- Decreased negative stress
- Greater resistance to catching the common cold
- A sense of well-being and improved health
- Reduced risk of coronary artery disease
- Easier breathing with certain lung diseases, such as emphysema
- Improved coping ability for women with high-risk pregnancies
- Better coping skills during hardships
By practicing gratitude, in essence, we create more reasons to be grateful.
Even if you don’t have a regular yoga practice, there are ways to incorporate gratitude into your everyday life. Setting aside a few moments a day to just reflect on what you appreciate today can be helpful. If you find yourself entrenched in negative thinking, try to replace those stressful thoughts with thoughts of gratitude for yourself and others.
For example: if you get caught in the rain, try not to focus on the fact that you’re wet, uncomfortable, and probably late, but rather focus on the benefits that rain brings to the Earth. Another thing that can be helpful is journaling three or five small things for which you are grateful every morning after waking, or every evening before falling asleep. That way, when Thanksgiving rolls around again next year, you will have a wellspring of deep gratitude to share with others.
