Yoga As Prayer

“Let’s begin in child’s pose, “she says.  A roomful of men and women begin settling in on their knees.  They sit their behinds on their feet and fold their torso over their legs with their arms spread forward and their foreheads touching their mats.  I join them.  Breathing deeply, I think of the article I read in an older issue of Conversations Journal a few weeks ago. 

David Morris wrote about the body at prayer saying,

“I fully expected my first truly intentional prostration to “speak” submission and lowliness, perhaps even humiliation, which is what such a posture looks like from the outside.  What happened was a total surprise.  As my torso bowed forward, head touching the ground, I felt surrounded by a great Vastness and deeply at peace.  Stretching forward to lie prostrate, everything in me felt very safe in surrendering completely to God.  Lying in this position, it seemed both easy and joyful to relax into grace.  More than that, both the Vastness and the grace seemed to penetrate my flesh and touch my heart, wooing me deeper into a relationship I both yearn for and mightily resist.” 

I remember thinking to myself, “This sounds like child’s pose.” 

Now, as I sit in child’s pose, I think about God.  I relax into His grace. I want to meet Him here, on the yoga mat.  So as the yoga instructor says, “Set an intention for the class.”  This is mine.  I want this class to be prayer-full.  A time to meet with Jesus.

So as we go through the vinyasas, the poses that stretch, the poses that strengthen, the poses for balance, my mind is set on something.  It is set on Christ.  As I hold a pose and begin to struggle I ask him to meet me here.  I breathe deep and relax into his presence.  I make my body movements a prayer of worship.  And when we’re lying in savasana just before the end of class, I think on what I read in 1 John 2:3 earlier today, “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.”  I let the words sink deep.  I ask God to hide them in my heart.  I ask Him to help me to live them. 

In this class, I practice yoga as prayer.

And as I do, I practice yoga in a way that honors God.

*** 

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we seek to go through each moment mindful of the presence of Christ.  May it be a beautiful prayer of waiting on Him, of talking with Him, of responding to the Spirit’s promptings.  Whether we are in a yoga studio or somewhere else entirely may we find the rhythm full of an abundance of joy.

Jessica :)

Breathe His Name

When the instructor asked what we would like to work on, I was quiet. 

The woman on the mat, next to me, responded asking, “Can we work on ujjayi breath?”   

The instructor agreed, “Ujjayi can be hard.  I still have trouble with it.  But yesterday, I really had a good practice using ujjayi.  It was a good day.  So sure.  Let’s practice a little.” 

“Really?” I thought to myself. 

I didn’t exactly think class was the place to work on this.  It was easily done at home.  I had practiced this kind of breathing many times before.  I kept trying to get my breathing to reflect the strong rumbling exhales of the first instructor I ever had.  Her breathing was surprisingly loud. 

I didn’t even know what ujjayi breath was, then. 

I always wondered if the sound was coming from the person on the mat next to me, and hoped they were okay because it sounded rather strange.  All the while it was Sarah at the front of the room. 

The first time I realized this I was so amazed that I described it to my husband, trying to replicate it all, without success.  I’m pretty sure he thought it was a little odd, even though he never said so. 

After a bit of practice, I found myself breathing in and out, not so loudly, but definitely with the hissing sound of the ujjayi way.

So as this instructor invited us to sit on our mats in a seated position, legs crossed, with our hands resting on our legs saying, “Take a deep breath in.  And breathe out.  Breathe in through your nose.  And as you breathe out constrict your throat, just slightly, so that you make a deep breathy sound as you let the air escape from your body,” I breathed along, while my mind wandered.

Ujjayi is this slow and rhythmic breath—in & out and in & out—that each movement is tied to.  Breathe in—arms up.  Breathe out—arms come to center.  Breathe in—arms out.  Breathe out—forward fold.  Breathe in—come to plank.  Breathe out—take a vinyasa.  In.  Out.  In.  Out.

It is this breath that helps deepen a pose and hold just a little bit longer.  I never would have thought that was possible in my gymnast days, but then we never talked about the way we breathed through "conditioning."  Yet, through yoga practice, I discovered it to be so.  Somehow it makes it easier, keeping the focus on this deep breath in and deep breath out.

Is it any wonder?

In breathing, we say the name of God. 

In Exodus, as he stands before the burning bush, Moses asks God what he shall tell the Israelites His name is:

“But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”

God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am.  Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.”  Exodus 3:13-15 NLT

With my VINE’S, I find the phrase “I AM” is the word hāyāh or “to live” in Hebrew.  And Ray Vanderlaan describes the transliteration of the Hebrew letters for the name of God in this passage—YHVH.   

And those same letters in Hebrew?  Yod—hey—vav—hey.  They are like the sounds that our breathing makes. 

There are a few different people like Jason Gray and Rob Bell who have talked about how every moment we live we breathe His name.  I know Bell can be controversial, but on this I think he is wise.  God’s name is our life source.

Yod—hey—vav—hey. 

I think the ujjayi breath accentuates the sounds just so. 

As we sit breathing deep, I consider this.

His name is what gets me through the difficult moments. 

It’s His name that brings rest as I move through the fluid movements.

So as I read on a yoga site about ujjayi that “without breath there is no life,” I think apart from speaking God’s name we cannot live. 

How beautiful.

How gracious of Him.

He has crafted us to speak His name each moment of our lives.

Ujjayi reminds me to celebrate this and to delight in saying His name.

In speaking His name, I honor God.

*** 

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we speak His name, breathing deep in and out.  May we celebrate each breath of this life as an opportunity to honor Him.

Jessica :)

Where Thanks Is Due

“Thank your muscles for for working hard.  Thank your lungs for breathing in the air.  Thank your heart for pumping the red blood cells that carry the oxygen throughout your body,” she would say as we wound down with a few simple stretches before savasana.  The yoga instructor would invite us to thank our body for all that we had done in class. 

Honestly, I found it kind of odd.  So, I didn’t do it.

Why in the world would you thank your body? 

It seemed silly to me.  I’ve never really thanked my body when I’ve worked out while exercising.  Yes, I can remember the many times in gymnastics where I was so very thankful that we were done with push-ups, or pull-ups, or running around and around  and around the building.  I was glad the pain had stopped!  The arms were no longer quivering as I pushed or pulled my body weight around.  The lungs had stopped burning.  I was finished. 

This is often the common theme of thanks when I’m exercising.   I’m thankful the pain has stopped.  I made it through.

So practice after practice the invitations to thank my body seemed strange.  They also seemed a bit misplaced. 

Isn’t it God that deserves the thanks? 

It was really in recognizing this that my perspective on this time of thanks in yoga changed.

I began to ponder the fact that our body is a gift.  God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from Adam’s rib.  He carefully crafted them, with bodies—a gift from God, just as the life that He breathed into them. 

“God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good.”  Genesis 1:31 NLT

What a special gift our body is.  God made us with a body.  It is the way He has enabled us to interact with the world around us.  It is because of this, our spirituality is never separate from our physicality.  They go hand in hand. 

Isn’t this something to be thankful for?

When we are grateful for a gift, we give thanks to the giver of the gift.

I saw the possibilities of this in the yoga invitation. 

I think traditionally practiced this time of thanking the body actually seeks to glorify the body rather than the Maker of it.

Yet, I thought it was possible to alter the way this was practiced.  Instead of thanking my body, I would thank the one who made it, God.

It was a new practice and one that I found to bring delight as I really thought about the intricate systems that enabled me to do all that a yoga practice requires, all that a day requires.  I discovered that at the end of the practice when I am tired I realize that I’m reliant upon God to sustain me both physically and spiritually.  He provides.  That is a reason to give thanks.

In thanking God for my body and allowing me to care for it, I practice yoga in a way that honors Him. 

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we seek to honor God with our bodies, giving thanks to Him for all that they allow us to do, mindful that they are the temple of the Holy Spirit, in Christ.

Jessica :)

P.S.  If you are curious about physicality and spirituality you might like to check out the James series that we went through at Crossroads recently.  They are worth the time it will take to listen.  Blessings.

Namaste?

Part 2 of a series about what it means to practice yoga in a way that honors God.

One of the things that I had no context for understanding when I began yoga was the way we ended each class. 

The instructor would bring us to a seated position, after savasana, and have us bring our hands into prayer position,our hands touching and centered at our sternum.  She would bend forward slightly, bowing as she said, “Namaste.”  We would roll our mats up and get ready to leave. 

The first couple times I went I just observed.  I watched as she led.  I watched as the other people in the class would mimic her in the bow and say the words.  And I wondered.  What does it mean?

Aadil Palkhivala describes the meaning of “Namaste” at Yoga Journal online:

“The gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. "Nama" means bow, "as" means I, and "te" means you. Therefore, Namaste literally means "bow me you" or "I bow to you."”

Considering the source of this word comes from an Eastern religious understanding, entirely different from my own Christian understanding, I wondered if there was any Truth in this to be reclaimed and reinterpreted. 

(Paul did this when He was in Athens.  He found an altar with an inscription “To an unknown God.”  Then, he told the Athenians about this God they did not yet know.  He proclaimed the Good News, by interpreting their altar in a new way.) 

There seemed to be two key pieces to understanding Namaste—“that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart” and the “acknowledgement of the soul in one by the soul in the other.” 

Could this be interpreted in a new way?

In talking about this with my husband, a few things came to mind.  The way God made us in His image.   And that the Holy Spirit takes up residence inside the believer when we walk in relationship with Christ. 

All are made in the image of God.  We reflect Him by just being who we are.  So, while we are not God, only made in the image of God, the Holy Spirit may, indeed, live in us if we are surrendered to Christ.  And if we are looking, it would be easy to identify His handiwork in one another—either through who God has made us to be or by what we allow Him to do in us. 

Similar to the idea of the Divine spark and acknowledging this in one another. 

Yet different.  A better way of understanding what is true. 

I think Namaste said with this understanding honors God. 

Yet, I have chosen not to end like the rest of class, with the Namaste, because I want to practice differently. 

I want the person on the mat next to me to wonder why I haven’t participated with the rest of the class.  I want them to know that they have been made in the image of the Creator God.  I want them to know His love for them.  I want them to know that, in Christ, God can really live in them by way of the Holy Spirit.  Can walk with them.  Can lead them.  Through each moment.  Of each day.  Transforming.  Changing.  And renewing a life.  

I want them to understand Namaste differently. 

I want them to know Jesus.

So, at the end of class, when we sit back up from savasana, as we breathe deep and lift our arms up, as we move our hands to prayer position...

I quietly think to myself of being made in His image. 

Of the Spirit that lives within me. 

Of those nearby. 

I offer a quick prayer of thanks, petition, and opportunity to share—namaste redefined.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we seek to claim and redefine that which seems to ring true by submitting it to the God who is true, that we might share Him with others.

Jessica :)

Here On My Mat

Part 1 of a series about what it means to practice yoga in a way that honors God.

It is the end of my first yoga class.  I have spent the last hour stretching and strengthening my muscles with two others.  Perhaps it is the soft music in the background, maybe it is the quiet way we move almost like a dance through the many poses, or just maybe it is the deep breathing, in and out, through each movement that created this peaceful exhaustion.  Just as I think we are coming to the end our instructor invites us to lay flat on our backs, in savasana, and just “let ourselves go” to just “empty our minds.” 

Suddenly I’m a bit on edge.  I no longer feel the deep sense of peace as my spirit pushes back. 

“What do you mean empty the mind?” 

I’m surprised that in a gym the spiritual aspect of yoga is being addressed.  Yet, here I am.  And here is the instructor inviting me to empty my mind.  I lay on my back and instead of emptying my mind; my mind begins to race as I ponder what this is all about.

I think of the many silent retreats I have participated in through leadership training and just by gathering with others who were hungry for time away with God.  Sometimes I have just come to learn, others I have led or co-led.  Through these I have learned the difference between the meditation of Eastern religions and the meditation of Christian practice. 

In Eastern religions the goal of meditation is to empty the mind to reach a spiritual state of fulfillment of one sort or another. 

In Christian practice, the goal is to fill the mind and meditate on something, usually a nugget of God’s Word.   The Bible talks a lot about meditation in the Old Testament.

“Blessed is the one […]

whose delight is in the law of the LORD

who meditates on his law day and night

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

whatever they do prospers.”  Psalm 1:1-3 NIV

Yet, in this moment, I’m aware that these two are not the same.  In this moment, I’m wondering what to do to keep myself present here and now.  To be here, but to not participate.

As I’m driving the quick three minutes from the gym to our fifth wheel home, I wonder if I should go again.  Is it possible to take what is good from this practice and to do it in a way that honors God? 

I spend a week thinking and praying about it all and decide that this is possible.  It is possible to practice yoga differently.  It is possible to practice yoga in a way that honors God. 

In the next class,  I come prepared.  We go through different movements and different balance positions.  It is once again, through stretching, strengthening and balance, a challenging workout.  Yet, it is peaceful too.  The hour is nearly up.  After we stretch our hip flexors in pigeon, we are invited to lay on our backs in savasana.  We are invited to empty our minds. 

But instead of following her directions.  I make a change of my own. 

I fill my mind. 

I fill it with the Scripture that I was thinking about this morning in Luke:  “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a good crop.” 

I meditate on it. 

I let the words sink deep. 

I think about what it means to have a noble and good heart. 

I ask the Lord to make my heart the good soil.

In spending time meditating on God’s Word, I practice yoga in a way that honors Him.

Today, the peace of the practice remains.  It remains, because I’m resting in God’s Word. 

I’m worshipping Him, here on my mat.

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we seek to meditate on God’s Word, as we allow it to sink deep, as we ask Him to change us more into the likeness of His Son. 

Jessica :)

P.S.  A special thanks to my dear husband for taking the photo for me.