Gratitude Meditation

There is power in regularly practicing gratitude. By doing so, you can increase your well being and happiness, reduce stress, increase trust in yourself and others, sleep better and more. There are a variety of ways to practice gratitude. In Shawn Achor's book, The Happiness Advantage, he describes a practice of gratitude that includes documenting three things you are grateful for every day and sharing those things with the people you love.

Another way to practice gratitude is to meditate on all that we have to be grateful for. I developed this meditation on gratitude to assist you in doing this.

Transcript

So we are going to do a gratitude meditation right now.

Let's start by choosing a comfortable position.

You can sit on the floor,

On a cushion,

Or a chair,

Or you can lay down on any surface.

Just choose whatever position is most comfortable for you.

And once you've gotten into your comfortable position,

Relax any physical tension that is being held in your body.

Soften your belly,

Relax your eyes and jaw,

And allow your shoulders to naturally fall away from your head.

And set the intention to let go of everything that has been happening up until now so that you are present in the current moment.

And if you haven't already,

You can close your eyes.

Now become aware of the fact that you are breathing.

Notice the rhythm of your breathing.

Notice the feeling of your breath as it fills your lungs and expands your chest as you breathe in,

And the feeling of the air exiting from your nose or mouth as you breathe out.

And allow your attention to just focus on the sensation of your breathing as you breathe in and out.

Begin to feel a wave of relaxation wash over your body.

If it helps,

You can feel this wave as a sense of warmth,

Like the way that your body is being washed over.

Begin to feel the warmth of relaxation wash over your body,

Starting at the top of your head,

Slowly flowing over your face and down the back of your head,

Slowly flowing down into your neck and to your shoulders.

Feel the warmth slowly flowing down your arms,

Flowing past your elbows,

All the way to your fingertips.

Feel the warmth of relaxation spreading down your back and slowly flowing down your chest and abdomen,

Flowing down into your hips and to your bottom.

Feel the warmth of relaxation flowing down your legs,

Slowly flowing past your knees,

Down into your ankles and your feet,

And slowly flowing all the way to your toes.

Feel your whole body awash in the warmth of relaxation.

Feel your whole body awash in the warmth of relaxation.

Feel your whole body awash in the warmth of relaxation.

Now ask yourself,

What am I grateful for?

What am I grateful for?

And as you ask yourself,

What am I grateful for?

Allow any thought or image to come in response.

Maybe it's a person or it's an experience you had or just the fact that the sun is shining.

Whatever it is,

Hold it in your mind.

And then ask yourself,

How does this make me feel?

And then ask yourself,

How does this make me feel?

How does this make me feel?

Notice how the feeling of gratitude feels in your body.

And breathe into that feeling of gratitude.

Think of breathing in oxygen as if you are breathing in that feeling of gratitude.

Feel the gratitude fill your lungs and seep into your heart and be part of that feeling.

Feel your lungs and seep into your heart and be pumped throughout your body.

And now remember that even if you just have lungs and you can breathe,

You have something to be grateful for.

And if you have a heart that's beating,

You have something to be grateful for.

Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs.

Let it flow through your heart and into your bloodstream.

And remember,

If you have a heart that's beating,

You have something to be grateful for.

And remember,

If you have legs,

You have a blessing that not everyone has and you have something to be grateful for.

Inhale the feeling of gratitude and let it flow into your legs.

And if you have legs that can support your weight,

Allow you to walk,

Run,

Or skip,

Send your gratitude to your legs.

Whatever functionality your legs have,

Whatever they allowed you to do today,

Be grateful.

You have a blessing that not everyone has.

Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs.

Let your gratitude flow through your bloodstream,

Into your legs,

And down to your feet.

And now remember,

If you have healthy arms and hands,

You have a gift and a blessing that not everyone has.

Inhale the feeling of gratitude and let it flow into your arms.

If you have arms you can hug someone with and hands that can write,

Draw,

Or cook,

Then you have a lot to be grateful for.

Send your gratitude to your hands and arms.

Having arms and hands is something we can so easily take for granted,

But if we remember the gifts that they are and the ease they afford our lives,

We can be grateful for them.

Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs.

Let your gratitude flow through your heart and into your bloodstream,

Down into your legs,

To your feet,

And through your arms to your hands.

And reflect on the gift that each of these things is to your life and feel grateful.

Now remember,

If you have healthy organs,

Whether it's all or some,

You have a gift and a blessing that not everyone has.

Send gratitude to your internal organs.

Having organs that work together to digest food,

A blood system to provide nutrients,

The strength of your bones and skin to keep it all together,

This is a gift.

Send your gratitude to them for doing what they do,

Just the simple function of digesting food.

And remember,

If you have a healthy body,

You can be grateful for them for doing what they do,

Just the simple function of digesting food is a blessing that not everyone has.

Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs.

Let your gratitude flow through your heart and into your bloodstream,

Into your organs,

Down into your legs,

To your feet,

And through your arms to your hands.

Inhale that feeling of gratitude and let it flow through your body.

And since you are hearing my voice,

You have ears that can hear,

And they can hear not just my voice,

But the sounds of the things that you love.

Music,

Wind rustling through the trees,

The voice of a loved one.

This is a blessing that not everyone has.

And remember,

If you have healthy organs,

You can be grateful for them for doing what they do,

Just the simple function of digesting food.

And remember,

If you have healthy organs,

You can be grateful for them for doing what they do,

Just the simple function of digesting food.

Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs.

Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your bloodstream,

To your organs,

Down into your legs,

To your feet,

Through your arms,

To your hands,

And then to your ears.

And if you have eyes and you can see colors,

Art,

The faces of your loved ones,

And so much more,

You have a gift that not everyone has.

Send your gratitude to your eyes.

Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs.

Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs.

Let your gratitude flow through your heart,

To your bloodstream,

To your organs,

Down into your legs,

To your feet,

Through your arms,

To your hands,

And then to your ears and to your eyes.

And if you can hear my words and you can understand their meaning,

Then you have a healthy mind,

A healthy mind that can grow and allows you to function in this world to take care of yourself,

Which is a blessing not everyone has.

Send your gratitude to your mind.

Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs.

Let your gratitude flow through your heart,

To your bloodstream,

To your organs,

Down into your legs,

To your feet,

Through your arms,

To your hands,

To your ears and your eyes and your mind.

And feel the gratitude flowing through your body,

Filling your lungs and your heart,

And expanding out to your fingers and toes.

Now expand that feeling of gratitude.

Inhale the gratitude into your lungs,

To your heart.

Let it flow through your bloodstream,

Through your whole body,

And then let it return to your lungs and exhale that gratitude into the space around you.

Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs,

To your heart.

Let it flow through your bloodstream,

Through your whole body,

And then let it return to your lungs and exhale the gratitude into the space around you.

Now take a moment to reflect on all the other things that you are grateful for.

People in your life,

Experiences you've had,

Anything that brings you joy.

Anything that brings you joy.

And think of breathing in oxygen as if you're breathing in gratitude.

Feel the gratitude fill your lungs,

Seep into your heart,

And be pumped throughout your body.

Let it return to your lungs and exhale the gratitude into the space around you.

And remember that this feeling of gratitude is available to you at any time,

In any place,

Whenever you need it,

As you have so many blessings and so much to be grateful for.

And think of breathing in oxygen as if you are breathing in gratitude.

Feel the gratitude fill your lungs,

Seep into your heart,

And be pumped throughout your body.

And think of breathing in oxygen as if you are breathing in gratitude.

Feel the gratitude fill your lungs,

Seep into your heart,

And be pumped throughout your body.

And then let it return to your lungs and exhale that gratitude into the space around you.

And now you can bring your awareness back to your breathing and allow your attention to just focus on the sensation of your breathing as you breathe in and out.

So just focus on the sensation of your breathing as you breathe in and out.

And whenever you're ready,

You can come back to this space and open your eyes.

Thank you for practicing with me today.

I hope you enjoyed it.

Reviews

Such a wonderful way to start the day! Thank you for your soothing words and amazing reminders of gratitude!!

A beautiful practice that makes gratitude flow and take centre for a time. Thank you 🙏❤️🙏🦋🙏🌈

One of my favourite morning practices I keep coming back to ❤️

This was one of the most phenomenal meditations. I’ve done in a while thank you, and I’m grateful!

Thank you for reminding me of the most simple, yet taken for granted reasons to be grateful 🙏

I just wanted to say thank you today cause I was able to meet my loved one and spend time with him during these times. it was perfect and I could express my gratitude in every way. will keep coming back to this. thank you for your kind words and your soothing voice and this mwditation. God bless you 🙏

The best gratitude meditation ever!

Thank you✨🙏💜so beautiful

Wonderful and tracing! My body feels very happy and appreciated!

Thank you so much for this perfect, gratitude meditation. Namaste

That was beautiful, thank you! ❤

Gratitude makes me so happy and I lived this one because its internal ❤️🥰 thank you for sharing. She had a very nice voice too

This was lovely, I’m so grateful for this wonderful meditation, many thanks and blessings to you! 🙏😊🌷💫

Beautiful Meditation. Thank you

Perfect way to start my day, with gratitude not only for the things in life that I have, but gratitude for life. One of my favourite gratitude meditations. Thank you 🙏🙏

Lovely to be reminded to be grateful for what’s within. Thank you💕

Relaxing, wonderful visualisation, thank you

Thank you. Soothing and calming. I enjoyed her voice. Perfect amount of time.

Very calming and nicely paced for contemplations.☮🙏

Wonderful. Thank you. ❤