Ahh yoga. I feel like I love you for reasons I am just beginning to understand and perhaps in ways that make you scoff at me privately. Except that scoffing’s not really your thing, is it? You don’t mind me being a complete amateur. You welcome everyone. Oh yoga, you peaceful, sweetly smirking, soft-gaze-having beauty with only positive vibes. I groove you.
I first felt truly curious about yoga while reading that very famous Liz Gilbert memoir. You know the one where she eats all the carbs in Italy, searches her soul after railing against God, then has a trans-continental romance? Such a fun read. Gilbert made yoga seem like an experience. A journey, not just a workout. She made it feel like prayer. But during that chapter of my own life, the whole thing felt incompatible with church. I had a lot to sort through and my own kind of language and balance to discover in the midst of heavy doctrine and even heavier personal crises. For quite a while yoga was a sneaky indulgence that I was content to treat just like a good stretch here and there. But in the back of my mind was always this idea that God was in it, that He in fact created both my mind and my body and therefore didn’t mind one bit that I might try to strengthen and nourish them both. My reins began to loosen on my own soul.
Fast forward several years to when I started running. (HALLELUJAH!!) Once my body was wide awake and on a daily basis filled with adrenaline, delirious with exertion, I discovered the need to remain pliable and comfortable. I started reading about yoga for runners and became pretty good at the most basic post-miles stretches for calves, hips, and hammies. Pigeon pose, haha! The fact that it had a name was enough to make me happy.
In the midst of all this, a few blogging friends turned me on to yoga as a meditative endeavor. They introduced me to Yoga With Adrienne, whose mantra find what feels good is just so soothing. These videos were so fun to explore that soon I found Tara Stiles, PsycheTruth, and much more. (My You Tube favorites are about 35% yoga channels.) The breathing, posturing, and simple guided meditations did for me all the classic favors you hear about: I felt grounded, connected to myself, relaxed yet invigorated, pliable, strong, full of fire (like in my belly!), calm, all of it. And while I have yet to enjoy a spiritual breakthrough during yoga or even cry really hard like so many people report, I have had those experiences while running. By the time I unwind on the mat I’m generally in a pretty good place, haha. Even if I start in a good place, though, I always leave the yoga mat feeling more focused. More purposeful and less scattered around, as my mind tends to be. Yoga quiets me.
This has been my experience so far, and I am so grateful for all of it. So excited to see what’s next bodily and spiritually. And today is International Yoga Day! To both mark the occasion and spend time with some cool folks in my life, this evening we are opening the farm at dusk. We will gather with quilts and mats in the grassy area between the bonfire and the vegetable garden and watch the sun set behind the horse pond. We will stretch our muscles and breathe deeply, inhaling blessings and exhaling peace. We will ease through some pose sequences that are thousands of years old and remind each other that we are both physical and emotional creatures, capable of more than we once thought possible.
If you are practicing yoga to celebrate this fun day, enjoy!! Consider yourself connected to us here at the Lazy W. If you are only curious about it, let me urge you to explore. Like anything in life the experience is largely what you invest in it. Open yourself to what beautiful things might happen. Maybe you will have a spiritual breakthrough! Or maybe you will realign your back or relax your shoulders and hips. Or maybe you will discover some hidden energy in your intestines or rid yourself of too much and finally get a good night’s sleep. I’m excited for what might happen for you! And I am really excited to see my friends tonight at sunset.
“Allign your hands with your heart.”
yoga mantra
XOXOXOXO