Yogic Thanksgiving – Tory Jenis

It’s my Thanksgiving today.

I am crashed in bed with my two dogs at my side, snoring with bellies full of turkey from last night’s feast.  Usually, I would have been down cleaning the kitchen, doing the laundry and rushing around the house like a mad woman getting irritated at dirt, hairballs, and cracked plaster.

Instead, today I’m going to take the time to explore my surroundings and notice the beauty in everything around me, so I can really be thankful for all that I have. I’m slowing down today., unplugging myself from the computer, not looking at my cell phone and taking the time to thank myself and everyone around me for being exactly who they are right now. I am going to have apple pie with bourbon whipped cream for breakfast, go take a walk in the rain and cherish every raindrop that hits my skin.

One thing I have learned and truly believe is every morning is a blessing and every heartbeat is a gift. So why is it we race from one thing to another without experiencing the beauty of the raindrops, the glimmer of the sun or the taste of our sweat?

When I step on my mat or up to the barre, I try each time to find my idea of Thanksgiving – that magical time when I can drop all of my cares and worries and just be. It’s a practice that takes such focus and intention, letting go of finding the perfect physical form of a poses, and shifting my awareness to the small details that support the physical movement. Creating that union of my breath, heartbeat and connection with myself that only I can master. Knowing that if I get out of my head and into my heart I have for this brief moment found my place of Thanksgiving.

Only you can master this for yourself.  You can’t buy it online or pay someone else to do it for you. You have to lean to accept where you are and embrace every little wrinkle as if it is a masterpiece, a Picasso, something to be celebrated every minute.

I going to get on my mat at Blackbird today so that I can stand in the powerful nest we have all built, a place that we all can find simply a connection to ourselves, to community and give thanks every day for the bounties of beauty in and around us.

I am truly humbly thankful for each and every one of you that has found a home at Blackbird.  I am thankful for my loving husband who supports my crazy teaching and learning lifestyle, my incredible daughter who constantly reminds me to stop and smell the roses, and my two dogs Peppermint and Patti who continually teach me the BEAUTY IN EVERYTHING because they love me just the way I am.