Welcome to this week's FRIDAY ROUND UP.

Today, I'd like to start with gratitude:

I am grateful to each and every one of you for your continuing support.

It is because of you and your support over the years that I've been able to pursue my life's passion.
It is because of you that I've been able to persevere on this crazy ride of a healing journey - I cannot tell you how many times I felt like giving up, yet YOUR SUPPORT has carried me through, again, and again, and again.

I feel grateful with every fiber of my being, awash and overwhelmed by gratitude to you. Thank you.

Physiologically, the state of gratitude is quite unique - our biochemistry changes whenever we experience gratitude. It is almost impossible to be anxious and grateful at the same time; the biochemicals that are released in our body whenever we feel grateful can not only turn the persistent pain down, but even prevent heart attacks.

This is why we finish each class with "the attitude of gratitude." Experience of persistent pain tends to zoom our attention onto our areas of concern - as I say in class "pain is attention greedy." It is as though we are looking at under-performing parts of ourselves through a microscope, judging every single nudge, tweak and sensation.

Solution to chronic pain problem - and to many other life's misgivings - lies in zooming out, finding a wider lens and a bigger field to play. This is precisely what experience of gratitude delivers.

So today, I want to encourage you to find just one part of yourself that you feel grateful for. And if you can find more than one, that's even awesome-er.

For example, when was the last time you appreciated what your liver is doing (unless, of course, you've been having some liver issues)?

It is the largest internal organ in the body, performing over THIRTY THOUSAND enzymatic reactions per second to ensure metabolic harmony. Dr. Lewis Thomas, chancellor of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, wrote in The Lives of a Cell that he would rather be given the controls of a 747, knowing nothing about how to fly, than to be responsible for the functioning of his liver.

Intentionally practicing gratitude is a whole different beast all together - it is, basically, flexing the gratitude muscle on a schedule, like a workout - finding something to be grateful for each day, every day, and letting the feelings of gratitude flow through you. The magic of changing biochemistry lies in those feelings - stepping out of intellectual noticing and into heart-ing. Gratitude journals are awesome for that!

The weather has been so yucky - not many of us are venturing outside.

This can lead to both cabin fever and sore back from all the sitting. I can't help you with the cabin fever, but try this sequence for sore low back and hips:

1. On your back, bring your knees into the chest as you exhale, and away from the chest as you inhale ( this is what we usually do in the beginning of the class) 10 - 15 times.
2. Pull - push: bring your R knee into the chest, while pushing the L thigh away. Repeat 3 - 5 cycles, holding for 30 sec on each side.
3. Place a brick or a ball between the knees and squeeze as hard as you can - 5 - 7 reps, no holding, squeeze / release.
4. Do #2 again.
5. Flip onto your belly and do ball (blanket, towel )breathing for 2 - 5 minutes.
6. Return to your back and repeat #1.

Love, hugs and gratitude,