Gratitude practices for wellness and well-being benefit the integration and embodiment of the effects of positive emotions. Research has shown that when you express or receive gratitude your body-mind system functions better. This happens by moving out of the Fight-Flight or Freeze modes into the Parasympathetic Nervous System. When your body relaxes and moves into safety your cortisol levels decrease, your ability to digest improves, your heartbeat stabilizes, circulation improves, bile is released, and your digestion, inflammatory and excretion functions stabilize. This article will give you gratitude practices for new possibilities in your body and mind.
Healing Your Body-Mind Connection with Gratitude Practices
The Gut-Brain Connection impacts your hormones, neuro-transmtters, and body signals. This connection responds to shifts from anxiety, worry, grief or inability to let go of something, anger or frustration, and/or hate. New messages, memories or life-enhancing thoughts create greater calm and focus which in turn changes your mood and communication between the systems of your body. Over time a focus on gratitude has a positive impact on your physical and mental health through creating greater happiness and longevity.
Gratitude practices have a powerful role in disengaging stress response in your body through the Vagus Nerve. This means that the major organs of your body receive benefit though moving into greater calm and feeling of safety. In Chinese Medicine, each organ has the capacity to nourish or limit energy processes. When the Vagus Nerve is activated, your organs respond in more optimal ways to nourish the specific organs and the overall function of the entire system.
Gratitude Practices with the Chinese Five Elements
Anxiety: In Chinese Medicine your heart is the home of love, joy and connection. When you feel disconnected from others through intolerance or hate or lack of discernment, this impacts your heart. When you feel anxious your heart beats faster. The impact of gratitude on your heart can lower anxiety, and regulate your heart rate, blood pressure and circulation. Gratitude can also improve the quality of your sleep. A Gratitude Practice before going to bed can allow your body-mind system to relax more deeply so your system can cleanse during the night contributing to greater longevity. You can make it a practice to verbalize or write down your gratitude in 3 Directions including toward nature and life, toward others, and toward yourself. Be specific with reasons you feel and experience gratitude for each direction. Example: I feel gratitude toward my partner for cooking dinner tonight because I was tired after a long day at work. Notice how this makes you feel. Stay with the feeling.
Finding gratitude and appreciation in your life builds connection that benefits your wellness and well-being. Whether it be your family or work environment, expressing gratitude creates a greater sense of safety, trust, and warmth between you. A Gratitude Practice with children where the parent tells the child 3 things before going to sleep that they saw, heard, or noticed during the day also creates greater connection, self-esteem and calm which contributes to self regulation and sleep habits.
Worry: In Chinese Medicine, Earth Element is related to Stomach and Spleen with the energy of nurture and support. The primary purpose of Stomach is digestion. Your pancreas is also involved with digestion and chronic stress plays a role in blood sugar regulation. The non-coherent emotion related to this element is worry, This is where a gratitude practice before a meal and mindful eating can be a way to move out of worry and stress to better be able to digest and integrate optimal energy while letting go of what needs to be excreted to support your body-mind system.
Grief: The Metal Element in Chinese Medicine is the home of the Lungs and Large Intestines. The primary energies of these organs allow you to breathe and take in inspiration. The non-coherent emotion of this element is grief.This happens through partnership with the Large Intestines related to the ability to let go. Expanding your lungs and exhaling fully improves your breathing capacity when you are able to think of something that brings you a sense of gratitude no matter how small. Your inhale can become a a gratitude practice of naming what nourishes your life. Your exhale can release grief, stress or resistance to the letting go process that exists in your life. By doing so, you can let go of critical thoughts, your frustrations, and regrets, and instead become grateful for positive qualities about yourself, others, nature, and what you value about each by connecting to love and life itself. This allows you to Stay Calm and Carry On.
Fear: Water Element in Chinese Medicine refers to your Kidneys and Bladder. Your Adrenal Glands sit on top of the Kidneys so it is important to create calm to affect the body-mind connection through the HPA Axis. When you move into a greater sense of appreciation, you give your kidneys the opportunity to drop resentment and fear. This can bring you back into the flow of life while connecting more fully to your vital energy to support your ability to persevere so you can pace yourself while setting healthy boundaries. This allows you to move forward with a greater capacity to face life with self-care. Practicing Mindfulness through your 5 Senses can calm, ground, and create appreciation for your body-mind system.
Anger: Liver and Gall Bladder are the organs related to the Wood Element. These organs allow your body-mind system to filter and let go of toxins. On the mental level, this has to do with unfinished business. When you feel frustrated or angry, this impacts your ability to see the big picture with a broader perspective. This element allows you to make wise judgments, plan, delegate and create strategies. A Gratitude Practice for this element could be related to work with your breath inhaling unconditional love on the inhale, and on the exhale, release anger and frustration related to a current situation that is causing chronic stress.
“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Because Wood Element is related to vision, journaling for your mental health can become a great way to organize your thoughts, take a closer look at what is frustrating you in your life, and to get in touch with gratitude as to what resources you already have or might tap into to create positive change. Remember to stay with the feeling when you identify gratitude, and name how this supports your life.
Gratitude practices do not need to be formal. You simply stop, reflect on how you are feeling, and activate a gratitude practice in real time anyplace in your life. Your body and mind will appreciate it!
This is your personal invitation to explore how Resonance Repatterning® can create positive change your life. If you have been experiencing chronic stress or feel stuck, this process can get to the root of what you need to activate new patterns in your life to experience greater integrity in your wellness and well-being! Contact Kimberly with this Contact Page for questions and scheduling.
Kimberly Rex, MS
