Gratitude Practice - Journaling & Guided Meditation

What exactly is a gratitude practice? Learn how to use it as a way to increase your sense of well-being, improve how you feel in your body, and work through periods of mental health struggles.

Includes a variety of journaling prompts, breathwork and a guided meditation to led you through a practice in real time.

Led by Courtney Gioia, a body image and mindset coach who specializes in showing women how to achieve radical body acceptance through joyful movement.

Transcript

Today we're going to be talking all about gratitude,

Which I think really goes hand in hand with meditation and mindfulness,

Something that can be really helpful when it comes to shifting our perspective and showing up in life the way that we want and being intentional with our choices and our actions and our focus.

So we're going to talk about that.

We're going to do a gratitude practice in our meditation,

So make sure you have something to write with.

And I'm going to give you some tools and some ways that you can actually implement this in your life during your own meditations.

I'm just taking my own advice and getting my book.

And then we're also going to talk about sub-diaphragmatic breathing,

Which is a specific type of breathing that I find works really well in combination with a gratitude practice because it's a way to regulate our nervous system.

So we're going to talk about the gratitude practice first,

Then we'll talk about breathing,

And then we'll actually do it.

All right,

So when we're talking about a gratitude practice,

To get the most benefit out of it,

Specificity matters a lot.

So being really specific and not just focusing on the what,

But also the why.

So if you're like,

I'm really grateful for my job,

It's not really enough and it doesn't create the mindset shift and the feeling shift and the energetic shift without including the why.

I'm grateful for my job because it gives me the opportunity to live out my purpose and to help people and to feel accomplished at the end of my day.

So when we're talking about the gratitude practice,

I usually recommend including three to five things that you're grateful for that you want to express appreciation for that you want to recognize about either you or your life.

So a few really common examples that I wanted to share.

The first is aspects of your body.

And this is actually one of my favorite because I find it's often the most difficult and doesn't come as naturally to us because we're not really used to thinking about our bodies in a grateful sense.

And this is where again,

The why can come up really important so maybe you're grateful for a specific muscle or your bone structure or your boobs or your butt,

Whatever it is,

Or other body parts,

Your belly.

Thinking about your accomplishments from the day,

This is a really great one to do if you meditate towards the end of the day,

Like reflecting back on what happened,

On what you got done,

On what you were able to accomplish.

And they can be small things like I got dressed,

I got out of bed,

I showed up even though I didn't feel like it,

All those things.

Personal characteristics,

So this can be again,

Things that you like about yourself,

Aspects of your personality,

Traits and characteristics that you have,

The way in which you've continued to show up in your life,

Just things that are about you.

You can also do people in your life,

So friends,

Family,

Loved ones,

Mentors,

Colleagues,

The guy who nicely paid for your coffee this morning,

Like paid it forward,

Like whoever it is.

And also things like meaningful interactions or situations.

So maybe you,

It's not just that you're thankful for your friend,

You're thankful that she brought you cherry blasters at work as a snack,

Or that you watched a great movie together,

Or whatever it is.

And you can take different options from the list,

Or if you wanted to just focus,

Like I wanna list three things about my body,

You can kind of mix and match depending on what you need to hear today,

And it's,

I have to get this question as soon as I set this up,

It's okay if you have the same things on your list day to day.

It doesn't have to be a whole new list.

I often find that I see trends based on the season of my life,

So maybe for like a month or two,

I'll have on my list of five things,

Because I tend to do a minimum of five.

I find that once I start writing,

I just kind of end up going and going and going,

And my list gets bigger.

But I find that usually I'll have like two or three that stick around for a few weeks,

And it's just maybe because of what I need to hear,

Or what I'm trying to focus on,

Or what I'm trying to manifest.

So that's the basics of a gratitude practice,

But I also wanted to include a little bonus,

And it's actually my favorite part of the gratitude practice,

However,

If you're just starting out,

It can feel really difficult,

Or vice versa,

Maybe you love it,

And you also like the creativity that comes with it.

As a bonus,

You can also include three to five things that you desire,

And state them as if they've already happened.

This is a form of visualization.

But let's say you're going after a promotion,

You can write the words,

Or the statement,

I'm grateful that I was recognized for my contributions to my workplace,

And that I was given a job that is a reflection of my contributions,

And I'm being recognized with what I'm worth.

So you can express it as if you've already gotten it,

Or you could even simply write,

I'm so grateful that I got the job that I applied for,

Da da da da da.

Or you could think more into the future,

Let's say you're trying to get pregnant,

And you can say,

I'm so grateful for my pregnant belly,

And I'm so grateful that it's been a happy and healthy pregnancy so far,

And that I'm really enjoying this time as my body changes.

So what this does is it plants the subconscious seeds that as we normalize these thoughts,

Our brains look for opportunities to basically make them happen.

Again,

That shift in focus of what we focus on expands,

So the more you tell your brain that you're going to have the job,

The more it's going to help you create that reality.

So it can be very powerful,

And it can normalize it,

And it can help shift you into that energy.

And maybe it doesn't end up happening the exact way that you expected,

But it can shift your energy,

Which can bring new opportunities your way.

And this is where,

Too,

Especially if we're trying to work on the negative self-beliefs that we have,

We can move ourselves towards neutral thoughts by using gratitude statements towards our body,

And if positive thoughts aren't quite in our reach yet.

So if you're struggling with feelings of not so great about your body,

We can shift ourself to just saying,

No,

I'm grateful I have a body.

I'm grateful I have a body,

And I'm grateful that these things work.

And you can list a few things,

Right?

I'm grateful that I'm able to digest food.

I'm grateful that maybe you have two working legs.

I'm grateful that I have two working arms.

So normalizing the neutral thoughts can then help us to move towards the positive as well.

So as I mentioned,

A big part of this is I find,

Especially if I'm coming at this from anxious,

Or nervous,

Or stressed,

Or overwhelmed energy,

I find I don't get a lot of it if I try to go straight from that energy into a gratitude practice,

Because then it feels like I'm like,

I'm like bitching out my gratitude practice.

I'll be like,

I'm grateful for this.

I'm da-da-da-da.

And I'm not really letting it like sink in and absorb.

So I really recommend if you're doing a gratitude practice to use some breath work to really allow you to sink into a new energy,

And to shift away from whatever you might be bringing in so you can really get the most out of this intentional thought and this intentional time.

So I really wanted to talk about how we can use breathing,

And specifically,

As I mentioned,

Sub-diaphragmatic breathing,

And I'll explain what that actually means,

Because it's big science-y words.

How we can use it to regulate our nervous system and actually shift what's happening in our bodies,

Which can then shift the hormones that we have,

And how we're able to process information,

And again,

What we can focus on.

So some of this might be some things that you've already heard before,

But it's a great reminder as we're talking about the subjects.

So we have two different nervous systems.

We have the sympathetic,

Which is the fight or flight.

This is what dictates a stress response,

Right?

So this is where we feel anxious,

We feel stressed.

And often,

This is associated with supra-diaphragmatic breathing.

So we have our diaphragm down here.

Supra is above,

So it's where,

If you think about when you're anxious or overwhelmed or stressed,

You often feel like you can't take a full breath,

Right?

You feel it in your chest,

You feel a tightness in your chest.

So when you're breathing,

It might be shallow breaths,

Where you feel it at the top,

All right?

And obviously,

When we think about the feeling of not getting enough air,

It's all tied to connected,

Right,

Because when we don't get enough air,

That makes our bodies feel more stressed,

That makes us feel more anxious,

And it's just a not-great negative loop.

So we want to try to move that breath down to a sub-diaphragmatic breath,

So sub meaning under.

So we want to really think about breathing down into our bellies,

Allowing the diaphragm to fully move through its range of motion,

So all the way down and all the way back up.

And this can help us to move from the sympathetic nervous system,

Which is up here in our breathwork,

To the parasympathetic nervous system,

Which is what we call rest and digest.

So why is it called rest and digest?

Because when we're in fight or flight mode,

All of our energy goes towards being able to fight or flight.

So we get a lot of blood pumping to our extremities,

We get a lot of blood pumping to our brain,

We have all that adrenaline that our body doesn't put any energy or circulation towards the basic functions of our body,

Like digestion or being able to rest.

So that's why it's hard to sleep when you're anxious,

And often it's associated with gut issues,

Like feeling bloated or being constipated or having diarrhea or gas or whatever it is.

So when we're able to change our breath,

We can signal to the body,

The purpose of signaling to the body is basically like,

You're okay,

You can calm down,

You can redirect all the energy and all the circulation to the more restful aspects of my being and take us out of fight or flight.

We can notice what changes in our body,

We can take a few big deep breaths with this and as I said,

I usually do breath work,

Gratitude,

Breath work to finish where I can really sit with my gratitude statement.

I really recommend,

After you write your gratitude practice down,

We wanna kind of engage multiple senses.

So I recommend writing it,

Taking a moment to go back,

Read it back to yourself,

And then any statements that you feel called to,

I really recommend stating them out loud.

And you can state just one,

You can do multiple,

You can do one multiple times,

Whatever feels called to you,

But again,

The more senses that we can engage,

The more that,

Again,

It confuses our brain to thinking that it's reality and really implanting it into our subconscious.

Are we ready?

Ready to do some gratitude and some sub-breathing,

Maybe I should just call it that for short,

Let's do some sub-breathing.

Come to the edge of your chair,

Nice tall spine,

Shoulders down and back,

And you can either close your eyes or soften your breath,

And sorry,

Close your eyes or soften your gaze.

And without changing anything at first,

I just want you to notice where you feel your breath in your body.

Without thinking about it,

Do you feel it more higher in your chest or do you feel it more in your belly or maybe is it a combination of the two?

So you can either leave your hands either just in your lap or by your sides,

Or if you find it useful for this particular breathing exercise,

You can also place your hands on your belly.

Now,

Our diaphragm moves in what we think of as oppositional direction,

So as we breathe in,

Our diaphragm moves down and away,

And as we breathe out,

It contracts upwards to squeeze the air out of the lungs.

So as you take your next breath,

I want you to visualize your belly expanding,

Feel that diaphragm moving down to create space for the lungs to expand,

And as you exhale,

Feel the belly contract.

You can visualize that diaphragm moving up,

And the diaphragm is almost like a bowl,

So it goes around 360 degrees,

So as you feel your belly expand,

Can you feel your sides expand with it,

Feeling the ribs move,

And then maybe with your next breath,

Noticing can you feel it in the back?

So can you feel it almost 360 degrees around as you breathe in,

And exhale,

Breathe out?

If it feels good to stay with your breath a little while longer,

Know that you have absolutely permission to do so,

Otherwise when you're ready,

Feel free to grab your book,

Grab your pen and paper,

And if you like,

Don't forget,

You can scroll up in the chat to see some of those example points.

Let's start by writing down the what and the why for three to five things that you are grateful for in this moment.

As you begin to finish your statements,

You can take a moment to read over them,

And again,

Maybe choose one or two to say out loud,

To repeat gently to yourself,

Or if you're ready,

You can always come back to your breath.

We will come together to meet in breath in just a few more moments.

Feel free to finish whatever statements you're on,

Or again,

If you feel called to keep writing,

You can stay with your thoughts,

Otherwise you can once again come back to that tall spine and proud chest,

Either closing your eyes or softening your gaze.

Coming back to the breath,

Again,

Feeling the belly rise with each inhale,

Feeling the diaphragm relax and pull down.

As we exhale,

Feeling it tighten back up,

Feeling the belly button engage,

Thinking about the ribs once again,

If they can expand outward to the side with each breath,

And thinking about feeling the breath in the back of the body with each inhale.

With each breath,

Acting as a reminder to your body that everything is okay,

That you are going to be okay,

That we can choose to stay in the state of calm.

We can choose peace,

That there is so much in our life to be grateful for,

Even on hard or difficult days.

And in every moment,

In every situation,

There is always a choice,

There is always an opportunity,

And while it may not always be easy,

There's always a way to take that next step forward to do that next right thing.

And if we choose happiness,

If we choose to focus on gratitude,

It can help us to see those opportunities,

To see what that next right step is,

To give us space to slow down and process our feelings,

To sort out our thoughts,

And maybe turn those mountains back into molehills.

If you wanna stay with your breath a little while longer,

Know that you have permission to do so,

Otherwise we can call in a little bit of movement by gently wiggling our fingers or wiggling our toes.

And when you're ready,

Opening up your eyes.

So before we fully come out of our meditative stance,

I want you to even just take notice of how your body feels now,

Whether you feel a little bit more relaxed,

Whether as we come back to our natural breathing,

If it feels slower,

If it does feel a little bit lower in the body,

And just notice how you were able to shift the energy and shift your state of being just through those two exercises,

Our gratitude and that sub diaphragmatic breathing.