Gratitude Yoga.

I promised I'd be back yesterday with a little piece on my creation of 'gratitude yoga', but you know what? I had too much fun. I hit the slopes, which had full patches of powder on the second day of ski season, with Kim & Schmeltz. It was cold, but not as cold as we thought it was going to be, I grinned. We skied. I kept grinning. We met Torre and went for Hazie's Bloodies, and there I was positively giddy with gratitude. Three of the people who make my Steamboat world go 'round, slap-happy from skiing, with a touch of vodka & tomato & pickled vegetables up the wazoo.
Kim came over and I moved onto cooking-- stuffing, artichoke dip, creamed onions & pumpkin pie. And then it was a whirlwind to get showered & dressed and transport ourselves and all of the food up to Teen's house for a giant feast of thanks with ten friends. The food was awesome, the friends were fun, and we played dominos and I was kind of good at it!

So, the bustle of the great day made me glad I had chosen to do my yoga first thing, as I don't think I ever would have gotten to it later on. The idea came to me early yesterday. In one of the yoga classes I attend semi-regularly, we do surya namaskara, which is a type of sun salutation. It involves twelve asanas (poses). It looks a little something like this:

So, I decided that I would make a list of twelve things I am grateful for in my life, and I dedicated one round of surya namaskara to each. Through the flow I kept my thoughts channeled on that theme. And it worked. It was awesome. I finished with a huge sense of gratitude (and a couple tree poses, because that is my favorite). Here were my twelve:

1. Family

2. Health/My Body

3. Friends

4. Steamboat

5. Home

6. Snow

7. Those who have passed away

8. Yoga

9. The Natural World (particularly trees & mountains)

10. Choice

11. Music

12. Myself

The list could have gone on and on, but these are the themes cover the biggest categories. 

What are you grateful for?