Gratitude Meditation: Benefits, Tips and Technique

Gratitude Meditation — Yoga & Meditation


Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years for enlightenment, mindfulness and inner peace, however it only not too long ago has been incorporated with the practice of gratitude. Gratitude mediation encourages you to focus on the items you are grateful for in your life. It aids you appreciate the compact blessings in your life and boosts your mental and physical overall health. Gratitude meditation is a fantastic way to begin every day and finish every day with happiness and joy. It’s also a effective way to reap each the rewards of meditation and a practice of gratitude.

What is gratitude meditation?

In gratitude meditation, you focus your consideration on feeling grateful and appreciative. Centering our thoughts on positive feelings whilst breathing gradually and deeply promotes a peaceful heart, a clear thoughts, and a balanced body. As you bring all of your mental focus and concentration to feeling a state of thankfulness and gratitude, your thoughts will quiet down so you can shift into a state of meditation. You can also use this approach any time of day to aid overcome any adverse feelings or feelings that may possibly be present in your life.

Benefits of gratitude meditation

There are quite a few effective effects of gratitude meditation that are beneficial for your well-being and mental overall health. First, it aids you appreciate all that you currently have. Second, it aids you create a sense of gratitude for all that you expertise on your life’s journey—both the delighted instances and difficult moments. Third, it cultivates contentment via appreciation, which leads to more inner peace, happiness, and joy. Finally, meditation for gratitude teaches you to live in the present moment rather of dwelling on the previous or worrying about the future.

By focusing our consideration on gratitude, other positive habits naturally arise. Practicing gratitude meditation cultivates patience, empathy, generosity, humility, joyfulness, and optimism. It also reduces tension, be concerned, anxiety, and other adverse feelings. Gratitude meditation aids us cultivate an attitude of gratitude towards every little thing about us, whilst requiring only a minimal quantity of expense, time, and work.

Gratitude meditation practice approach

  1. Identify the items in your life that you are grateful for. Write down 3 items (persons, areas, experiences, and so forth.) that you are thankful for suitable now. For instance, I am grateful for my loved ones, my job, and my dwelling.
  2. Find a quiet spot exactly where you will not be disturbed. Make confident you really feel warm, due to the fact the temperature of the space will influence your comfort level. If you are feeling cold, place on a sweater or wrap a meditation shawl about you.
  3. Find a comfortable position with your back straight. Feel your spine lengthy and your shoulders and jaw relaxed. You can spot pillows and blankets beneath your knees and hips for help.
  4. Close your eyes and take a handful of deep breaths into your belly.
  5. Focus your consideration on the 1st issue on your list. Summon up feelings of gratitude, thankfulness and appreciation for this particular person, spot or expertise. Think about how substantially they imply to you and how fortunate you are to have them in your life. Notice how you really feel when you acknowledge these items. If your thoughts wanders, bring your consideration back to feeling grateful. Keep breathing gradually and deeply.
  6. Repeat with the second and third items on your list.
  7. End your meditation by imagining or feeling blessings of gratitude surrounding you or raining down upon you. Focus on the truth that you have every little thing you need to have suitable now and that and abundance of beauty, peace, and joy surrounds you. Place your hands more than your heart and take a handful of slow deep breaths, feeling gratitude for all the superior items that you have in your life.

Tips to deepen your gratitude meditation

  • You may possibly want to preserve a gratitude journal so you can record your thoughts and feelings as you go via every session.
  • If you are struggling with the above guidelines, you can use a guided gratitude meditation video.
  • If you need to have a shorter meditation session, only spot 1-2 items on your list. Likewise, for a longer session, generate a longer list.
  • You can incorporate Sanskrit mantras into your meditation. See our list of the ideal gratitude mantras to discover.
  • Have a frequent and constant practice. For the ideal benefits, make it a habit and aspect of your every day morning or evening routine.
  • Consider reading an inspiring quote on yoga and gratitude at the begin of your meditation.
  • Meditation teacher Jack Kornfield suggests that when you are comfy with your gratitude practice, you can challenge oneself by getting grateful for “neutral people, difficult people, and even enemies—until you extend sympathetic joy to all beings everywhere, young and old, near and far.”

Why ought to you practice gratitude meditation?

It is stated that if you appear at your life via rose-colored glasses, you will see only the superior items. But if you appear at it via dark lenses, you will see all the troubles, failures, disappointments, and discomfort. Gratitude meditation offers us the chance to see the lighter side of life. Instead of dwelling on our negative feelings, we can discover to recognize and appreciate the positive elements of our experiences.

When we expertise events and scenarios as possibilities to develop spiritually and emotionally, then we really feel grateful for these possibilities. This leads to a feeling of contentment and happiness. On the other hand, if we see items negatively, we have a tendency to really feel stressed out, anxious, angry, upset, and depressed. When we are capable to recognize experiences as blessings, then we turn out to be delighted and thankful. We are grateful for the chance to discover and develop.



Originally published in www.yogabasics.com