Why Yoga Space is Always Closed the Entire Week of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving does have a dark history, and we should not ignore it. One such claim of this holiday is that in 1637 Massachusetts colony governor John Winthrop declared a day of thanks-giving to celebrate colonial soldiers who had just slaughtered 700 Pequot men, women, and children in what is now Mystic, Connecticut.

There are several other claims to the real “Thanksgiving,” also fraught with the slaughter of innocent people, both native Americans, and immigrants. We should all take time to study our bloody history and resolve never to repeat it.

 But fast forward to the twenty-first century, and Thanksgiving has been largely redefined as a celebration of family, friends, community, and nation. It’s a time to show gratitude for what we have. It’s a time to give to those less fortunate than ourselves. It’s a time of reflection. This is the Thanksgiving I grew up with, and it’s how I see it today.

It is the one “holiday” that is not overly commercialized. Sure, all the grocery stores are vying for our dollars through endless newspaper and TV ads, and then there’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday, two recent additions to the fray. But by-and-large, the holiday itself is untouched by Madison Avenue.

 And so I close the doors at Yoga Space for the entire week. I spend that week reflecting on just how lucky I am. It takes more than one day to take this all in. I have been blessed with so much that even one week seems not long enough. On Thanksgiving day, I usually cook something for our annual traditional pot-luck Thanksgiving Day feast two doors away from us at Lonni Moffet and David McCandlish’s. Gloria and I are both so grateful to be a part of this tradition that Lonni and David began many years ago.

 Twice before I have offered this link to an awesome Ted Talk about gratitude. I re-watch it every year, and a few times throughout the year as well. It never fails makes me cry. But joyful tears, not sad ones. If you have clicked on it before and enjoyed it, it’s well worth seeing again. And if you’ve never clicked on it, you owe it to yourself to watch it at least once. I mean it.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXDMoiEkyuQ