Embodied Meditation for Gratitude
/Gratitude is our natural state and the space from which all blessings flow.
More Embodied Practice to cultivate the art of Thanksgiving
1. Touch the Earth
When taking a walk, a hike or spending time anywhere in nature, take a moment to stop, breathe and offer gratitude to the Earth for providing everything for your life as well as stress relief, pleasure and ease. Our life force and presence is the greatest gift we can offer anything and anyone. Your breath is your life force.
First, take a deep breath into your belly then bring your cupped palms to your mouth. Next, offer your sacred breath into your hands then bend down with a smile a heart of gratitude, and touch the earth, tree, or water. Repeat three times, then breathe deep, resting your hands over your heart to close.
2. Smile Down to Thank Your Body
If you walked down the street and smiled at someone, chances are high that something within them would light up and appreciate the attention. If we smile at our organs or any part of our body, our inner battery packs that keep us alive, our attention draws energy there to nourish our inner processes.
Placing your hands on your body will amplify this effect, letting the warmth of your touch emanate inward to receive a similar medicine you would if a close friend or beloved family member were to place their hand on your shoulder and thank you. Practice smiling down at your organs with gratitude at the beginning or end of your yoga practice, workout or meditation or as a meditation all its own to remind you of your inner abundance. You can incorporate this throughout the day, thanking your body for its health and vitality.
Let’s not wait until it’s too late to appreciate the miracle of our body and health, no matter what our mood or what physical limitations we have.
3. Food Blessing
Before you eat is one of the best times to cultivate a habit of gratitude for the inherent abundance of our lives and it has the additional benefit of increasing the likelihood of conscious eating, which minimizes overeating, improves digestion and increases the experience of pleasure and enjoyment. Even just one conscious breath and an authentic smile before eating has the power to seed a lifestyle of greater presence, clarity and purpose. If you’re inspired by the auditory, you might add one to three Om’s to center.
But if you’d like to deepen your brief moment of presence before eating, gaze at your food with appreciation for it’s origins and the miracle of its growth, imagining all the way down to when it first popped up from the Earth and feeling gratitude for all the elemental forces and people it took to bring it to you, up to the person who transported, sold and cooked it. Here’s an example of a simple food blessing you can speak silently or aloud.
I offer gratitude to the Earth that grow this food
I offer gratitude to this food that becomes my body
I offer gratitude to my body that will becomes the Earth
May I uptake the optimal possible nutrients from this meal
so that I might be of greatest service to the world
4) Acknowledge the People of the Land
November is Native American Heritage Month. Discover whose land you occupy on this map and consider acknowledging them at your Thanksgiving celebration. May we honor and learn from the resilience of those who lived in harmony with the land as we dream a new world of equality together.
When you are in nature and receiving her blessing, verbally thank these people. Tune into your body to see if you can feel their presence in the land. Feel in your body what it’s like to live in harmony with the land.
Happy Season of Gratitude to you, friend. xo, Hayley