Thanksgiving is here and our yoga instructors have been teaching gratitude in their classes, cueing yogis to consider all they are thankful for as they practice with us. It’s got us thinking, what does yoga teach us about gratitude and how can we use what we learn on the mat into our every day lives?
Here are 5 yoga lessons for Thanksgiving:
+ Balance
+ Support
+ Acceptance
+ Discipline
+ Transformation
Let’s dive in and learn how to incorporate these lessons into life beyond the mat.
Balance
Yoga teaches us to honor and acknowledge both sides of the body, whether we are on all 4’s or standing on 1 leg. As you deepen your practice, you learn to really feel your body as it moves and to use your breath when you are feeling off balance or unsteady. This is a practice we most definitely can use in life outside of class. Next time you are feeling overwhelmed with your To-Do list, being pulled in all directions, and unsteady in your emotions; slow your body, use your breath to steady your mind and acknowledge all the aspects in your life. Allow your mind to prioritize the items on your list that are necessary and those that can be delegated or put on hold. Take a moment to really feel where you are being pulled and how you can lessen the stress. It’s when we slow down and allow ourselves to feel what is happening to our body and mind that we can make the adjustments necessary.
Support
If you have read any of our posts on yoga props, you will know this one is a biggie. Our instructors are very encouraging of the use of props during class to help you during your practice. The lesson here is to establish a firm and solid foundation before you reach and extend yourself into a pose. We also dispel the believe that support makes us weak. Asking for and using support aids us both on and off the mat.
Acceptance
Another valuable lesson from yoga is that of acceptance. As stated above, instructors encourage students to be present within their own body rather than try to mimic or imitate another person’s position. Being able to accept where your body is and what feels best for you is an incredibly important tool to use off the mat. Allowing ourselves to stay in a place that doesn’t feel good or push ourselves to do things that hurt us can only end in suffering. Accepting our own intuition and using that to guide us can bring forth incredible change.
Discipline
This is a big one, folks. Yoga, like many forms of exercise, is best enjoyed on a consistent basis. Change can only happen if you maintain a routine practice schedule. Taking this into our day to day life, we learn that we should prioritize activities and then stick to it in order to transform.
Transformation
Speaking of transformation, that’s our final yoga lesson for this post! Yoga teaches us that throughout the path of transformation, we will encounter struggle and success. No two yoga classes are exactly the same and our body will feel and respond differently each time. Yoga teaches us to remove the emotional attachment or judgment from this fact and to understand that perseverance during the struggle and celebrating the success will keep us coming back for more. This can be taken off the mat as well. Show me a life without struggle, and I will show you a life unlived. In order to experience life to its fullest potential and to become who we are meant to be, we must allow ourselves to be in the struggle, maintain our growth with support and balance, and accept that our intuition will guide us.
This year, take what you have learned in your yoga practice beyond the mat. Show the world around you how yoga is more than flexibility and stretching. It is a way of life!
