Thank you for taking these 10 minutes out today to focus on gratitude.
Did you know that your brain is hardwired to focus on the negatives?
We evolved with a negativity bias,
Which helped protect us in the past,
But in the modern world this tendency can take over.
This is why practicing gratitude and savouring the positives helps remind us of all the good things in life that we take for granted.
Numerous studies have found that practicing gratitude regularly has many benefits.
You can start sitting or standing.
Place your hands on your chest and bring your awareness to your breathing.
Notice how your chest rises and falls.
It's incredible to think how your body breathes all by itself to keep you alive.
Now scan through your last 24 hours and bring your mind to something physical you were thankful to have in your life.
This could be your shower,
Your phone,
Your car or a delicious meal you had.
Next,
Think about a person you were grateful to have in your life.
Focus on the love you feel towards them.
You can bring a smile to your face as you think about them.
Finally,
Pick one thing about yourself that you are grateful for.
This could be your health,
Something you are good at or the fact that you were a kind and caring person.
Continuing with an attitude of gratitude,
You will stretch your body.
Come to a standing position with your legs hip distance apart.
Let your shoulders roll down your back.
Bring your hands to touch at your heart.
Just take a moment to connect with yourself and be grateful for your health and what your body can do.
On your next inhale,
Open your arms out wide to a cactus position.
Align your elbows with your shoulders and bring your forearms up to 90 degrees.
On your next exhale,
Move your arms into touch again in front of your chest.
Breathe in,
Bring your arms back to cactus,
Opening your chest.
Breathe out,
Round your back and touch your hands together.
Breathe in,
Opening your hands.
Breathe out,
Closing them again.
Do this a few more times by yourself with your breath.
The next time your arms are out,
Reach them up tall to the sky,
Stretching through your side body.
Breathe here.
On your next exhale,
Come down to cactus position and draw your shoulders away from your ears.
Inhale,
Reach to the sky.
Exhale,
Find cactus arms.
Repeat this by yourself,
Following your breath.
Bring your arms back to 90 degrees.
Inhale and twist your torso to the right for a spinal twist.
Exhale,
Come back to the front.
Inhale,
Twist to the left side.
Exhale,
Come back to neutral.
Do this a few more times by yourself.
On your next in-breath,
Stretch your arms up again.
Grab your left wrist with your right hand.
As you breathe out,
Tilt your body to the right,
Stretching into the left side body.
Breathe here.
Come back to centre.
Take your right wrist with your left hand.
On an exhale,
Lean to the left side,
Feeling a stretch in the right side of your body.
Straighten up.
Bring your hands down by your side.
Shoulder rolls.
On your in-breath,
Raise your shoulders up to your ears and as you breathe out,
Roll your shoulders down your back.
Inhale,
Shoulders come to your ears.
Exhale,
Melt your shoulders down your back.
You can reverse directions,
Moving as you breathe.
Interlace your hands behind your back.
Lean forward into a fold.
Reach your hands to the sky behind your back.
Feel your chest and shoulders stretch.
Relax into the stretch as you breathe.
Release your hands down and come to a ragdoll position.
Grab your elbows with your hands.
Let your upper body and head hang forward.
Bring a slight bend to your knees.
Breathe into the stretch here.
Come to a seat or stay in a standing position.
Now let's energize the body with a breathwork exercise.
You will do this by breathing through your nose for four seconds and out your nose for two seconds.
Let's do this together.
Breathe in two,
Three,
Four.
Breathe out two.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
In,
Out.
In,
Out.
In,
Out.
In,
Out.
In out.
In out.
Come back to your natural breathing.
You may want to set an intention to focus more on the good things for the rest of your day so the next time you notice your mind drifting to the negative,
Remind yourself of what you were grateful for in this practice.
You can choose to end this practice by listening to a song that makes you feel happy or by looking back at some memories of past experiences or people in your life you are grateful for.
I will leave you with this quote by Melody Beatty,
Gratitude turns what we have into Strategic Enough
