Today, many words have become so yoked with modern yoga we get numb to what they actually mean. For example, words like bliss, peace, and gratitude are plastered all over yoga garb and media platforms, touting yoga as the latest panacea. Gratitude, the acknowledgment of the things in life that you are thankful for, has gained the attention and approval of researchers looking into tools for improving well-being.
Gratitude is a powerful positive emotion that can be easily cultivated through daily practice. It’s been shown to improve mood, decrease depression, improve relationships, and reduce stress. In fact, research shows that practicing gratitude can lead to an overall happier, healthier, and longer life. There are many ways to practice gratitude in daily life—jotting down your thoughts in a gratitude journal, writing a gratitude letter to someone you’d like to thank, or making a gratitude jar to fill with little notes of appreciation. One of the most powerful ways to reap all of these amazing benefits is integrating gratitude into your yoga practice.
What is gratitude?
Gratitude is the act of expressing appreciation and thankfulness towards something or someone in your life. Feeling this emotion affirms the goodness that surrounds us and recognizes and appreciates the source of this goodness. It is a natural human emotion that arises spontaneously, yet it can also be actively invoked, learned and strengthened.
Why is practicing gratitude important?
When we are grateful, we are able to let go of the negative thoughts and feelings that keep us stuck in the past or fearful of the future. When we feel grateful, we feel good inside and our happiness levels increase. When we combine a gratitude practice with yoga, we learn how to cultivate positive emotions and well-being on and off our yoga mats. By focusing on gratitude while holding difficult yoga poses, we learn to look beyond our problems and challenges and focus on the good things in the present moment.
How does yoga help with gratitude?
The practice of gratitude yoga is a great way to cultivate a positive state of mind. In gratitude yoga, you will learn to express gratitude towards others and yourself. You will learn to appreciate all aspects of your life, including your relationships, work, family, home, and community.
Besides cultivating a state of gratefulness, practicing gratitude yoga can also help you develop a deeper sense of inner peace and a greater ability to persevere through challenges and difficulty.
Benefits of gratitude yoga
- Gratitude yoga helps us be more grateful. When we practice gratitude yoga poses and include thankfulness and appreciation in our yoga practice, we create a powerful feedback loop that reinforces our expression and experience of gratitude. The more we practice, the easier it gets, and the more likely it will become a daily habit.
- It makes us happier and improves our mood. A daily gratitude practice has been shown to improve overall mood and mental health. Research has found that participants who practiced gratitude had greater self-esteem, less anxiety, more optimism, and higher levels of energy than those who did not practice gratitude. When we feel grateful, we experience a mood shift towards joy and happiness. We become aware of the good things around us and begin to notice the little things that make us happy.
- It improves our relationships and helps us appreciate others.
Gratitude yoga helps us develop an appreciation for life and those around us. We learn how to accept ourselves and others for who they are and how they contribute to our lives. We become more aware of the positive aspects of our lives and learn to appreciate the things we have instead of always looking for more. The expression of gratitude is infectious, and will encourage other grateful people to be drawn into your social circle. - It can help us lose weight. Gratitude yoga helps you lose weight because it makes us feel good about ourselves and improves our life satisfaction. When we feel self love and cultivate positive emotions, we naturally eat healthier foods and take better care of ourselves. It also helps us appreciate our food and slows down our eating which prevents over-eating.
- It makes us healthier and can help us live longer. Gratitude yoga helps us live longer because it teaches us how to cultivate a positive attitude. When we think positively, we are more likely to take care of ourselves physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and financially. We find that we can handle life’s challenges more easily. We will have fewer stress-related illnesses, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. A regular gratitude practice not only improves our mental health, but also our physical health. Studies show that people who regularly practice gratitude have lower blood pressure, reduced stress hormones, better sleep, and improved immune function.
- It makes us calmer and reduces stress. Gratitude yoga teaches us how to live in the present moment. When we are mindful of the present moment, we are not caught up in past regrets, future worries, or the stressful demands of the day. Instead, we are fully engaged in the here and now. The positive feelings of gratefulness are naturally calming and soothing and put our minds at ease.
- It can make us more creative and more productive. Gratitude yoga teaches us how to look beyond the negative and find the positive in any situation. When we are grateful, we are able to appreciate and notice everything around us. Our perspective changes. We become more mindful and start to notice things that we might otherwise miss. We begin to feel more positive and optimistic. We begin to think differently. We begin to create new ideas and solutions. It gives us a sense of wonder and awe.
- It can improve our confidence and self-esteem. Gratitude helps us feel better about ourselves. If we have a positive attitude toward life, then we will naturally attract more positive experiences into our lives. Gratitude can become a state of mind where we see all aspects of life as blessings and opportunities to grow and learn. Looking at the world around you through a lens of gratefulness provides the confidence and self-esteem to lean into difficult situations.
- It makes us better yogis. Gratitude yoga helps us to become better human beings because it helps us develop compassion, love, and kindness toward ourselves and others. It helps us see the good in everyone and everything around us. It helps us become more accepting and less judgmental of ourselves and others.
Summing it up
Gratitude plays a beautiful role in yoga practice! It helps us appreciate our bodies, the present moment, and the journey of self-discovery. By cultivating gratitude during yoga, it enhances our overall well-being by promoting positivity, reducing stress, and fostering a deeper connection with ourselves and others. It's like a little sprinkle of happiness on our mats!
A consistent yoga practice has been shown to increase feelings of gratitude, generosity, compassion, and empathy. Besides being a great stress reliever, yoga increases the awareness of our thoughts and emotions. We learn to observe how we react to situations, whether good or bad. By becoming more aware of our actions, we gain insight into ourselves and how we relate to others. These benefits naturally reinforce the benefits of practicing gratitude.
And it's not just during the yoga practice itself that gratitude can make a difference. Taking a moment to express gratitude before and after our practice can create a sense of mindfulness and appreciation for the experience. It can also help us carry that positive energy off the mat and into our daily life.
The practice of gratitude is a key ingredient in our spiritual journey. Gratitude yoga helps us to appreciate the present moment and live in the now. It gives us tools to strengthen the effects of gratitude and to improve our psychological health. Combining gratitude exercises into a yoga practice is a synergistic way to remove toxic emotions and to reap numerous physical and mental health benefits.
It can be easy to forget that we have a lot of things to be grateful for when life turns bleak and grey, but that just means we have even more of a reason to include gratitude in our yoga practice, on and off the mat.
Whether our wellness practice includes yoga, meditation, following a virtuous path, or just being mindful of ourselves and others, don’t forget to add some gratitude to the mix. Show appreciation for life and all that it has given to us; life gives what we put in, so let’s make sure we put in our very best so we always receive the best in return.
Onward & Upward
Trish
