Grow in Gratitude
Invite each Experience to Manifest Gratitude
We offer Abundant Gratitude to each of you for being a part of our community and lives. We are most Appreciative of the opportunity and privilege to be of service to you and share a connection with you. May you and your families and friends have a most Enjoyable and Peaceful Thanksgiving holiday!
Sometimes we feel grateful. Sometimes, it may be challenging to access gratitude. Some years we have more challenges than others. This last year has been a tender year for us. I lost a best friend unexpectedly in 2021 and I continue to process grief about her absence. Our brother-in-law died earlier this year who was like a brother to me for over 45 years and it has been a devastating loss to us with lots of significant transitions in our family. Another dear friend lost her husband of over fifty years. With each precious life that leaves the earth that we grieve, it invites us to practice Gratitude for the gift of life and the sacredness of shared connection. Even in the midst of processing great loss and heartache, the losses can open us to gratitude. The more the heart opens, the more Gratitude can enter to hold the amazing connections and life experiences we shared.
Each life experience can help us open to Gratitude - for what is here right now. This is NOT to minimize heartache, significant struggles and challenges, illness or loss. It is simply an invitation to BE with what is. Coming home to our breath is the gateway for Gratitude. In each breath abides a refuge of peace, calm and quiet joy. Feeling the fullness of the breath is an opportunity to remember our divine fullness, worthiness, goodness and divine connection to our highest Self and all others. This remembrance leaves us feeling grateful, safe and peaceful. The breath is an unconditional refuge of peace and comfort. The breath is always available and it will never let us down. Each breath is filled with divine energy and love.
How do we invite each experience to manifest Gratitude? By choosing where to place our attention, focus and energy. In each situation, gratitude can manifest. When tragedy, loss or crisis arises, gratitude can be expressed for the loving souls who assist, the kindness of others, or a prayer of gratitude that the situation did not get worse; or gratitude for how we responded rather than reacted to what transpired. Also, our gratitude can be an awareness that we did the BEST we could in each situation and an acknowledgment that our best is good enough. Gratitude also invites us to remember that on each day, our capacity is going to be different as our lives evolve.
We can each commit to a daily authentic Gratitude practice. In this moment, what are you grateful for? How does it leave you feeling? Notice, it only takes several seconds or minutes to open to gratitude for one thing, remembering just one thing you are grateful for in this moment can uplift your spirits.
In moments when your not feeling so grateful, no need to judge yourself. Instead offer compassion and kindness to yourself. Turn into your breath and let each breath move freely and notice how you feel. Notice the transformation that is available. The breath is resilient enough to hold and tenderly process and release all of the challenging emotions we experience and guide us back to gratitude. The breath invites Gratitude because each breath, when we let it move freely, awakens us to remember our divine fullness and innate peace. Pause, Breath, Notice... When we feel grateful, it enhances our capacity for joy and peace. Again, Pause, Breathe, Notice...
Also, when your not feeling grateful, can you be curious about the absence of gratitude? Sometimes, not feeling grateful, allowing ourselves to admit and feel it, can inspire us to embody gratitude. Why? Because the breath will always guide us back to the fullness of our hearts. Our minds may be consumed with impoverishment and limitations but the breath and heart always graciously welcome us home to divine wholeness and abundance.
Remember Gratitude is an expansive energy. The more you focus on it, the more it expands and grows. Now again, Pause, Breathe, Notice... What are you Grateful for?
We are most GRATEFUL for You!
Yoga and Meditation practices awaken us to the breath and help us to grow in awareness and mindfulness. The more aware we are of our breath, the more aware we are of our life. Mindfulness inspires us to practice gratitude-to place our focus on all we have rather than what we do not have; to focus on what is going well in our life, rather than what is not going well; to put our attention on possibilities rather than on limitations; to consciously choose to practice faith over doubt; and love over fear. The Dalai Lama reminds us "[I] find hope in the darkest of days and focus on the brightest. I do not judge the Universe."
Massage and CranioSacral treatments help to release all tension, stress and pain and support the breath to flow freely to manifest ease in the body. Come join us for offerings below!
