With Revelry

This week while I was on vacation in the Cape, I was blessed to have participated in a beautiful Kripalu yoga practice held in the mornings on the beach.

The practice is held every morning in the summer at 7:30 AM on Chatham Lighthouse Beach. The instructor, Valerie, is not only a Kripalu Yoga instructor but also an RN and a Licensed Massage Therapist.

Kripalu is a form of Hatha Yoga that concentrates on connecting the flow of body movement with the cycle of breathing. Also known as the yoga of compassion, Kripalu invites practitioners to love and accept themselves the way they are, as opposed to comparing themselves with others in the class.

I can't even begin to describe how amazing it was practicing yoga in such a beautiful setting. Hearing the ocean also helped with this form of yoga– we matched our breaths to the ebb and flow of the waves.

 If I could, I would start every morning with yoga on the beach. Greeting the morning with mindfulness, joy, and energy set the tone for the rest of my day. In fact, even though I was waking up earlier to make the class, I found I had more energy compared to the days where I had slept in.

During one of the sequences in our practice, our yoga teacher told us to complete the movement "with revelry". This phrase stuck with me because it made me think– how much better would our lives be, if we lived with revelry and celebration? To me, that is the core of practicing gratitude (and yoga). If we simply acknowledge the amazing things in our lives, then we would be living with revelry; which in turn would give us more to be grateful for.

I am so grateful to have had this amazing experience. I can't wait to go back next year!