We chatted last week about the benefits of creating a gratitude practice, so I thought this week would be a great time to dive into the How - To of it all. It's lovely to know something works, but terrible to not know how to use it for yourself right?
This time of year we've all got gratitude on the brain, and if you are attending my Give Thanks- Yoga and Gratitude workshop tonight you get to hear me wax poetic all the ways gratitude has changed my life and little ways you can incorporate this practice into your own. Of course the idea of giving thanks is a warm and fuzzy concept and many of us consider it a fun practice to go around the dinner table on Thanksgiving and share what we are thankful for. But did you know that cultivating an attitude of gratitude can actually change our bodies, minds, and lives? One of my favorite things is seeing how scientific studies and research can back up what yogis have known for centuries, When you focus on the good - the good gets better.
I wrote last week about WHY I do my best to maintain a personal meditation practice and offered all sorts of reasons why you should too! Today I'd like to get into the HOW. Of course, just like your asana practice and just like our daily lives, there are a million ways to approach and practice this ancient art. But these are some of the things I do to enhance my meditation situation.
I teach meditation and breath work in all of my classes, and I know that just the word itself can seem daunting to students. The assumption being that you'll have to sit for hours and think of NOTHING. This idea is not only inaccessible but it's almost impossible. (If there is NOTHING happening in your mind, I think you might be dead.)
Holy Moly! I'm 30! Through death, and heartbreak, letting go of past dreams and creating new ones, unbelievable traumas and loss, and hard-won healing - physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally - this winding path has led me here. In a strange but not accidental way, I've come full circle. And it is time to CELEBRATE!
Melody Butler Yoga 