Yoga Poems for Gratitude
Gratitude is the highest vibration on Earth, if we can resonate at a frequency of gratitude we can ascend so many of our challenges in life and find peace and surrender. Poetry is a beautiful way to connect to these high frequency energies and so I often like to share poems about gratitude in my yoga classes and at my events.
I know how much you love them and so I thought I would share some here so you can come back to them whenever you wish.
Gratitude in Sanskrit, the ancient language of yoga is Kritajna:
Gratitude by John O’Donohue
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough and more.
It turns denial into acceptance,
Chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast,
A house into a home,
A stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of our past,
Brings peace for today,
And creates a vision for tomorrow.
Thoughts on Gratitude by Thích Nhất Hạnh
Every morning, when we wake up, we have 24 brand new hours to live.
What a precious gift!
We have the capacity to live in a way that these 24 hours will bring peace, joy and happiness to ourselves and others.
Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we see and do.
The question is whether or not we are in touch with it.
We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living.
We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on.
But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.
Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity.
We need only to be awake and alive in the present moment.
This poem is from the book fragrance after rain by Jayai John
GRATITUDE IS A RIVER. If you live in it, your heart and soul grow supple.
You flow with life.
If you leave gratitude’s river behind, everything you are grows hard, rigid, suffering.
Your body, your spirit, your relations, your life.
Stay in the river, Revolutionary.
Especially as you work to heal and unpeel the countless layers of oppression that shape your life and the world.
Identify your blessings.
Name them, so they know when you are calling for them.
Feed them.
They like organic nourishment.
Praise them.
They will swell.
Mantra your names.
They will multiply.
Rest with them.
They will be your fire and dance.
Stay in the river of Gratitude.
It will carry you to your dream home.
Which is Peace.
A Meditation on Gratitude and Joy by Jack Kornfield
With gratitude I remember the people, animals, plants, insects, creatures of the sky and sea, air and water, fire and earth, all whose joyful exertion blesses my life every day.
With gratitude I remember the care and labor of a thousand generations of elders and ancestors who came before me.
I offer my gratitude for the safety and well-being I have been given.
I offer my gratitude for the blessing of this earth I have been given.
I offer my gratitude for the measure of health I have been given.
I offer my gratitude for the family and friends I have been given.
I offer my gratitude for the community I have been given.
I offer my gratitude for the teachings and lessons I have been given.
I offer my gratitude for the life I have been given.
Just as we are grateful for our blessings, so we can be grateful for the blessings of others.
With love and gratitude to you, Saira x