By:
Virginia Iversen, M.Ed.
In the
United States, it is the beginning of Thanksgiving weekend. Over the next
several days, many people will travel extensive distances, in order to
celebrate this traditional harvest holiday with family and friends.
Thanksgiving honors the great wealth and abundance in our lives. This wealth
and abundance may come in the form of money, or it may be in the form of
enriching experiences, close family relationships and friendships of all kinds.
Traditionally, the Thanksgiving holiday celebrated the abundant harvest that
was gathered during this season. At the present time, the abundant harvest
often takes the form of a really good Black Friday sale!
However
for some Yoga practitioners, the Thanksgiving holiday may generate feelings of
lack and poverty when they compare their own lives with the lives of those
around them. When this happens, it may be difficult for a Yoga student to feel
grateful for the good things in his or her own life. Truly speaking, the vast
majority of us in the United States have access to clean drinking water and
good food, almost all the time. In this simple way, many of us have more
abundance in our lives than other people do in many areas of the world. In
addition, if we're able to pay for a Yoga class and practice in a beautiful
studio for an hour or longer, we are truly blessed with a substantial level of
financial abundance and good physical health.
If you
decide to teach the underlying virtue of gratitude in a Thanksgiving Yoga class,
you will help your students to see that their cup is usually half full and not
half empty! By weaving in the awareness of gratitude into a Yoga class, you
will help to uplift your students' spirits, when they shift their internal
focus from what they're missing to the good things in their own lives.
Recently, I was watching a lecture about the teachings of
Buddhism, that was given by the young head of a well-known Tibetan Buddhist
lineage. In this dharma talk, the Karmapa spoke about one of the primary
branches of Tibetan Buddhist practices: rejoicing.
The practice of "rejoicing" is geared towards cultivating an
inner sense of happiness and well being. I have found that many Tibetan meditation practices can become quite complicated, however the
practice of shifting one's mind from a negative thought pattern to one of
rejoicing is quite simple and will very quickly shift one's internal state from
negativity to the fullness of gratitude. Over time, by consistently shifting a
negative pattern of thinking to one of gratitude, you will be able to help your
Yoga students to ameliorate the negative thinking patterns, which are often the
underlying, cause of depression and anxiety.
A wonderful
way to weave the virtue of gratitude and thanksgiving into a Yoga class is to
begin your class by reading a passage from a poem, piece of literature or
sacred text that focuses on the exuberant essence of rejoicing. You may also
want to ask your Yoga students to share one aspect of their lives for which
they are grateful. For instance, you may want to dedicate a brief period of
sharing uplifting experiences, positive insights or other beneficent aspects of
their lives, at either the beginning or ending portion of a Yoga class. In this
way, you will be integrating and nurturing an uplifting awareness of
thanksgiving into your holiday Yoga classes.
Virginia Iversen, M.Ed, has been practicing and studying the art
of Yoga for over twenty years. She lives in Woodstock, New York, where she
works as a writer and an academic support specialist. She is currently
accepting Yoga and health-related writing orders and may be contacted at: enchantress108@gmail.com.
© Copyright 2015 – Virginia Iversen / Aura Wellness Center –
Publications Division
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1 comment:
The practice of "rejoicing" is geared towards cultivating an inner sense of happiness and well being. Thanks for good posting!
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