The gratitude practice is a simple guided meditation: lie down, relax, draw a small circle around your heart, be thankful for your health, and push the circle outward — body, family, friends, coworkers, and beyond — as far as your time allows. It is how we end workouts at my gym about once a week, ten minutes on the clock, and it grounds the whole day in thankfulness. No cross-legged monk pose required. In this Physical Friday I walk you through the entire practice of the Red Rocket Lounge.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
It is a guided meditation we do in the cooldown after a workout, about once a week. Everybody finds a comfortable spot sitting or lying down, we set the clock for eight to twelve minutes, and we walk through expanding circles of thankfulness — starting with your own health and pushing outward to your body, your closest family, extended family, friends, coworkers, and where you live. It grounds you in thankfulness and gratitude to start the day.
Lie down, close your eyes, and start by watching your breath. Scan for tension — unclench your jaw, relax your forehead, drop your shoulders, open your fists. Then draw a small circle around your heart in your mind and be thankful for your health. Push the circle out to your whole body and the ability to move and do the things you love. Then widen it to your wife and children, picturing each face. Keep expanding — extended family, friends, coworkers, your home — as far as time allows, and if you can, walk the circles back in before the alarm sounds.
No. When I think of meditation I picture a monk sitting cross-legged with eyes closed for ages, and I have tried routines like that — some worked, some did not. This practice asks nothing of your posture. Lie down, sit, or even do it walking around with your eyes open while washing dishes, mowing the grass, or driving to work. The only requirement is thinking about what you are grateful for.
Five minutes is plenty to feel it, and ten to twelve is what we usually do. You may chew through five minutes very quickly and hear the alarm at your third or fourth circle — that is fine, that was the allotted time for today. If you have longer, push the circles further out and leave a little time to walk them back in, finishing thankful for your family and your health again.
Be thankful that you are recovering, and that your body is able to recover. If you are healthy, be thankful for that — it is incredible that you woke up this morning, took a breath, and can move around and do the things you want to do. The practice meets you wherever you are; you can substitute anything in your life that you are thankful and grateful for.
Because the cooldown is a natural moment when the body is relaxed and the mind is open, and because it makes the practice a habit attached to something you already do. It is honestly very hard to have a bad day when you start the day this way. It may not be a barbell or a run, but it is an equally important part of my workout routine and my physical diet as anything we do.
This is a special one. I do not do this every day, but at least once a week we close a workout with this practice, and I have never shared it on the show before. There is a lot of talk about meditation right now, and I do not really even call this meditation — but it definitely is. We call it the gratitude practice. Press play in the player above and you can follow along.
At the end of the episode I let a small secret out: I have never actually told anybody the name of my gym. It is called the Red Rocket Lounge — the RRL — and this is the gratitude practice of the RRL. It has been very powerful for me and very powerful for my friends. There is also a guided version on the website you can download and follow along with. Press play in the player above.
Here is the practice exactly as we do it at the gym, step by step.
I walk through each of these in the episode. Press play in the player above.
When you come out of this practice you are grounded in thankfulness and gratefulness, and it is an amazing way to start or end a day. It is honestly very hard to have a bad day that begins this way.
If you try the gratitude practice or you have one of your own, I would love to hear about it — email me at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com. If you like this episode, send it to someone else, and a rating and review on iTunes goes a long way to helping people find the show. I am thankful and grateful for this audience, which has grown every day since we started. Press play in the player above.
gratitude practice · guided meditation · Red Rocket Lounge · breath awareness · mindfulness · cooldown routine · thankfulness · Physical Friday · Saltwater Experience
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the workouts, nutrition, sleep, and mindset practices that keep me ready for long days on the water — practical fitness for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and anyone who wants to stay in the game for life.
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