Catch Your Breath in Christian Yoga

Continuing to Balance Anew in 2021

It’s in these uncertain times where I’m eternally grateful for my friends Kat, Denise and Lorie, as they have helped me navigate the challenges of life in the pandemic.  As we collaborate together in Sole to SoulColorado, adding in your valued participation, we’ve collectively developed a knowing that we don’t have to keep ourselves in the fearful ruts and mondain isolation of 2020 and can take an active role to do NEW things!  Since we started this in January, our hope is that you’ve found encouragement, challenge, and more balance, flexibility, and strength to all aspects of your life in body, soul, and spirit.  What healthy habits have you formed since January? 
 
YOU, can do new things in 2021!

Spring has sprung and I noticed everyone is out enjoying the warm weather and all the outdoor sportiness that Colorado has to offer.  Could this sudden motivation of the general populace be based on the fact that Coloradans packedon 10-20 extra pounds during COVID? And we thought the Freshman 15 was a thing! If it weren’t for the pandemic I’d see people of all ages training for the famous Bolder Boulder road race. I played outdoor sand volleyball the day after some snow skiing and I could tell by how I was huffing and puffing that I was a bit out of shape. Thankfully, it would seem as if winter hibernation has been replaced with moving our bodies through space.  This is the time of year the running shoes get placed by the door for easy access. 
As followers of Christ, we are in strict training for and motivated by a different kind of race.  Every one of us is a runner keeping focus on the prize that doesn’t fade.  We run in such a way as to endure the distance and  develop the necessary lung capacity so as to cross the finish line: the line between life and death, the here and now and our Heavenly home.  Our ability to draw from the Breath of the Almighty, who gives us life, is what fuels our forward momentum. We want to encourage each other to be in good spiritual health so we can confidently hurdle into our eternal home rather than stumble in, gasping for air.

I’ve only had a few instances in life where I’ve received such bad news that it literally takes the air out of my lungs.  It occurred last week as the news of our local shooting tragedy met my ears. “Just breathe, inhale, exhale”, I told myself.  Scary enough, it was the supermarket I grew up in and what, over the 42 years of shopping there, felt like the comfort of my own living room.  The weight of the senseless loss of innocent lives and the unsettled likelihood of my knowing a victim or two, felt like an instant sucker punch to my gut.
Not that it lessens the heaviness of evil acts happening in my quiet upper-class neighborhood, but my pastor reminded me it’s for this VERY reason, the recent terrible murders, that Jesus came to meet us here on Earth. If it were not for the hopeful cross and Jesus proving eternal life through His resurrection, it would be impossible to make sense of it all.  Yesterday was Easter, the Son of Man is seated at the right hand of The Father, and I can breathe a deep sigh of relief. I am doing something new by learning to breathe again.  A few deep breaths, my pulse returns to normal and I feel the beginnings of restoration in my soul.

In Christian yoga we practice voluntary breathing for the sole purpose of putting it into action when we need it most.  A gentle flow yoga instructor uses verbal breathing cues for each pose. Holding challenging poses become bearable when a student chooses to focus on a 4 second inhale followed by a 4 second exhale, rather than muscle weakness and trembling.  We’ve got a choice in our focus during a tough physical moving meditation.  The choice we make can be the difference between standing in the fight or giving up.  There is no judgement of self or others from your mat, but rather a knowledge that we are all building strength through breath.

Deep belly breaths fill the lungs with the much needed oxygen that trying experiences sometimes suck out of us.  Stress can cause the body to shrink into taking short sips of air and a mindful moment of taking 3 full breaths can be the difference between keeping your cool and saying something you might later regret.  How we use our breath helps us to make physical and spiritual breakthroughs.

Continue with Sole to Soul Colorado’s - Balance Anew 2021 as our Christian yoga community continues linking arms as like-minded accountability partners.  April is all about breath.  We are glad you are still seeking new things and together we can continue race training by offering weekly ideas, tips, challenges, and Scripture each Monday.  Our hope is that when Fall 2021 Retreat arrives, we can share, in person, how God has helped us do new things!
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Won’t you join us in learning about breath? Email us at [email protected] for more details on Balance Anew 2021 details and Fall 2021 Retreat.

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