What's New in the World of Yoga:

During Thanksgiving, many of us become overwhelmed preparing for the holiday celebration. We lose perspective and exhaust ourselves rushing around shopping for food, preparing a Thanksgiving meal or attending numerous parties when – let's be honest – sometimes all we really want to do is just find a comfy couch and sleep the day away! All this frenetic preparation can often leave us feeling completely unbalanced – in more ways than one!

If that's how you've been feeling lately, you may want to consider approaching this season in a more peaceful and reflective manner by participating in some of the yoga and cultural events that are happening throughout the U.S.

Here are just some examples of how you can incorporate yoga into your Thanksgiving celebration.

On Thanksgiving morning, beginning at 9am at the Yoga South studio in Boca Raton, you can join one of the founders of Power Yoga, Bryan Kest, on his three-hour Master Power Yoga session. Kest explains that his "primary objective, besides turning more and more people on to a healthier, more peaceful lifestyle that continually challenges them to grow, is to teach a system of exercise that fully integrates the body, mind, and spirit."

Do the sunny shores of Brazil appeal to you, especially now that winter's starting to set in? If so, how about trying a yoga detox in Brazil? From November 27 to December 4, you can join yoga instructor Paula Tursi at a beach resort in the Santa Catarina region of Southern Brazil for an eight-day yoga retreat.

On Thanksgiving Day, Source Yoga will once again be hosting their annual Thanksgiving Day Yoga for Charity event in Tacoma, Washington. The proceeds from the 1½-hour class will benefit the Tacoma Rescue Mission, an organization that provides services to the homeless and offers self-sufficiency programs to people living in poverty and with addictions.

You may also want to bring awareness to your Thanksgiving by seeking out various Native American events – from a local Pow Wow to film festivals. Throughout November, the University of Arizona will be hosting a series of lectures and panels on Native American heritage. One of these presentations is "Thanksgiving: A Wampanoag-American Perspective", which will take place on November 24, from 12-noon to 1 pm in the Kiva Room, Student Union Memorial Center.

The Wampanoag, or "People of the Dawn," are the Native Americans who met with the Pilgrims in the fall of 1621. This meeting formed the basis of what we now refer to as Thanksgiving. The presentation will "discuss not only who the Wampanoag were but who they are today, including the efforts of many Wampanoag to re-educate Americans with their own story of thanksgiving, cultural survival and self-determination."

However we choose to celebrate, educate, or rejuvenate ourselves during this holiday, let's remember that Thanksgiving is always a good time for us to reflect on the many gifts and graces that we are blessed with in our everyday lives.

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