gratitude

Gratitude practice.

Gratitude practice.

We finished the 3rd week of my Shiva Yoga 200hr Teacher Training, with a 108 Sun Salutations morning practice, in the park, near the studio.
The Sun Salutations are essentially a gratitude practice. Practicing gratitude helps to lift the mind up. The yogis understood that the mind was constantly falling down and never satisfied. Modern psychology is starting to recognize this as well. Recent studies have shown that practicing gratitude changes your brain chemistry. Grateful to be right here in this moment!
The Sun Salutations also help to warm the body up, connect body, breath, and mind, balance the nervous system, and help us to connect the idea of the sun as the brightest thing in our world to the idea of our journey in yoga inward to experience the brightest part of ourselves.

Practicing gratitude is yoga.

Practicing gratitude is yoga.

Practicing gratitude is practicing yoga.

The yogis were very good at dealing with the mind. Most of our yoga philosophy is not about the body but about the mind.

The yogis realized that the mind was constantly falling down. The mind didn't automatically lift itself up and go towards the light. The opposite was true. The mind was never satisfied. Even brief moments of satisfaction were only followed by more dissatisfaction. The mind's natural tendency was to go towards darkness.

Being Grateful!

Being Grateful!

It's 5:00am. I'm practicing on the roof at Soulshine. The sun starts coming up and I have this spectacular view overlooking the rice fields. I stop my practice for a minute to catch a picture. It's beautiful. I want to soak it up and hold onto this moment. I'm so grateful to be here. I'm so grateful for this morning and this day ahead. Without my yoga practice I would miss these moments. I would literally miss some of them because I'd be in bed sleeping. I'd miss others because I'd be moving too fast. I'd miss others because I'd be caught up in the noise in my head. Yoga helps you slow down. If you slow down enough you will find stillness. In the stillness you experience your inner light. In the stillness you change your relationship to your Self. This changes your relationship to everyone and everything around you. I'm so grateful to be right here, right now.

Focus on gratitude.

Focus on gratitude.

We started the morning with just sun salutations, a long savasana, and then meditation. Sometimes that's enough. My teacher's would say if you don't have time for a full practice, do some sun salutations. The sun salutation practice is a gratitude practice. Thank you to the sun. Thank you for this day. Thank you for this moment. Thank you for this life. You can choose what to focus on today. You can choose what to give your energy to. You can choose who to be around. Focus on the positive. Focus on the things you are grateful for in your life. Build on them. Shift your perspective.

The Light In You

The Light In You

I'm staying in this Airbnb apartment, here, in Shanghai. There is this sweet, little, old lady, who lives in the building. Her daughter, or granddaughter, has been taking her out for a walk each day, and I've been running into them. They both give me such a nice smile when they see me. When I practice my limited Chinese, and say things like, "Nihao" (hello), the old lady lights up, and grins from ear to ear. These little moments of connection have really made each day so special. So simple to just have an open heart and smile at a stranger and say hello. Each day, when I leave from these exchanges I am grinning from ear to ear too. The three of us have had a beautiful moment of connection. It's the "namaste" connection. The light in me recognizes the light in you, and it's the same. Life is so beautiful. So many incredible and meaningful moments. Grateful for each one! Namaste.

The Things That Are Working!

The Things That Are Working!

So often we complain about things that aren't working in our lives. It is so important to be grateful for the things that are working in your life too.

I was picking up some things at the grocery store tonight. One of the things I grabbed was a piece of garlic bread. They had individual sized pieces of garlic bread! I was so excited. Individual pieces of garlic bread! Incredible. You don't understand. They didn't used to do this and I asked them to make these individual pieces of garlic bread for me a few weeks ago. I have to explain this to you. A few weeks ago, I had asked the people at the bakery to please make some smaller pieces of garlic bread. I was always disappointed when I was shopping, finding only giant, family sized, pieces of garlic bread, when I just wanted a small piece, to heat up for myself. So, they started to cut some of the garlic bread into smaller pieces and began to offer this as well. It was such a small thing but it made me so happy. So, I started to add a small piece of garlic bread to some of my meals over the last two weeks. Perfect. Just enough for me to add to my meal without having to throw any away. Perfect!

Feeling Grateful!

Feeling Grateful!

Thanks for all the birthday love, everyone! It's been a beautiful day. This has been a great year and I have much to be grateful for in my life. There are always challenges in all of our lives. I think it is how we meet those challenges that matters. I look forward to the year ahead. I'm ready for whatever challenges come my way and I'm exciting for the opportunity for growth which each one will bring.

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