Yoga and Jesus

Ahhh... I love yoga. Not just because it helps me relax, or stretch, or strengthen my already amazing muscles (haha), but because it helps me connect with Jesus.

There are quite a few people I know who are wary of yoga because of it's "spiritual-ness"; a spirituality connected with your inner self, not with God. However, it's quite easy, and amazing, to see what happens when you take those spiritual connection ideas in yoga and simply change it to being connected with God.

"The word yoga means to unite or draw together all aspects of the person into harmony. Yoga is a tool used to reconnect the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects with an inner wisdom in which there is no doubt as to the connection of all things." I know, as a Christian, that the "inner wisdom" is the fear of God (Proverbs 9:10) and that the "connection of all things" is that everything is created by God, and He designed our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects to be connected to Him.

I am told "Be still and know that I am God".... my problem is, I can't sit and just be "still". If my body isn't moving, my mind is, and more than likely, it's not being moved by God, it's just wandering throughout the worries of my daily life. However, since I have become very comfortable with many poses in yoga, I have been able to "be still" in my mind, and just let my body move. It's amazing how still and calm my mind and spirit can become when I have to do absolutely no thinking at all -- the instructor tells me when to move, how to move, and even (sometimes) when to breathe. My body moves.... my mind is still and able to listen to God speak.

And breath.... breath is a huge focus of yoga. That's the first thing you learn: how to breathe. And instructors are constantly reminding us: where's your breath? Are you breathing? We are also instructed to "bring the breath throughout your body"... or "focus on bringing breath to ____ part of your body". The interesting thing is -- the Holy Spirit is the Breath of Life (Genesis 2:7, John 6:63). Making that connection, when I breath, I am focusing on the Breath of Life in me, feeling the presence of Jesus in me, and inviting Him to become even more a part of my life.

And that is why I love yoga.

Any Day

Yes, don't we all love Valentine's Day? Hahaha.... or not...? I know for some people it is one of their favorite holidays. Get dressed up, go out for a fancy meal, get all kissy-kissy... Bah, I say, Bah humbug. Ok, so I'm not really that against romantic things, but I just feel like Valentine's Day is kind of a fraud. Who is Hallmark to dictate when someone is obligated to show another person that they love them? Should that be something that is done "any day"? Yes, I say, yes it should. Thus the induction of "Any Day".

Actually, Any Day was the brainchild of my creative, thoughtful, and romantic husband. While we were engaged, I gave him my whole Valentine's Day shpiel and told him I really didn't think we needed to celebrate this day or do anything special. So, a couple of days before Valentine's Day, my then-fiance showed up with flowers and gift. I said, "I thought we weren't celebrating Valentine's Day" to which he cleverly replied, "It's not Valentine's Day, it's just any day." Thus, Any Day was born.

It has been celebrated every year since, usually sometime during the week preceeding Valentine's Day. This year I got incredibly comfortable, yet still cute, shoes and a box of Aba-Zabas (oh so delicious!!). I am very proud of our tradition and hope it carries on for a long, long time. Isn't it great to be loved any day? :)

New Year

So it's been a while since my last post... True confession: I forgot I had a blog for a while.... oops!
Anyways, since it's the new year, I thought I should write a post about my new year's resolutions. Except I don't really make resolutions. So, instead, I've decided to write about my new year's goals (sounds much better than resolution, right?). In a nutshell, my goal for this year is to get healthy: physcially, financially, and spiritually. Not to say that any of these areas are in the ICU, but they all could use some more healthy-ness. Now all I have to do is figure out how I'm going to get there, and what the mark of "healthy" or even "robust" is for each of these areas. Any ideas?

Speaking of resolutions, want to hear something funny? One of my coworkers said that her husband's new year's resolution was to give up sugar. Forever. What?!? That's just crankiness waiting to happen, folks. Not a good thing. Sugar (in moderation, of course) is a necessity! Blain even gave me not one, but two, kinds of amazingly delicious dark chocolate in my Christmas stocking -- what a champ!

Well, it's about time for me to jump on my bike... here comes healthy!