A sunset.  A hug.  A helping hand.

Have you ever stopped to think about how genuine gratitude feels to your body?

Your thoughts impact your body quickly and in profound, physical ways.

Grounded Gratitude

The key to an effective gratitude practice is embodiment or another way to think about this is to use an elevated, loving emotion like gratitude to send your body “heart presence” or love. Because we know …

Attention without affection is only a report.

So you need to actually feel it. Allow yourself to be truly grateful and send this message loud and clear to every part of you.

You will begin to feel and see its positive effects on your physicality before long. This isn’t just wishful thinking; an overview of studies on the brain and its impact on our muscles, in particular, reveal that our thoughts produce the same mental instructions as our actions. That’s pretty crazy when you think about it. Mental imagery or visualisation (as it’s sometimes called) impacts cognitive processes in the brain: attention, motor control, perception, planning, and memory.

Let’s try it now:

Close your eyes and imagine someone you’re grateful for (or love dearly) standing in front of you. Look into their eyes and say thank you for being you.

Stay with this awareness for a few moments, and  …

1. Allow yourself to soak in the feeling; consciously spreading it down your face, neck, shoulders, chest, and throughout your whole body.
2. Allow yourself to smile on the inside. See if you can smile into your heart cavity. Notice how the muscles and fascia around your heart loosen.

This is because whichever part of your body you direct the light, warm and transformative power of gratitude to softens and expands.

Finally, allow the gratitude to flood your entire being Actually push it out beyond you and around you a few centimetres, and then use your imagination to spread it out even further, encompassing all of your loved ones and the entire planet, too.

When you activate gratitude by giving it your full attention and intention, everything within you begins to change.

So go ahead, say thank you. Your body will benefit as much as your mind.