and ripple out into everything you do.
As we head into the season of excessiveness, remember that gratitude will keep you from wanting. When we stop wanting so much, we’re able to turn around give. Being able to give rewards our souls like nothing else. In other words, gratitude is a gift you give to yourself.
