A Gentle Gratitude Meditation for Thanksgiving

The weeks before Thanksgiving can fill up fast. There are meals to plan, travel to arrange and people to see, and many of us end up feeling more stretched than thankful. When the body is busy bracing for the next thing, it can be hard to notice the good that is already here.

Gratitude offers a way to center even in the most hectic of days. You can hold what is hard and still pause long enough to notice what is steady and nourishing in your life right now. Even a few minutes of that kind of noticing can help the nervous system soften out of rush mode.

For many years, that pause felt out of reach for me. During the hardest seasons of my life, appreciation didn’t come naturally. Slowly, with consistent practice, I learned to see the ordinary days and often mundane moments differently. I began to find small gems hidden inside them. That practice helped me pause, take a breath and see the grace in getting through another moment, even at times that felt too much, too fast paced or heavy.

Over time, a light within me grew through my own spiritual practice and through my work with students and clients. Many of them needed a few words of inspiration in yoga therapy sessions or workshops. My book, The Light Within: 108 Poems for Mindfulness, Healing, Yoga and Meditation, is my offering from that place, for yoga teachers, therapists and seekers alike. I’ll share two of its poems with you here.

In this post: A gratitude poem to begin · A 5-minute gratitude meditation · Why gratitude helps · A gratitude poem to carry with you · Journal prompts · FAQ

This poem from The Light Within is a reminder that gratitude often lives in the smallest moments. Read it slowly, perhaps out loud, and let the exhale grow a little longer than the inhale.

The Sacred Gift
a call to witness the Divine in everyday

Each breath
a miracle,
a silent testament to life’s grace.

In quiet moments
when the world slows its pace,
we find the Divine
in the simple act of being,
laced within the ordinary,
woven through the mundane.

Gratitude blooms
in the awareness of now,
in the warmth of sunlight on skin,
the hush of wind through leaves,
the birdsong that fills the dawn of a new day.

Life, in all its complexity,
offers countless reasons to give thanks.
Not for certainty,
but for experience.
For the opportunity to feel,
to learn,
to grow.

So let us honor this gift
by living with intention,
by embracing each moment
with open hearts
and reverent minds.

For in recognizing the sacredness of life,
we attune ourselves,
we attune to the beauty that surrounds and sustains us.
And this is the gift
found not in the next moment,
but in the one we are breathing right now.

From The Light Within, p. 181

After reading, notice one small thing the senses can find right now, like the feet on the earth, the sound of the room or the feeling of the breath moving in and out. Gratitude doesn’t need a big occasion. It can begin with a single breath.

As an informal practice:

Pause for gratitude any time of the day or night: while waiting in a holiday shopping line, before a family meal or as you settle into sleep. Even one full cycle of breath can be your practice.

As a formal practice:

1. Settle in. Sit in a chair, or lie down on the earth, in bed or in Reclined Leg Rest, with the feet wide and the knees resting together (page 46 of my book Yoga for Low Back and Hip Health). Close the eyes or soften the gaze.
2. Focus on the breath. Take about five or six slower, lower inhales and exhales, in and out through the nose. Notice where you feel the breath in the body.
3. Rest the hands. Place one hand on the heart and one on the belly. Notice the weight of the hands and the gentle movement of the breath underneath them. Soften with each exhale.
4. Focus the mind on gratitude. As you breathe in, silently say, “I am breathing.” As you breathe out, “Thank you.” Repeat for a few breaths. If the moment feels tense, you don’t need to feel thankful for it. Simply appreciate the breath that carries you through it.
5. Return. Take three slow breaths. If the eyes were closed, gently blink them open. Let the body stretch to release stillness. Move with care back into your day.

When life feels rushed, many of us stay on alert, already thinking about the next thing to handle. That kind of stress can keep the body braced and the breath shallow. Gratitude gently shifts the spotlight toward what is safe and supportive. Pairing it with a slow exhale and feeling the feet or the weight of the hands can help the body settle and rest for a moment.

Research supports this simple practice. In a well-known set of studies, people who wrote down what they were thankful for each week or each day reported more positive moods than people who listed hassles or neutral events (Emmons and McCullough, 2003). Slow breathing helps too. A review of research on slow breathing found that it was linked with feeling more relaxed and comfortable, less anxious, and with more activity in the body’s rest-and-digest system (Zaccaro et al., 2018).

Aparigraha is one of the five yamas, the ethical practices described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. It is often translated as non-grasping or non-possessiveness. I prefer to teach it as something we can do rather than something we need to stop. So instead of not holding on to a state of mind that makes us feel lack, we can focus the mind on appreciating what is already here, which naturally loosens our grip.

When we practice aparigraha in this spirit, we let go of the belief that we need more before we can feel content. Cultivating gratitude is like working out a muscle. The more we practice, the stronger it tends to get. As we continue to grow this perspective, regardless of what we own or have achieved, we make space for receptivity. We move from lack to plenty. Each time we notice the blessings already around us, or find something to learn in a hard moment, we strengthen the depths of moment-to-moment appreciation. Over time, appreciating what is here tends to open the door to more peace and ease.

This matters during the holidays, when it’s easy to measure the season by what we buy, cook or get done. Aparigraha reminds us that enough is already here: the breath, the people who care for us and our own inner worth.

Chapter VIII of The Light Within has a poem for each of the ten yamas and niyamas, including one for aparigraha, so you can carry these teachings into daily life or build a class around them.

This excerpt is from a longer poem about the kind of wealth no one can give or take away. It pairs beautifully with aparigraha and with the breath of thanks in the meditation above.

Worth That Cannot Be Bought or Sold (excerpt)
an invitation to let appreciation reveal your inner treasure

There is a kind of wealth
that cannot be counted,
cannot be bought,
cannot be sold.

It arrives not when we acquire more,
but when we remember
that we are already worthy,
that our talents and abilities
are our greatest treasure.

But at times,
that knowing may be locked away.
So let gratitude be the key
that opens this truth.
Move past the edges of striving,
to something closer,
breathing its way into a lighter heart.

Let gratitude gentle the heart as practice,
not as performance,
or another to-do.
Let it remind you
that abundance has always
been within you.
Let it guide you to choose appreciation.
To rest in the wholeness and worthiness
already present.

The full poem, along with 107 others, is in The Light Within (p. 169).

Get poems and simple practices in your inbox. Join my mailing list for new readings, practices and book news.

• How can gratitude open my heart to a more balanced life, and what is already present that I could rest my appreciation in?
• Place a hand on your heart and silently say “thank you.” What do you notice?
• Where can I loosen my grip on doing it all, and let others support me this holiday season?

A gratitude meditation is a short, quiet practice where you rest your attention on people, moments or qualities you appreciate. Pairing it with slow breathing helps the body settle so the feeling of appreciation becomes an embodied practice.

Five minutes is plenty to start, and even one full cycle of breath can be your practice. Choose a length that feels supportive and that you can return to often.

That’s okay. Simply noticing that gratitude feels hard right now is a start. Instead of staying focused on what feels hard or heavy, try zooming out to a wider view. The sun came up today without any effort, and night will come the same way. The heart keeps beating without a single thought. Clean water, clothes to wear and a warm meal are gifts many of us can appreciate. And each day brings a new chance to shape our lives. Start simply, from that wider perspective.

Yes. The Light Within was written with yoga teachers and yoga therapists in mind. The Poetic Practice Index at the back sorts every poem into ten uses, including opening meditations, final relaxation and journal prompts. Reference tables also match poems to the chakras, koshas, yamas, niyamas and fifteen common class themes, so you can find a reading for any class in a minute or two.

Look inside the book on the book page.

Want one-on-one support? I also offer private online yoga therapy sessions.

May this season meet you with ease, and may you notice the light that is already within you. Namaste.

• Roberts, C. The Light Within: 108 Poems for Mindfulness, Healing, Yoga and Meditation. “The Sacred Gift” (p. 181) and “Worth That Cannot Be Bought or Sold” (p. 169).
• Emmons, R. A. and McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377-389.
• Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B. and Gemignani, A. (2018). How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353.