Unravel Gratitude

I hope you all had a nice weekend. Things have been quite heavy these last few weeks for me. Three people in my life have passed away and that of course has made me pause and reflect. We are also in the last weeks of getting college applications out which is quite overwhelming and my body has been going through a bit of a heavy time as well with some imbalances that I am working through. Not to mention the weight of the world.  I know that when I am feeling all of this weight that one of the best ways to work through it is to do a deep dive into gratitude; to go below the obvious things in our lives that we are grateful for to a more granular level.

One of the ways that we can unravel gratitude is with a type of body scan meditation. As we move through the parts of our bodies, we give thanks for the specific components that make our bodies function; our bones, our blood vessels, our brain, our heart, lungs, kidneys etc. It puts the aches and pains in perspective when we can connect to all that is working in the body. We started class with this body scan this week to ground us in taking a deep dive into gratitude. 

Off the mat the same chance exists. As I sit here on my couch I can be thankful for a comfortable couch but I can also be thankful for the people in the factory that made the couch and to the cow for the leather and to the person who drove the truck to bring me the couch and the list goes on. What this helps us to do is train the mind to look for gratitude below the surface and that helps lift some of the heaviness away. I am excited to be home teaching my regular class schedule this week. I have missed my routine of teaching (something else I am extremely grateful for) and my students. I hope to see you soon.