Hello Yoga-Friends ~ Celebrating National Yoga Awareness Month on this GratiTuesday and all through the month of September. Founded by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2008, YAM (as I like to call it), is an annual month-long campaign and observance to educate about the health benefits of yoga and mindfulness.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), many individuals practice yoga to maintain their health and wellbeing, improve physical fitness, relieve stress, and enhance their quality of life. Their website – https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/yoga-what-you-need-to-know – provides information about yoga research and its health benefits, including those related to:

• • • stress management
    • mental/emotional health
    • promoting healthy eating/activity habits
    • restorative sleep
    • pain management
    • menopause, etc.

In addition, the September/October issue of Yoga Journal published an article entitled, “Calm Amid the Storm”, featuring Dr. Ingrid Yang’s prescription of pranayama (yogic breathing exercises) and asana (yogic poses and movement) in her treatment of COVID-19 patients. Says Dr. Yang, “Yoga is uniquely suited to assist with COVID-19 recovery. All techniques we’re using in pulmonary rehab… are pranayama, we just haven’t been calling it that.”

Yoga therapeutics, through pranayama, strengthens lung capacity and supporting musculature, while asana, such as Locust Pose (referred to as ‘proning’ in the medical field), address vascular blood clots cause by virus-caused tissue damage and inflammation. What’s more, mindfulness meditation or yoga nidra, also provide secondary benefits of relaxation, activating the parasympathetic nervous system.

Yoga is uniquely suited to assist with COVID-19 recovery. All techniques we’re using in pulmonary rehab… are pranayama, we just haven’t been calling it that.”

Yoga and mindfulness meditation may well play a significant role in maintaining or regaining one’s health and wellness. However, amid the current rate of Delta Variant infections and hospitalizations rising nationwide, my inclination is to follow the guidance of qualified medical experts and science-based research.

As always, each Tuesday we invite one another to express one thing – in the comments field – for which you are grateful, and/or Share that sentiment as a post on your favorite social media site. It needn’t be lofty and can certainly reflect something we usually take for granted. I’ll go first… I AM so happy and grateful for my yoga practice. Now your turn. I AM so happy and grateful now that/for: _________________________________________________________________________

#laurelblossomyoga #omofficeyoga #corporateyoga #corporatewellness #virtualyoga #virtualmeditation #reiki #om #meditation #mindfulness #gratitude #gratituesday #yogajournal #pranayama #nationalyogaawarenessmonth

Hello Yoga-Friends ~ Offering a retrospective of sorts on this GratiTuesday. One year ago this week, the governor of Massachusetts declared a state of emergency. With the exception of “essential services” all businesses, schools and organizations were ordered to close in an effort to flatten the curve of rising and potentially deadly COVID-19 infections. Initially this shut down was intended to be in effect for two weeks.

One year ago this week I taught my last onsite corporate yoga class, as well as my last in-person yoga class. I clearly remember that final post-yoga-class high five with a student who was visibly worried. She had asked me if I was freaking out over the coronavirus and the looming shut down, “Nope.” This is what I told her one year ago this week:

• • I have complete faith in humanity
  • We pull together during crises
  • Our capacity for compassion is boundless
  • We are creative problem solvers
  • Adapting to novel environments and situations is what we do!
  • Science, scientists, medical professionals are ON it
  • Ultimately, I’m betting we will find value in pressing pause

I actually published the above in my March 17th, 2020, GratiTuesday post.

One year ago this week both of my yoga and wellness businesses shifted from onsite, in-person to 100% virtual. It was all Zoom all the time. Over the next few weeks more and more cities, counties, then states shut down as COVID-19 cases rose. In fact, because pretty much everyone everywhere on the planet was also in shut down mode, it felt like the entire world was virtual. Very weird. Surreal.

The past twelve months, had they been the plot of a Hollywood film, would have strained credulity. I will spare you the trauma of rehashing 2020. Instead, I celebrate a year of innovation, daily examples of extraordinary compassion and heroism, increases in civil and not so civil discourse lifting the veil (so to speak) to reveal this country’s cringe-worthy underbelly, and most amazingly of all – life-saving scientific and medical breakthroughs.

I am not yet eligible to receive – one of the three!!! – vaccines. I’m too young, if you can believe it. So I am still fully masked, avoiding crowds, and diligently socially distant. I am for, all intents and purposes, still “paused.” However, my gratitude game is stronger than ever. My faith in humanity endures. My confidence in a bright tomorrow is unwavering. I am looking forward.

As always, each Tuesday we invite one another to express one thing – in the comments field – for which you are grateful, and/or Share that sentiment as a post on your favorite social media site. It needn’t be lofty and can certainly reflect something we usually take for granted. I’ll go first… I AM so happy and grateful for science! Now your turn. I AM so happy and grateful now that/for: _________________________________________________________________________________

#laurelblossomyoga #omofficeyoga #corporateyoga #corporatewellness #virtualyoga #vitualmeditation #reiki #om #mindufulness #gratitude #gratituesday

Hello Yoga-Friends ~ Today is Tuesday, GratiTuesday. On Tuesdays I pause to reflect on gratitude and acknowledge this self care practice that has carried me through some dark and challenging times. On this GratiTuesday I’m gonna’ need every last ounce of grace gratitude can possibly deliver.

The United States of America has topped a devastating and heart-breaking statistical reality in acknowledging more than half a million COVID-19 deaths over the past year. Earlier in 2020 this death toll was projected. However, it was then, and still is now, hard to fathom.

What’s more, five-hundred-thousand represents only the confirmed U.S. coronavirus deaths. It is likely a much higher number. In addition, this number, quite literally, only accounts for our country’s statistics. Globally the number of deaths from COVID-19 is nearly 2.5 million. And those are only the confirmed cases!

The truly horrifying thing about these numbers, these cases, these statistics is that each one represents a real person. Somebody’s person. Some family’s person.

In a year marred by fear, deprivation, and isolation, loss on this scale is inconceivable. The trauma of living through the pandemic is nothing compared to the trauma of grief for those whose loved ones died as a result of it. Their trauma is likely compounded by their inability to have been present in the final hours of their person’s passing.

In my close circle, many have been ill, all have been affected, but no one has died. Still my heart breaks, and my mind is reeling trying to put it all into perspective. The pain of losing our people is one thing. Imagine the loss of their combined potential, their contributions? It eludes me, leaves me gasping.

Turns out humans are not necessarily equipped to mentally process losses at this scale. According to a National Geographic article, “Visualizing 500,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S.,” by Eve Conant, Kelsey Nowakowski, and Oscar A. Santamariñaur, our brains aren’t wired to grapple with really, really, really large numbers. Most of us kind of fritz out and shut down when confronted with soooo many zeros.

For this reason a number – no pun intended – of comparative examples have been published to metaphorically demonstrate the scale of human life lost in such a relatively short period of time. Here are a few examples lifted directly from the National Geographic article:

A.) Losses to COVID-19 are about 25 percent greater than the U.S. military death toll in World War II. The official count of service members lost in that war is 405,399.

B.) It would be like losing all the inhabitants of Atlanta, Georgia. In 2019 the city had a population of 488,800.

C.) It would be as if we lost all U.S. Postal Service workers. The postal service had 496,934 career employees in 2019.

If measured in the skies, 500,000 is a hundred times more than all the stars visible to the naked eye.”

However, the example that most resonates with me involves the stars. “If measured in the skies, 500,000 is a hundred times more than all the stars visible to the naked eye.” There is solace in imagining each person as a star. Their light is not lost but now shines down upon us all.

And my gratitude for that imagining will be the grace that guides me today.

As always, each Tuesday we invite one another to express one thing – in the comments field – for which you are grateful, and/or Share that sentiment as a post on your favorite social media site. It needn’t be lofty and can certainly reflect something we usually take for granted. I’ll go first… I AM so happy and grateful for stars above. Now your turn. I AM so happy and grateful now that/for: _____________________________________________________________________

#laurelblossomyoga #omofficeyoga #corporateyoga #corporatewellness #virtualyoga #vitualmeditation #reiki #om #mindfulness #gratitude #gratituesday

Hello Yoga-Friends ~ This GratiTuesday – December 22nd, 2020 – falls just three days before Christmas. Ticking off the twelve days of Christmas on my fingers I calculated that must mean this is the ninth day of Christmas. You know, the whole nine ladies dancing bit from the classic holiday carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Well, I was wrong.

I wasn’t wrong about the ladies or that they were supposed to be dancing on the ninth day of Christmas. I remembered the lyric correctly. Where I got it wrong was in the math… the counting… It was a failure of calendar catechism that did me in.

True confession time: I was today-years-old when I learned that the twelve days of Christmas are not a count down to December 25th, but rather Christmas Day is the first day to begin counting these twelve special days listed in the song. https://laurelblossomyoga.com/www.vox.com/21796404/12-days-of-christmas-explained

I also learned that these twelve days of Christmas mark the interim between the birth of the baby Jesus and the arrival of the three wise men. Now what I did know already is that – technically speaking – the baby Jesus was likely not born on the Gregorian calendar date of 25 December. Rather, theologians posit this date may have been selected due to its proximity to the winter solstice – around the 21st – when the hours of daylight begin to increase, and thus symbolize the ‘Light of Christ’ entering the world.

As for the song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” its origins are somewhat mysterious. Perhaps first composed in France, it seems it may have been published as a chant, meaning tuneless, in England, around about 1780. The tune we are all familiar with appears to have been ‘borrowed’ from a 1909 traditional folk melody, composed by Frederic Austin. Incidentally, he is the guy who came up with everyone’s favorite bit in the song; pausing and emphasizing “five golden rings!” (dadum-dum-dum) Thank you, Freddie. https://laurelblossomyoga.com/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song)

Turns out numerous variations of the lyric have evolved over the years. I won’t bore you with the details of this bit of minutiae. However, the much-beloved internet theories that this song was composed at a time when English Catholics were persecuted (from 1558 to 1829), and thus served as a code laying out the tenets of their faith… is false. Should you want to dive down that rabbit hole, please visit: https://laurelblossomyoga.com/www.snopes.com/fact-check/twelve-days-christmas/

In the course of my extensive research for this essay (wink wink), I came across several delightful new versions of this holiday classic. Before I share one of them with you here, I feel it necessary to pause and acknowledge some may not see the humor in its pandemic theme. For those of you with only one nerve left, perhaps it would be wise to stick with the tried and true song from your Rockwellian memories of Christmasses past.

For those seeking a bit of comic relief, I present, “The Twelve Days of Covid (A Christmas Parody)”, a collaboration made between a New Jersey radio 101.5 DJ, Jeff Deminski, and his listeners. Please sing along with me…

On the twelfth day of Covid
The crisis gave to me
Twelve wipes a wiping
Eleven Purells pumping
Ten p.m. closing
Nine students Zooming
Eight patients testing
Seven swabs a swabbing
Six feet of spacing
Five new vaccines!
Four science nerds
Three face masks
Two rubber gloves
And a scolding by Dr. Fauci

https://laurelblossomyoga.com/nj1015.com/lyrics-to-the-twelve-days-of-covid/

So where’s the gratitude? It’s the capacity to parody. Choosing humor over horror. Finding light in a dark moment. The will to overcome during a time when we can’t come over. That is how I am finding my gratitude today.

However it is that you celebrate light at this time of year, my wish for you and yours is to be safe and stay well.

As always, each Tuesday we invite one another to express one thing – in the comments field – for which you are grateful, and/or Share that sentiment as a post on your favorite social media site. It needn’t be lofty and can certainly reflect something we usually take for granted. I’ll go first… I AM so happy and grateful for brighter tomorrows. Now your turn. I AM so happy and grateful now that/for: ________________________________________________ #laurelblossomyoga #omofficeyoga #corporateyoga #corporatewellness #virtualyoga #vitualmeditation #reiki #om #mindufulness #gratitude #gratituesday #covidchristmas

Hello Yoga-Friends ~ On this GratiTuesday, during Giving Season 2020, I was curious to know how the global pandemic has affected global philanthropy. As you might have expected I went straight to my laptop to google it, entering ‘how the coronavirus pandemic is changing philanthropy.’ You’ll never guess what came up as the first search result… A Wall Street Journal article by Lisa Ward entitled, “How the Coronavirus Pandemic Is Changing Philanthropy.” I kid you not. https://laurelblossomyoga.com/www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-changing-philanthropy-11605919325

The changes within the giving world have been swift and global, much like the coronavirus pandemic itself:

For example, Mutual-aid Networks are informal groups addressing community needs which aren’t being met by government agencies or traditional charities. The Community Fridge Movement I wrote about in last week’s blog post is one example of this type of mutual aid network. Consider checking out freedge.org to learn more about a community fridge project near you.

In addition, around 850 Covid-19 Emergency-Response Funds have been created in the U.S. this year. Philanthropists set up these emergency funds and streamline grant awards to get money into the hands of nonprofits ASAP. The Cambridge Community Fund (Massachusetts), launched in March 2020, has assisted 1206 individuals and families in their community, as well as 27 local non-profit organizations. Incidentally, they are out of money. You can get involved and/or make a contribution through: https://laurelblossomyoga.com/cambridgecf.org/covid-19-emergency-fund/

To address racial inequities during the pandemic, which have disproportionately affected minority communities, some foundations have committed to allocating a certain portion of Funding to Minority-led Nonprofits. Donate to Black Lives Matter on their website https://laurelblossomyoga.com/blacklivesmatter.com/

Earlier this year when the pandemic was just rearing its ugly head, the Council on Foundations, a membership group of endowed, grant-making organizations, vowed to “make new grants as unrestricted as possible, so nonprofit partners have maximum flexibility to respond to the crisis.” Since March this pledge has been signed by more than 700 organizations. https://laurelblossomyoga.com/www.cof.org/ Learn more about The Boston Foundation at https://laurelblossomyoga.com/www.tbf.org/

Basically Covid-19 has been forcing philanthropists, volunteers, and nonprofit organizations to rethink how they do what they do, and with whom they do what they do… and it is working! I call this an outrageous win in the face of impossible odds. I call this a ‘Silver Lining Story.’ I call this the triumph of the human spirit. I call out to YOU, ‘How will the coronavirus pandemic affect you during this giving season?”

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” ~ Rumi

As always, each Tuesday we invite one another to express one thing – in the comments field – for which you are grateful, and/or Share that sentiment as a post on your favorite social media site. It needn’t be lofty and can certainly reflect something we usually take for granted. I’ll go first… I AM so happy and grateful for Rumi wisdom. Now your turn. I AM so happy and grateful now that/for: __________________________________________________ #laurelblossomyoga #omofficeyoga #corporateyoga #corporatewellness #virtualyoga #vitualmeditation #reiki #om #mindufulness #gratitude #gratituesday #givingseason #covid19philanthropy #rumi

Hello Yoga-Friends ~ Today on GratiTuesday, continuing ‘the spirit of giving’ theme from last week’s post, I am excited to share information about the Community Fridge Movement. I first learned about community fridges through FaceBook photos posted by my friend Laurinda. I could hardly believe my eyes. An outdoor – on the street! – food pantry and fridge located in the Union Square area of Somerville, MA with the words “FREE Food / Comidas Gratis” painted in bright colors on its exterior walls.

At the Union Square location there is little more than an outdoor shed enclosing a refrigerator and small pantry, plus a couple large plastic bins set off to one side. Emblazoned on the doors of the fridge, beneath a painted rainbow are the hand-lettered words, “Take what you need, leave what you don’t, give what you can.” I just love this; community members taking action in support of other community members. (Find out more about the Union Square Somerville Community Fridge at https://laurelblossomyoga.com/www.wickedlocal.com/story/somerville-journal/2020/12/04/somervilles-new-community-fridge-offers-free-food-anyone-need/3826842001/ )

Additional research revealed the Community Fridge Movement began in Berlin, Germany, as far back at 2012 – 2014. This type of peer-to-peer community food sharing began showing up in New York City boroughs this past spring; an acknowledgement of the food insecurity experienced by many who had lost their jobs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. https://laurelblossomyoga.com/www.eater.com/2020/6/17/21291849/community-fridges-food-insecurity-coronavirus-covid-19-impact

Do you need food? Do you have food to share? Do you want to start up a Community Fridge in your area? Consider exploring freedge.org, “a sharing mechanism aiming to reduce food insecurity and food waste, building a stronger community. (They) promote equal access to healthy food through the installation of … (public refrigerators) that are used to share food and ideas at the neighborhood level.” Their website includes a map with locations of ‘freeges’ around the world. In addition, this organization has done some legal legwork providing guidance on liability protection, permits, etc. What’s more they may be able to direct you (your community group) to micro grant funding sources.

So what is the specific tie-in to GratiTuesday, eh? Simply this: Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers who recognize need beyond what is covered by institutions; who notice those who go un-noticed; who find creative solutions to real-world, back yard challenges such as making sure the under-served in their neighborhood have food to eat. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers.

Take what you need, leave what you don’t, give what you can.”

As always, each Tuesday we invite one another to express one thing – in the comments field – for which you are grateful, and/or Share that sentiment as a post on your favorite social media site. It needn’t be lofty and can certainly reflect something we usually take for granted. I’ll go first… I AM so happy and grateful for the kindness of strangers. Now your turn. I AM so happy and grateful now that/for: _____________________________________ #laurelblossomyoga #omofficeyoga #corporateyoga #corporatewellness #virtualyoga #vitualmeditation #reiki #om #mindufulness #gratitude #gratituesday #givingseason #communityfridge #freedge

Hello Yoga-Friends ~ Thank goodness for GratiTuesday. Gratitude has been, and likely will be, my touch-stone as COVID 19 infection rates continue to rise to alarming levels across the entire United States, in this our third (or fourth, depending on who is counting) wave of the pandemic. Many of us are facing some degree of “shut down” measures… again. Most folks I know will not be traveling or getting together with family and friends for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday next week. Not to mention the ongoing drama saga that is our national politic. ‘Nuff said. You may well be wondering, ‘What in tarnation have we – any of us! – got to be grateful for?’

A lot. A lot a lot a lot. Seriously. For example, just this week two pharmaceutical companies, not one but two! pharmaceutical companies, announced not one but two! different and extremely promising vaccines. It was all over the news and every social media platform. Yay science!!!

The cynics out there – you know who you are (hugs) – are no doubt grumbling about FDA approval, and widescale distribution challenges amid the ongoing drama sage of our national politic. I hear that. We are clearly not out of the woods. However, yay science! for even developing not one but two! highly efficacious vaccines in less than a year! That’s amazing! Unprecedented! (Come to think of it, there has been an unprecedented amount of unprecendentedness all year… But I digress.)

Sometimes – like these times – there is simply too much big stuff going on, and on and on, until gratitude can be completely – and quite literally – overshadowed. Yet, I promise you, gratitude is always there just waiting to be acknowledged.

When we give thanks for everyday things, we make them visible again.”

Let’s regroup, pause and perhaps peruse a recent Greater Good Magazine article by Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas, and Jeremy Adam Smith, entitled, “What Are We Grateful for During COVID-19?” https://laurelblossomyoga.com/greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_are_we_grateful_for_during_covid_19

Beyond the obvious benefits of adopting a regular gratitude practice, this article also highlights that which is often overlooked. For example “When we give thanks for everyday things, we make them visible again.”

The take away is that we receive gratitude’s boost even when our appreciation shines a light on something, or someone, we may have taken for granted or overlooked. All things great and small, right? Right on.

As always, each Tuesday we invite one another to express one thing – in the comments field – for which you are grateful, and/or Share that sentiment as a post on your favorite social media site. It needn’t be lofty and can certainly reflect something we usually take for granted. I’ll go first… I AM so happy and grateful for science. Now your turn. I AM so happy and grateful now that/for: _______________________________________________ #laurelblossomyoga #omofficeyoga #corporateyoga #corporatewellness #virtualyoga #vitualmeditation #reiki #om #mindufulness #gratitude #gratituesday #greatergoodmagazine

Hello Yoga-Friends ~ It’s GratiTuesday! I’ve got some good news: Gratitude boosts immune function! This is particularly good news as we (here in the contiguous U.S.A.) march into autumn amid rising Covid-19 infection rates.

“… practicing gratitude can boost your immunity and decrease your risk of disease.”

Multiple scientific studies support the physical and mental health benefits to be gained from a regular gratitude practice. For example, Dr. Amit Sood, writes in an article for The Mayo Clinic, “In addition to helping you get more sleep, practicing gratitude can boost your immunity and decrease your risk of disease.”

Dr. Sood has several tried and true recommendations for cultivating a gratitude practice:

• • • Keep a gratitude journal every day, jotting down quick notes identifying something you appreciate.
    • Use gratitude cues to reinforce your gratitude habit such as posting inspirational quotes on the fridge or by your computer.
    • Make a gratitude jar, asking family members to write on a piece of paper one thing that they’re grateful for and then take turns reading them aloud at a family meal.

Oh and recently I learned from a dear friend another useful visual cue we can use in our gratitude practice to re-mind us of those things we might overlook in our every day lives:

• • • Write these affirmations on your bathroom mirror in dry-erase marker.
    • Each time you wash your hands or brush your teeth there will be a message for you to reflect on gratitude.

Shout out to Dina Sameloff Shaaltiel for this great idea!

I’m all for spreading the word about whatever can be done to improve our individual and collective health and well-being. Practicing gratitude can be one element of your daily routine that can yield dramatic and immediate results. A regular gratitude practice can have lasting benefits.

As always, each Tuesday we invite one another to express one thing – in the comments field – for which you are grateful, and/or Share that sentiment as a post on your favorite social media site. It needn’t be lofty and can certainly reflect something we usually take for granted. I’ll go first… I AM so happy and grateful for gratitude tips from friends near and far. Now your turn. I AM so happy and grateful now that/for: ____________________________________________

#laurelblossomyoga #omofficeyoga #corporateyoga #corporatewellness #virtualyoga #vitualmeditation #reiki #om #mindufulness #gratitude #gratituesday