Countless studies support the health benefits of cultivating gratitude. According to a March 2023 UCLA Health article, cultivating gratitude can help with depression, anxiety, and stress; it can also improve sleep and support heart health. How? “Taking a moment to be thankful causes physiological changes in your body that initiate the parasympathetic nervous system – the part of your nervous system that helps you rest and digest. Gratitude and the response it causes helps bring down your blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing to help with overall relaxation.” I always end my chair yoga (and mat yoga) classes with a moment of gratitude – for the good and positive in our lives, as well as the challenges. And, especially for the kindness and love and compassion we show ourselves when we practice yoga – and how that allows us to be a little more loving and kind and compassionate with others as we go about our day. Thus, we cultivate gratitude via Yoga by being present to practice self-acceptance and kindness.
Gratitude without Toxic Positivity
I’m a recovering alcoholic and have found much peace in practicing gratitude. Which is why I always end my yoga classes with a moment of gratitude – knowing that by increasing our capacity for loving kind compassion for others, we contribute to spreading the kindness that the world needs so much of these days.Those who attend my classes seem to appreciate this manner of closing. But, am I guilty of toxic positivity? I like to think I’m not and that we can practice gratitude without toxic positivity via yoga – whether we practice chair yoga or mat yoga and whether we practice in-person or on-demand.
My Practice of Gratitude
Before going down the Google rabbit hole of gratitude (and, it’s quite the rabbit hole), my definition of practicing gratitude was formed in my early days of sobriety – when it was suggested that I focus on all the things that hadn’t happened to me and find some gratitude in having made it to the rooms of recovery. So, I started thinking about how I hadn’t died while driving drunk, how I hadn’t killed anyone else while driving drunk, how I hadn’t been physically harmed while drunk, how my children hadn’t been taken away from me because of my neglect of them, how my children hadn’t died in a house fire when I left them alone so I could go out and drink, etc., etc. As my sobriety (& spirituality) deepened, I came to also find gratitude in all the good that had come out of the darkness, especially for the tools I’d acquired that help me comprehend the word serenity and know peace, no matter my external circumstances. My life hasn’t been a bed of roses since I stopped using alcohol and other substances to change the way I feel. But, I am filled with gratitude for the inner growth I’ve experienced, which helps me practice self-acceptance and kindness enough that I haven’t (yet) used alcohol or other substances to change the way I feel when the going gets tough.
When I remember to start my day with a moment or two of gratitude reflection (which I don’t do every day – I am still a work in progress), it always helps me have a day that is more responsive than reactive. I often start my mental list with gratitude for another day alive, another day clean and sober, and another day that I have a spiritual toolkit I can use to take the time for a moment of quiet contemplation of gratitude. And, when this moment is happening as I get on my mat (or in my chair) to practice asana (the movement piece of the eight limbs of yoga), I try to remember gratitude for how yoga has become an integral part of that toolkit. In my mind (and, more importantly, in my heart), I am practicing being grateful for the peace and serenity that has arisen out of a great many challenges – out of a lot of pain.
Am I Practicing Toxic Positivity?
I like to make plans / outlines and had planned to write about Cultivating Gratitude via Yoga this month. But, I wasn’t feeling inspired to write anything when the time came to get started (which I also schedule) – because I’ve been experiencing a lot of annoying physical symptoms and finding no answer to their cause(s). It’s probably “just” my already-diagnosed osteoarthritis (in my shoulder, cervical spine, and lumbar spine) having spread to my wrists and ankles. And, “at least” I have healthcare (and an appointment scheduled with my doctor for the middle of the month) and am clean & sober. A lot of internet memes and pundits would tell me that starting a sentence with “at least” or minimizing my situation with “just” is engaging in toxic positivity. But, “toxic positivity comes into play when our thankfulness focuses on, or only recognizes, wholly positive and optimistic moments, thoughts, and feelings.” That definition is according to Elise Robinson, author of one of the many many blogs I found on gratitude / radical gratitude / toxic positivity. So, it feels to me that I am not dismissing or avoiding the negative (a cornerstone of toxic positivity) – that I am acknowledging my past and my present and finding gratitude for where I am in that current moment. Sometimes I’m in a place of despair where I can find little more to be grateful for than being alive and sober and willing to contemplate gratitude.
Gratitude and Yoga
As international yoga teacher, inspirational speaker, and author Kino MacGregor says:
If you can learn to be happy right here, right now in the middle of whatever mess you find yourself deep in, then you’ll carry that happiness to the highest peaks of your life. But if you can’t find gratitude and happiness in your heart now, it’s unlikely that soaring achievements will bring it to you. The external world is only an amplifier for the inner world. You can’t control the outer world, but you can learn to mold your thoughts and thereby change the vibration of your inner world. The best time for training your mind is when things are easy because it’s when things are difficult that you’re tested.
Thus, when we can be grateful to our bodies for whatever state they are in when we get in our chair (or on our mat) to practice yoga, we are training our minds to carry that happiness to the highest peaks of our lives.
As long-time yoga teacher and teacher trainer Birgitte Kristen says:
Gratitude has a way of bringing us into the present moment, allowing us to be with what is. Our mind is no longer chasing after something in the future or lingering somewhere in the past. We are content.
So, when we can practice being present as we breathe and move (and sit in stillness) in a yoga class, we are practicing contentment, which is a result of gratitude. Contentment (santosha) is also one of the five niyamas of yoga; the niyamas are one of the eight limbs of yoga.
Eight Limbs of Yoga
There are eight limbs of yoga: restraints (yamas), positive observances (niyamas), postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), sense withdrawal (pratyahara), focused concentration (dharana), meditative absorption (dhyana), and enlightenment (samadhi). We generally consider the yamas and niyamas to be ethical guidelines. The five yamas are restraints: non-violence (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), non-stealing (asteya), right use of energy (brahmacharya), and non-attachment (agarigraha). The five niyamas are observances: cleanliness (soucha), contentment (santosha), discipline (tapas), inner exploration (svadhyaya), and surrender (ishvarapranidhana). All of these can play out in and are integral to a yoga practice: chair yoga or mat yoga. I have written about cultivating contentment in your yoga practice (santosha). I have also written about non-violence / nonharming (ahimsa) as including being kind and compassionate with oneself and how that plays out in a yoga class.
How to Cultivate Gratitude via Yoga?
There are many ways to cultivate gratitude – via prayer / meditation / daily lists, etc. I highly recommend the addition of yoga to your toolkit of ways to cultivate gratitude. Begin each yoga session setting the intention to be kind and compassionate with yourself. And, end it with gratitude for the kindness and compassion you showed yourself by attending the class. In the middle, stay in the present and thus practice acceptance for your body and what it can (and can’t) do. And, if you can do this consistently, you will discover that the transformative power of a consistent yoga practice (in a chair or on a mat) is deeply intertwined with the cultivation of gratitude.
I am grateful for the twists and turns of my life journey so far that have led me to the opportunity to offer Chair Yoga classes at several locations in the Birmingham, AL area. And to offer on-demand Chair Yoga via Patreon (with membership tiers from free to $15 a month) and YouTube.
Thank you for reading! And, please contact me with any questions – any time.