Grateful for You

Dear YS Students,

We are wishing you and yours a delicious and delightful Thanksgiving! We are ever so grateful to share this practice of yoga with our dear community of friends. Thank you so much!

With the beginning of the holiday season, most of us find that whatever we feel about our lives is magnified. If you pause right now and take a deep breath, how are you feeling in your body? In your heart? Yoga allows us connection to ourselves and access to what we feel.

Gratitude is a beautiful way to enrich our appreciation of all that is good in our lives and is something we can practice no matter what is happening. What are you grateful for right now? At Yoga Sanctuary we created a garland of fall leaves with words from students and teachers. We are so grateful for you, for our community, for yoga practice, for our beautiful sanctuary studio. For the quiet space to pause and feel in between the busy moments of our lives and all the craziness happening in the world.

Often we take on the pressure of the idea that we are "supposed" to feel happy and delighted at every turn during the holidays. For some of us, the delight and joy of being with friends, family and loved ones is the prevalent emotion but even then - do you allow yourself room for other feelings as well? What if you are an introvert about to have (or be in) a house full of people - do you allow yourself a few moments to slip into a quiet room to breathe and restore so you can truly enjoy the company around you? Or maybe you are an extrovert but are about to spend time with someone whose political views differ from yours or with whom you have a difficult relationship. Do you have a plan for how you might take space, go for a walk, call a friend for a reality check or support?

Take your yoga off your mat and into your holidays! Give yourself room to breathe and feel whatever you do. Connect to yourself and honor your needs. Be generous to yourself and you will have generosity to share. Soak in the joy, honor sadness or loss, allow yourself to be fully human and you will find that by being with multiverse of your inner experience, there is peace in the inner sanctuary you have created for yourself.

With love and gratitude always,
Sara Rose