"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice." ~Meister Eckhart
My husband recently crashed his road bike while enjoying a weekend ride. I got the call from a stranger who found him and stopped to help. Immediately a sense of panic struck my body. I could feel my heart rate accelerate, my body tighten, my breathe shorten, and my mind begin to create the worst-case scenarios. All in the time it took her to say, "I am with your husband. He crashed his bike." She said he was alright, but he was injured and being taken to the hospital by paramedics with what was likely a fractured collar bone and some deep bruising and I should meet them at the ER. This stranger unknowingly was able to give me some relief when she said he was in good spirits (as my husband usually is) and joking of needing a new bike (as my husband usually is). Knowing this and remembering my yoga, I took a few deep breathes and headed to the hospital to meet him.
Since this incident all I can feel is deep gratitude on many levels:
1) I am so grateful that this only resulted in a broken collar bone. The injuries could have be so much more serious, especially when I saw the helmet!
2) I am grateful for that stranger and that she took the time to help him and console me and for all the other people involved in this story, the paramedics, nurses, surgeon, etc.
3) I am so grateful for my body and the abilities I have to practice yoga, walk, jump, run, dance, etc.
4) I am so grateful for my husband and all the little tasks he usually does that I take for granted like carrying groceries, walking the dogs, taking out the trash, and cooking (I definitely miss his cooking)!
5) I am grateful for the little things. People tend to focus on what we don't have or can't do, we forget to be grateful for all we have - a sunny day, a roof over our heads, and food to eat. What we deem as necessities, so much of the world is without!
Yoga exercises gratitude as much as it does the muscles of the body. Just as the physical practice of yoga, asana and pranayama, open the body, breath, and mind, the holistic practice of yoga will release the gratitude that resides within us. Gratitude is so important to our mental and physical well-being. Physical pain is inevitable in life, but suffering or the emotions we attach to that pain is a choice. If instead of suffering from pain, we choose to appreciate that pain and its importance in our life (you can't know pleasure without pain), we can rid our bodies and minds of negative emotions and replace them with positive ones leading to a happier life! I can attest to this experience as this gratitude has truly brought me joy in a painful time.
So I invite you to practice gratitude, maybe just for an hour, maybe for a day, a week or longer. Start with gratitude for yourself and your abilities. Let the people in your life know you appreciate them and all the little things they do. Make a list of everything you are grateful for. Or it can be as simple as just saying "thank you" whenever you can... start with the barista at Starbucks. By practicing gratitude, you will indeed notice a physical and mental shift for the better.
