Gratefulness

It’s hard to count all the moments I might feel grateful for.  Even in the midst of deep turmoil and pain, there are things to appreciate.  Of course, our human brains are evolved to avoid threats and guard opportunities.  But every spiritual master I have heard or read has said that avoiding losses and preserving boons doesn't give a person true, lasting happiness.  That inevitably, life is a dance of gaining and losing, pleasure and pain.  True happiness, they say, is to feel content with profit and loss in equal measure.  Enjoy when it comes, enjoy when it goes.  Karma yoga then, is to act for the benefit of humanity without regard for the reward of your actions.

I have thought about this a lot since opening our studio.  There are busy days when it feels like every little thing has a hitch and needs my attention.  There are slow days when I feel worried that opening a studio was naïve without an MBA.  These thoughts, which Dr. Daniel G. Amen calls “ANTs” or automatic negative thoughts, obscure the reality of the situation I face.  When I really sit down to think about it, I see there is a thread of gratitude that runs through all of these challenges.  I can choose to direct my thoughts to that thread whenever I wish.  That is pratipaksha bhavana, which means to cultivate the opposite (positive thought).  It is easy for me to direct my thoughts towards positivity when I think about all the people I know through this studio.

At the risk of sounding like an Academy Award winner on Oscar night, I really feel that the studio would not be possible without everyone involved.  It starts with the students.  Without students, we are not teachers.  I know that all of the teachers at 5KY are incredibly grateful to you for sharing your practice with us.  Practicing yoga can be a time of deep intimacy and vulnerability (first of all, with one’s own self).  Your trust in us to navigate with you through it is something we do not take lightly.

No less important are the wonderful teachers and workshop leaders who choose to hold space here for that vulnerability.  They have many gifts and it touches me to see the flow between them and their students.  It inspires me to do my best work and create a space that nurtures personal transformation on every level.  I feel a deep commitment to the symbiotic growth between this community, our teachers, and our students.

On a personal but also, practical level is the gratitude I feel for the people behind the scenes.  Gratitude for the people who keep things running when I am away from the studio, the people working on our online presence in the wee hours of the night, the people offering support and guidance when I need it, as well as the people inspiring our mission.

And that is the definition of a sangha.  It is a collective of like-minded individuals, who remind one another of the mutual goal (no less than self-realization) and support each other in this bold pursuit.  Individuals who believe that by benefiting the sangha, we are benefited ourselves many times over.  It is a collective of people who are optimistic that humanity can be a force for good.  People who know that to create the intimacy and vulnerability we seem to lack today, we must focus on creating it within our own selves first.

There is so much that I have to feel grateful for this year.  I thank you for being a part of our sangha.  Happy Thanksgiving to you.

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