Last day of the gratitude practice and I'm grateful for all of you that have shown up and just dug into the discipline of cultivating gratitude day by day by day.
We're about to enter a pretty ridiculous season in the country.
And it's that discipline of seeing great what you're grateful for in small things that will allow us to endure what's on the horizon.
Like I got one of the best compliments I've gotten recent memory someone's like,
Your yoga is different.
I was like,
Yeah,
Because it's yoga.
Right?
It's mental.
It's physical.
It's spiritual.
Yoga is all of it.
Yoga is weaving the alchemy of mental,
Physical and spiritual into a seamless whole not just,
Oh,
Man,
My splits are cute.
And look at this tight top.
That's not yoga.
That's vanity.
You know what I'm saying?
So what I am hopeful that the discipline has brought you is not only a reflective mindset,
But an awareness of all the good that is happening in your life,
While bad is happening around you.
Because to some extent bad is always happening.
Good is always happening as well.
So it's when we refine our focus and see the good amid the bad that we can start to as tick not Han says,
We can start to water the seeds of gratitude.
And then they flower and sprout,
As opposed to Oh,
Whatever.
Everything sucks.
2020 is the worst,
You know,
So in that spirit,
Let's begin our final.
Well,
I'm going to teach gratitude tonight as well.
So let's begin at the beginning.
So spend about a minute or so whether it be wrist circles or shoulder circles or half circles on the neck,
Just getting the body ready to sit.
Deepen the breath and handle the body with care.
Because one of the things that we should give gratitude at all times is health in a functioning physical form.
I always marvel at people like 2020 sucks.
I'm like,
You're healthy,
Right?
It doesn't suck that bad.
You still here.
But I digress.
So find freeform movement,
Whether it be wrist circles or taking the hands overhead or what have you.
And over the next 10 seconds or so begin to settle into whatever your seat looks like so long as it's tall spine rooted in the tailbone.
Feel your feet and or sit bones on the ground.
And from that grounding,
Draw navel to spine have core engaged shoulders back and down to allow for a expansive heart space to accommodate a deeper breath.
Begin that deep breath now.
In through the nose and out through the nose.
Give yourself five breaths of increasing depth,
If only slightly.
And as you settle into this deeper breath,
Begin to place in the heart space and the mind,
Something that you're grateful for today.
Bearing in mind,
It can be as meta as a functioning democratic system or as microcosmic as I'm grateful for the fact that I woke up this morning,
You know,
It can be it can range anywhere from there.
But choose one or two things in this moment that you're grateful for.
And that deep breath that you've been cultivating,
Allow it to inform the practice in the following manner.
Every inhale fortifies gratitude in the heart so that the energetic center of the body begins to radiate with whatever you're grateful for.
And every exhale roots that gratitude in the mind.
And repeating this for the next five minutes or so.
Rooted in the seat,
Heart open,
Shoulders back and down,
Navel to spine,
Core engaged for postural integrity.
Deep breath,
Nourishing the heart space with gratitude on the inhale for whatever you've chosen in this moment.
And the exhale fortifies the mind with whatever you've chosen at this moment.
Again,
Creating a virtuous circle of the energetic center of the body which the heart is.
The heart has its own electromagnetic field.
The mind is our central processing unit.
So charging our energetic center and rebooting our operating system with the breath and our focus.
Deep inhales through the nose.
Deep exhales out the nose Soft gaze,
Your eyes closed all together.
Focused upon nourishing the heart and grounding the mind and gratitude.
With all the talk of a rush to a vaccine,
This is the inoculation that we should be concerned with.
Inoculating our mind and heart from pervasive negativity living in the buoyancy and abundance of a mindset of gratitude as opposed to just the energy drain of perpetual negativity.
Perhaps at the bottom of the next exhale expanding the breath,
One pace on the top and one pace on the bottom to further fortify gratitude in the heart and mind.
Simple kriya,
Simple focus,
Yet very profound.
Another minute or so here.
Just refining the breath.
So if possible,
Make the cadence of the breath circular.
So very little space between inhale and exhale to create a bit of a feedback loop,
A positive feedback loop.
So deep inhale fills the heart,
Exhale grounds the mind and so beginning in that circularity of respiration to fortify and inoculate physically and metaphysically against pervasive negativity in our culture.
Last four breaths here,
Make them deep and profound in that same circular cadence if you can.
Again,
Inhales,
Fortify the heart with what you're grateful for in this moment.
Exhales ground the mind forming a connection between energetic center and central processing unit that is both protection and fortification.
Bottom of the next exhale,
Place hands to heart center,
Shoulders back and down if posture has escaped you at the moment.
Pressing into hands,
Finding the center line.
Three clearing breaths as we end this meditative practice,
At least the internal portion.
Deep inhale through the nose,
Exhale out the mouth.
Inhale through the nose,
Exhale out the mouth.
Final inhale through the nose,
Exhale out the mouth.
Slowly bow head towards hands when ready.
It's a sign of reverence for the meditative moment and in honor of gratitude,
Right,
So just giving gratitude for one another and for yourself for showing up.
And as you're ready,
Open your eyes,
Find your focus.
Welcome back.
