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by Noell Clark, APOGEE Yoga Instructor

On busy days—and especially holidays such as Thanksgiving—it’s important to stay energized, calm and open to the people around you. Take five minutes to perform this calming and heart-opening yoga pose and you’ll be restored, relaxed and better able to receive and give gratitude. All you need is a blanket and floor space on which to lie.

To start: Roll the blanket into a cylinder and lay it on the floor. Sit with your sacrum or tailbone on the end of the blanket, then lie down, so that the blanket roll is under the length of your spine and also supporting your neck and head. Now bring your feet toward your groins, place the soles of your feet together and let your knees fall open. Put your arms on the floor away from the sides of your body, palms up. You should feel your chest opening; allow gravity to gently open your joints.

Now breathe: Then close your eyes and begin to breathe through your nose so that your belly moves up and down. Take full inhalations and exhale completely, pulling your belly button toward your spine at the end of each exhalation. As you focus on your breath, also check that your body is relaxed: Release your eyes, mouth, ears, shoulders, elbows, wrists. Focus on your in and out breath. Try to maintain the pose for five minutes, then roll to your right side and slowly come to a seated position, raising your head last. Take one more belly breath, smile, and be thankful for your day.

Learn more ways to turn on the calm in your life in our Unwind workshops, starting in January 2011.

Here comes Thanksgiving, with its mega-portions of planning, shopping, chopping and travel mixed with heaping helpings of friends and family. A wonderful holiday, but handling everything—and everyone—can be stressful, too. There are ways to dial down the stress levels: Physical exercise is one. Remembering happy events is another—specifically, keeping a gratitude journal. Writing just a sentence or two about what you are grateful for is proven to boost your mood and outlook—and could even help you fight off colds and flu.

The health benefits of expressing thanks have been studied extensively. “Research confirms what many spiritual traditions tell us: regularly expressing gratitude increases well-being,” says APOGEE’s integrative health advisor, Woodson Merrell, M.D. As an integrative doctor, Merrell considers the emotional, spiritual, dietary, environmental, and lifestyle influences that can affect health and healing. “A sense of well-being has been found to positively affect good health and immune function,” says Merrell. “Well-being enhances the release of antibodies responsible for fighting off viruses and improves important markers of cardiovascular health.”

The key is to identify and write down one thing you’re thankful for, whether it’s the fact that a grocery store clerk was helpful, your brother has offered to bring dessert to Thanksgiving or just the fact that the sun is shining and warm. Write your gratitude statements anytime and anywhere that’s convenient: on the back of your shopping list, or in your calendar or send them to yourself via e-mail. It’s best if you don’t analyze why you’re thankful—just acknowledge it.

We’re thankful for this opportunity to spread the word about simple actions that can make people feel good. We’ll post more messages about the healing power of gratitude this week. Feel free to write your gratitude statements as comments on this blog or Facebook page, or via Twitter.

Learn more ways to turn on the calm in your life in our Unwind workshops, starting in January 2011.