My personal gratitude journey began in 2017 with an "assignment." Longfellow and Lumina ran a 30 Days of Gratitude campaign for the month of November in honor of Thanksgiving. I created #30daysofgratitude to use on Lumina's Facebook page, where every day I would post a different quote by someone famous on the topic of gratitude. Here are a few examples:
During my yoga classes I would read the quote of the day to my students and I encouraged the other instructors to do the same. It brought us together as a community.
Throughout the month I noticed that I was looking forward to reading the daily gratitude quote and allowing the message to sink into my own heart and mind. I observed a small shift within myself toward open-heartedness, and it grew as the month progressed. It was a simple enough practice, an assignment given by the owner of the studio; I wasn't expecting it to have such a profound effect on me and my life.
Toward the end of the month I was actually sad that it was coming to an end. I noticed a feeling of loss starting to well up inside me. It was then that the Universe stepped in to heal the void When a friend added me to The Gratitude Circle on Facebook. This was a closed group where every day people would post things that they were grateful for. They were running a 40 day Gratitude challenge, starting December 1st (such good timing!) where you post your own "gratitudes" every day for 40 days. I signed up and haven't looked back.
What I have found is that actively practicing gratitude shifts your mindset toward optimism and open-heartedness. Noticing and acknowledging things in your life for which you are grateful helps you see more of them. When you are buying a house, you suddenly see "for sale" signs everywhere. When you are grateful for the people and things in your life, you suddenly have so much more to be grateful for. Appreciating what you have creates a satisfaction with your life, where you no longer focus on lack or what is going wrong. This practice won't keep things from going wrong, it is life after all, it just shifts your focus and helps you feel better when challenges arise. The practice of Gratitude creates less stress in your mind and body, leaving you feeling more peaceful. Who couldn't use some of that?
How to start a Gratitude Practice
Starting a gratitude practiced is easy. I recommend getting a journal and creating a ritual where every day you write down 1-5 things that you are grateful for. They could be big, like "I am so grateful to my friend when she helped me when I was feeling lost," or small, like "I am grateful for my cup of tea." These items should be different every day. Dedicate 5-10 minutes to your practice so that you can really sit with any feelings that arise. The idea is that you start to notice and acknowledge all of the good things in your life. When you start looking for them, they become more noticeable. You could also sit and practice gratitude during meditation, or just say them out loud to yourself. Personally I like writing it down so that I can reread it multiple times; to me it gives the practice more weight and grounding. Also, you don't need to practice daily, although a daily practice is powerful. Even a few times per week can have a profound effect on how you feel and how you perceive situations in your life.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/compassion-matters/201511/the-healing-power-gratitude
https://www.successconsciousness.com/guest_articles/power_of_gratitude.htm
https://chopra.com/articles/cultivate-the-healing-power-of-gratitude
Janine L. Agoglia has been teaching Vinyasa yoga since 1998. Her yoga journey started in 1995 with Iyengar Yoga and she stumbled upon Vinyasa yoga in 1997. The combination of breath with proper body alignment is what fuels Janine's practice and the classes that she teaches. She believes that yoga should be safe as well as challenging, creative and fun. She always emphasizes proper alignment within the flow, as well as focus, breath and humor to help students find the balance between strength and ease. Deepening one’s physical awareness helps one strengthen his/her spiritual awareness and mind-body connection. Janine has created classes such as Yoga Explorations and Foam Roll Your Yoga to help students deepen their understanding of the yoga poses and how to take care of their bodies while practicing yoga asana. Janine loves being able to help people deepen their own practices, finding yoga in everyday life, on and off the mat. Her DVD, “Vinyasa Yoga for Regular People” is available for purchase at the front desk at Lumina Mind Body Studios in Wayland, MA.
In addition to being Director of Yoga at Lumina Mind Body Studios in Wayland and Natick, Janine is also a Licensed acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist who practices at Integrative Therapeutics in Natick. To contact Janine, please email her at acuyogamama@hotmail.com.
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