The true meaning of Thanksgiving can easily get lost in translation when we are so focused on the wide array of particulars. Maybe you are the host this year and a dozen family members or more are about to grace your dining table. Perhaps it is you and your own family’s turn to pack up the Suburban  and trek across the country to be the guests of honor. However you live your Thanksgiving experience, it is easy to forget about thanks and giving. It is often not until grace is said, the wine glasses clink and someone passes the stuffing that we actually relax and feel some gratitude, yet this moment of pure thankfulness doesn’t have to be lost when the meal ends and grandma starts loading the dishwasher.

Whether we believe Thanksgiving Day marks a time when the pilgrims and the Indians set aside their need to fight over their differences, or feel it began as a simple celebration of the bountiful fall harvest, it remains a day that reminds us all to practice gratitude.

Each and every one of us can think of something we are grateful for yet our thankfulness is often overshadowed by our busy and hectic schedules before and after Thanksgiving Day. The following reminders will help you to keep feeling gratitude before, during and long after Thanksgiving Day has past so that the other 364 days of the year are filled with just the same amount of joy that being grateful brings.

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It is likely you will hear your yoga teacher ask you at the start of each class to set your intention before you begin the session. It may be explained to you that your intention can be large or small, or about giving or receiving. But why does this matter and is it even necessary?

To intend literally means to mentally have in mind something to be brought about into reality. When we intend to do something, it means we want to embark on a task or attain a goal. In theory, when we put our mind to it, we will have the power that will give us everything we need to forge ahead.

That is not always the case. The old adage, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but heaven is full of good works” means that unless we actually do something with our good intentions, they just lie dormant inside of our minds, as great ideas or wishful thinking.

But, there is hope after all. By setting an intention before yoga, (which is highly influential on the mind), we gain an advantage over the average rate of “good intentions gone by the wayside” and find ourselves moving above and beyond our loftiest aspirations.

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