Embodying Gratitude Meditation
Connecting with gratitude (without toxic positivity)
Gratitude can be an incredibly powerful tool for growth and inner strength, but when we do our gratitude practices, we have to be sure to steer away from toxic positivity.
When gratitude feels inauthentic, sugary sweet, or when it’s used to push away, repress or ignore negative emotions, then we’re heading into toxic positivity. And, toxic positivity never supports our healing journey!
That’s why in this Embodying Gratitude Meditation, we’ll be looking at gratitude through the lens of somatics - which means we’re going to explore it in a body-centered and trauma informed way - with the goal of creating a deeper connection with our authentic selves and strengthening our inner world.
Instead of using gratitude to deny the messiness of life (as toxic positivity often does), our goal is to use it to build internal feelings of safety, stability and connection so that we can face the messiness and struggles of life in a more integrated and resourced way.
Gratitude as a resource in somatic work
In somatic work, resourcing refers to strengthening our connection to feelings of stability, safety and “okayness” in our bodies. We can consciously connect to our inner resources to promote feelings of peace, empowerment, trust, strength and to anchor new emotional experiences and perceptions into our embodied relationship with ourselves and the world.
I have personally found that resourcing myself with a body centered gratitude practice has helped me through some really, really tough times in significant and beautiful ways.
Gratitude also can be a bridge between where we are now (in our thoughts, feelings and bodily experience of the world) and a broader, more expansive perspective of who we are and where we fit in this world.
It can help us connect to what’s authentically going right in our lives, even when our brains are stuck in loops that tell us that nothing ever goes right for us or that all of life is bleak and bad.
And, it can help decrease our stress levels, connect us more deeply with a fuller sense of ourselves, increase our awareness of our strengths and positive traits, increase our connection with the present moment, decrease our agitation and upset and help us feel more wonder, awe and joy.
Do the embodying gratitude meditation now!
How did that feel to you?
What did you notice in your posture, breath and heart as the gratitude became stronger and stronger within you?
Remember that you can revisit this feeling of gratitude in your life by inviting your body to recall these specific sensations!
Thank you so much for joining me for this Embodying Gratitude Meditation today!
I hope that it helped you build your internal sense of resource and that you feel more connected to your authentic self and bigger perspective.
If you liked it, I would love it if you could subscribe, rate and review. And remember to join me every Friday on this beautiful journey out of your head, and into your more embodied and authentic self.
About me
Hey, I’m Karena!
I’m a trauma informed emotional healing coach here to help you quickly identify and heal the subconscious blocks, old emotional wounds and self-sabotaging core beliefs that are holding you back!
Want to go deeper? Sign up for the Feel it to Heal it Mini-Course now!
Learn a body-centered approach to deep healing + wake up to the wisdom within!