MFML’s founder Kat Farrants shares the small steps she has been taking to move towards a happier, healthier and more sustainable life. Read on to find out why gratitude lies at the heart of these changes and why she’s turning this into a course.
In 2019 I made a conscious decision that I’d start to explore different ways that I could take my yoga off the mat and learn from the people who know, how to live a conscious, happy, healthy and sustainable life. That’s how I started the Podcast and started very, very gently, to steer the Movement in a slightly different direction. I wanted the Movement to be something more relevant than simply being just another yoga resource. For me it was important to share more than ‘just’ the yoga practices but also the other things that have kept me happy and healthy over the last few decades. All the small steps that I have taken over the years.
A reflection of my yoga journey
I wanted the Movement to reflect my yoga journey. It was time for the movement to move in the ways that, quite naturally, I’ve felt that my yoga practice move. I’ve found that I really have been very changed by the small practices over the years.
Cultivating an attitude of gratitude
One thing that’s really changed me has been my gratitude practice. I started to journal the three things that I was grateful for, at the beginning of the day, a couple of years ago. It honestly changed my life. It started as something which was quite tricky. And my gratitude list would be very obvious: for example, I’d be grateful for my house, for my family and the dogs I shared my life with. But as the year went by, I became quite adept at gratitude. I became better at noticing the smaller things.
Interconnection
I noticed the interconnection between things in life. I realised the diverse things that make everything possible. For instance, at the start, I might have been grateful for my car, or a new jumper. A year on, and I’d find gratitude for everything that enabled that to happen. From the ground which contained the metals, to the people who mined the metals. From there, to the people who made the ships to enable the metal to be sent around the world; to the people who operated the ships; the people who built the factory and all the workers who made each carefully crafted part of the car. As I started to think about it, I realised how complicated the web of production is in every bought item.
It is mind-boggling how many people and natural resources are involved in making everything bought. Realising that really did change my whole outlook on life. I changed how I view bought items and the immense toll that these things have on our planet and on each other. I included the oceans on my gratitude list. Additionally, I included the marine mammals whose lives are endangered every time a ship sails. To the waste produced by the ships, the factories which then becomes the water we drink and the air we breathe. To me, that wasn’t environmentalism, that was just yoga. That was just truly seeing the connectedness of everything. In all its staggering complexity and beauty.
Why gratitude is at the heart of my small steps course
The Small Steps course is, I think our most accessible, but most far-reaching course yet. It encompasses the community aspect, the commitment and accountability that we all need. And it’s short classes. The small steps challenge is there to help us all to realise that we don’t need to make a giant leap when it comes to new years resolutions, or goal setting. It’s the smallest changes in our habits which can have the biggest impact on our daily lives and on the planet too. At the heart of the course is gratitude. That’s because this simple thing is a game changer. Above all, I want to share the small steps I’ve taken to become healthier, happier and live sustainably. Join us in taking the small steps to change.
About Kat Farrants:
Movement for Modern Life’s fabulous founder Kat Farrants lives her yoga and her own yoga practice informs how she develops MFML. Kat wrote this post using inspiration from how she takes small steps to move into a happier, healthier and more sustainable life. Please do join her on this journey and explore with us your happiest, healthiest, most sustainable life.
Leave a Reply