So today's topic is gratitude.
Which is a really important aspect.
Bringing your full heart to this practice and bringing your full heart to life.
There's a lot of really great research showing the mental health and well-being benefits.
Of expressing gratitude,
Whether interpersonally or in a journal or anything like that.
So I'd like to just invite you as we start to share in the chat.
Um.
One thing you're grateful for.
Also a hello and maybe where you are if you'd like,
But I'd like really to hear one thing you're grateful for right now.
Can be a really great practice to include in your.
Morning routine or your nightly routine to just write down things you're grateful for.
Very,
Very powerful practice.
And while you write that,
I'm going to share a little bit of my view on gratitude.
One of the things that's really interesting about our species,
Human beings,
And why we've been so Um I don't know why we thrived compared to other species.
One of our superpowers biologically is adaptation.
So we have human beings who lived in extremely cold climates,
Extremely warm climates.
Very different ecosystems,
Very different,
You know,
Fauna and flora,
We find a way to survive.
We adapt to whatever situation we're placed in.
And you see this in your own life,
Too.
You know,
When inevitable change arises,
You have to move,
You have to live somewhere different.
You have to change your approach or change your job.
You have to adapt.
And actually,
As human beings,
It can seem like a challenge sometimes,
But we're surprisingly good at it.
But one of the downsides of adaptation for our mental health and well-being is that it leads us to take things for granted.
So,
You may have noticed that I'm in a different room right now.
That's because my family and I,
We just returned to our home in Toronto,
Canada after spending 4 months squatting on family's couches and spare room.
To get out of the city to benefit our one year old,
Who would be really struggling in an apartment in the midst of pandemic load.
And so it was really great for him and for his family.
And it was a lot of silver linings.
But now that we've come back home,
There's a lot of gratitude i'm experiencing for the little things gratitude about having my own space gratitude about little aspects of the city.
And there's this weird pattern.
Where once we spend a lot of time with something,
We just take it for granted.
And we forget to be grateful for it.
And it's part of our natural ability to adapt.
We start to take things for granted and we stop being grateful for them.
So I see you guys sharing in the chat.
Thank you so much.
Lolita is grateful for family.
Wonderful.
Grateful for summer weather.
Beauty in nature.
Life and happiness.
Grateful for the dog sitting in front of me.
And Yeah,
Grateful for my husband.
There's that family piece again.
So these are all things that When we express gratitude,
Including just writing something in the chat box.
We bring forward to conscious awareness something that we maybe were taking for granted the moment before that the hour before the day before the week before.
And when we actually train this skill of gratitude,
Which is part of the connection pillar of well-being in the four pillars of the healthy mind model.
We train the skill of not letting ourselves take too much for granted by retraining.
Focusing on the gratitude we have for these things in our life.
We're going to do a five-minute practice now.
It's going to be very short today.
Because I feel like what we really want to do is create the momentum to continue this practice throughout the rest of our day.
So we're going to take five minutes together here.
To frame.
A bit of gratitude for our own bodies.
And we're going to leave the prompt to actually continue that through the rest of our day.
So let's give that a shot.
And we'll see how it goes.
So find yourself a comfortable position.
Whatever feels natural for you.
You'll want to stand up tall.
To represent this intention to be awake.
And alert.
And you want to relax down into your body.
To also balance that with a sense of restfulness.
If sitting up or standing up is not accessible to you,
Any position that you feel comfortable,
That feels safe.
Go ahead and take that position.
And if possible,
I recommend.
Not something so comfortable that you're likely to fall asleep.
So even if you're lying down.
Not curled up in bed with your comforter on,
But just maybe on a yoga mat or lying on a bed without too much support so you can stay awake.
It feels natural and safe for you to close your eyes.
You can do so if you'd like to keep them open.
Choose a spot.
To fixate your gaze and rest it there.
And just before we get started,
I want you to just bring your attention to whatever you notice in the body.
In this moment.
Anything you notice was fine.
Notice the pressure,
Your connection with the ground and gravity.
Or maybe little tingles or discomfort or pain or the feeling of clothes.
Or a gentle breathe.
Whatever you notice perfectly okay.
Whenever you're ready,
Continuing this body awareness.
But for every sensation you notice.
Taking that moment.
To offer a little gratitude.
For that sensation.
So for example.
If you notice a tingle on your leg,
Which I'm currently noticing.
I can say thank you,
Or I can just notice.
And be grateful for this experience.
Be grateful for my ability to feel.
Grateful to that tingle for arising.
Taking every moment.
Offer.
A thankful awareness to whatever you notice in your body in the moment.
If it helps,
You can actually say the words thank you either to yourself or out loud if you're alone.
To every sensation you notice,
Taking a moment to think.
Gravity for that pressure under your body.
Thank your clothes for the tangles they provide.
Just offering thanks.
To whatever sensations you notice in the body.
There's no right or wrong way to do this,
So.
Try to explore and experiment with an open curiosity.
Notice whatever way.
Gratitude manifests for you.
And express that in the moment.
For whatever you're noticing.
In your body.
In this present moment.
And now continue with this practice,
But we're going to open it up a bit.
Whatever your relationship might be with your body.
I know a lot of us have challenging relationships.
Either due to self-image or health issues or the natural process of aging.
Or even if you don't have those challenging issues.
Open it up so that wherever you notice the sensation,
If you notice the breath,
Or if you notice a feeling in your legs.
To really take a moment to reflect.
On.
Everything your body does for you.
And everything it has done for you.
In your whole life up until this point.
And even if aspects of your body are failing,
That's perfectly okay.
Just being grateful.
For that experience that there's more right with your body than there is wrong just by the nature.
That you're here,
That you're breathing with us.
That you're practicing with us.
Trying to really bring that positive frame to remember.
Everything that your body does for you and has done for you.
If you notice the breath.
You might also gratitude by reflecting on how that breath has sustained you for all the.
Years or decades of your life.
And if you notice.
Pressure of the chair beneath you.
You might notice.
How your frame and your bones have held you up and continue to hold you up day after day.
Of the exhausting marathon of life.
And so on,
So bringing a little open curiosity and creativity to this approach as we just express gratitude.
For our bodies as a whole or for the specific areas where we're noticing sensations in the moment.
We'll do this for another minute or so.
Bye.
Okay,
Great.
You know,
Your final.
Aspect to close our practice.
Just take a few seconds to reflect on how you might express that gratitude for your body.
Over the coming day or even the coming week.
What might you do maybe as a gift or an act of generosity to thank your body?
For everything it's done for you,
Everything it's doing for you,
And everything it will do for you.
Especially if you have a challenging relationship with your body.
To really think and reflect and even picture.
I'd encourage you to even picture yourself doing this act of generosity.
Expressing that gratitude for your body.
To actually picture yourself doing it and set an intention to do it in the coming.
Days or weeks.
Okay,
Great.
