Joyfull Living – November 2014

Thanksgiving is one of the most celebrated holidays, not just because so many people love a turkey dinner but because we feel the joy of gathering with loved ones. We intuitively know the importance of giving thanks. Through all the hustle and bustle of travel, preparing and cooking, stress often gets the best of us, especially when we neglect our “self-care” routines. We often end up exhausted and sometimes more resentful than grateful. Mostly, we simply forget to breathe! This is a perfect time to remind you of the Three Life Saving Breaths from my book Yoga On the Go. You can go to my website (www.louiselavergne.com) to watch my Three Deep Breaths video or go to www.jacksonvillereview.com to read my column—and use the link. Taking three deep breaths 3 times a day can help with holiday stress. If you take time to take care of your inner and outer well-being, you have a better chance at staying healthy, happy and grateful.

This is just one of the ways I help my clients to integrate mindfulness practices into their busy day. Taking charge of our thoughts and redirecting our mind to the present moment can be transformative and the value of practicing gratitude is inestimable. The two together: “Mindful Gratitude” is a winning combination. A great way to start to implement this practice is by creating a Gratitude Ritual. I am talking about going beyond the gratitude list, though that is part of it. This can become a powerful part of your daily self-care routine to bring deep healing, abundance and well-being in all areas of your life. I teach this practice in my program series “Living Inspired and Empowered—bringing meaning and joy into everyday living.” It doesn’t require you to change your current lifestyle or circumstance.

The word “ritual” implies an established set of procedures to mark a special occasion or ceremony. The Thanksgiving dinner ritual is one that we are all familiar with. Creating a mindful ritual is a way of elevating any task or practice into something important and healing. It’s like a prayer in motion and, just like Thanksgiving, it is non-denominational. You can be creative in how you make it meaningful, even fun, for yourself.

A ritual requires 3 things:

Intention: for example: “To create more peace in my body & in all areas of my life now.”

Focus: redirecting your mind to focus on your intention and stay present for the duration.

Effort: set a time and space and make this important enough to do it.

I want to inspire you this holiday season and give you what you need to get going with your own Gratitude Ritual. I am giving you the opportunity to sign up to receive one of my own gratitude rituals. It contains powerful affirmations and simple steps to start or enhance your own mindful-gratitude practice. You can use it for Thanksgiving Day or any day and it can be used as a daily practice. Send me an email to get it.

As we allow ourselves to soften and ease into gratitude, an amazing thing happens—we feel good. Not just about ourselves but everything and everyone.

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.”

~Meister Eckhart.

I will be offering 2 special events this month on Sunday the 9th: Deep Gratitude Sound Healing, and the 23rd a 2 hr. JoyFull Yoga & Sound Healing. I wish you a joy-full Thanksgiving holiday season. After you’ve had your dinner and you get to the “Oh no, I ate too much!” part, remember that breathing also helps with your digestion. Remember to take time to Breathe in gratitude to live in Joy.

© Louise Lavergne 2001-2014