In yoga we often talk about the importance of appreciating what our bodies do for us—the way our breath and blood nourish us, the way our skeleton supports us, and the way our muscles help us move. The truth is, our body works hard for us and it is deserves our appreciation.

This weekend, I think it’s worth considering how we can apply that same holistic acknowledgement and appreciation to our society. After all, our societies are like our bodies in many ways: a disparate but interlocking series of parts, each with their own function, each working hard, but all interdependent. If we do not honour and nourish all the parts of our society as we do the parts of our body, we run the risk of sickness.

And just as we sometimes focus too much on, say, our abs, at the expense of the muscles of lower back, sometimes we get pay so much attention to CEOs and celebrities that we overlook the contributions of many of the people whose work supports us.

This Labour Day, let’s consider dedicating our practices to the people whose work keeps the body of society running—the people who prepare our food, tend our sick, care for our children and keep our parks and streets clean, just to name a very few.

Let’s remember that we are all parts of a greater whole and we all deserve respect, appreciation and care for the work we do to support each other.