Today is day 5 of our 10 Days of Gratitude Challenge at Backwards Yoga.  Each year I participate in this challenge I feel like it genuinely changes me as a yogi and a person.  Every day we’re prompted to think deeply on a topic that we may give little attention to on a normal day.  Yesterday we reflected on other people supporting us… which led me to send out a number of texts to people that may not even know how much I’ve needed them… but prompting me to think about it made me want to reach out and tell them how much they mean to me.  I think that’s pretty normal in our everyday lives to walk around and take so much for granted.  Challenges like this 10 Days of Gratitude really help us all to slow down.

Sometimes this slowing down can mean that the days are dragging by… how many classes do I have to stay for today to make up for the fact I don’t want to get here at 5:30am when its cold out and my bed is warm?  But mostly this slowing down just gives a good time to reflect on our lives.  The last 5 days have also opened up seeing how other people interpret their world.  Its easy to come to class and not even interact with anyone- I prefer a quiet practice most of the time anyway.  But the Gratitude Challenge gives us a chance to know each other better and connect on a level that we may not get to even if we spoke every time we all came to class.  I’ve gained so much appreciation for each and every yogi at the studio through watching what they post throughout these 10 Days.

Its fun to see cute kids and pets- all of us getting out of our comfort zones- even beautiful selfies when we don’t have anyone to take the photo for us… but these 10 Days are short in the grand scheme of things.. I wish everyone would take advantage of it!  Good luck on the next 5 days fellow challenge-goers.  If you have not yet signed up to be a part of the challenge I highly encourage you to do so.  You definitely put yourself out there, but the love and embrace you feel back from our little family is so worth it!

Namaste, Angela