Holy Yoga

Ever since I had children, and really well before that, the most natural state of my mind seems to be in a constant state of worry.  And sometimes that worry, if unharnessed, will run away with my mind, leaving me exhausted, confused, and hopelessly drenched in tears. 

The two things as of late that have been most effective in moving my mind in a healthier direction are a focus on body and a focus on soul—practicing yoga and going to church.  Yoga has been a great gift for my anxious mind and my tight back, hips, hamstrings and obliques.  I get to twist the knots out of my mid-back and shoulders while I take deep, long breaths, which place me in the present moment.  When my lungs fill with air as my quads hold my body in Warrior I, I can think of nothing beyond that feeling, that burn, that moment when I am trying to be still and strong and grounded.  Likewise, when my butt hits the pew on Sunday morning at our little Lyndale church, and I hear Pastor Meta reminding me week after week that life is messy and I am forgiven and that all is well because I belong to Jesus, I can think of nothing beyond that feeling, the feeling of being filled up with Love.  It gives me chills.

So, recently I wondered if I could marry these two gifts in my life:  yoga + Christ.  And sure enough, the World Wide Web brought me here:  Holy Yoga--http://holyyoga.net/.

The mission statement of Holy Yoga is this:  “Holy Yoga is an experiential worship created to deepen people's connection to Christ. Our sole purpose is to facilitate a Christ honoring experience that offers an opportunity to believers and non-believers alike to authentically connect to God through His Word, worship, and wellness.”

I like the spiritual aspect of traditional yoga--I don't mind hearing that I have strength within me (traditional Hatha Yoga). But, I also enjoyed hearing today that the strength within me is the Holy Spirit. The instructor read from Ephesians. She played Christian music. At the end, we prayed together. Instead of saying “Namaste,” we said “Amen.”   It was yoga…with Jesus—the best of both worlds.

But there’s another school of believers that find this appalling, insulting and even demonic. When I Googled Holy Yoga, I found a number of articles about the great Holy Yoga debate.  Some people very passionately believe you are worshipping pagan or Hindu gods when you practice yoga (I guess some members even left the Presbyterian Church I just practiced at because they felt pretty strongly about this).   A Pastor by the name of Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle is particularly adamant about this, going so far as to say, “If you just sign up for a little yoga class, you’re signing up for a little demon class…That’s what you are doing. And Satan doesn’t care if you stretch as long as you go to hell.”

Hmmm…I’m thinking he must’ve attended the 6:15 a.m. Hot Yoga Warrior Sculpt class at Core Power Yoga in St. Louis Park, MN.  I was definitely down-dogging through the fifth circle of Hell there.  (But I did feel like a million bucks afterwards.)

That class aside, I find it pretty hard to believe that God is opposed to us stretching our hammies and holding our planks while we breathe deeply and look for peace within, peace that He gives us.  I find it pretty hard to believe that God would be opposed to me sitting in prayer pose or rolling around in Happy Baby regardless of whether there’s Christian worship music or Buddhist wind chimes in the background. 

After all, a God that knows my heart as deeply and intimately as the God of Heaven does, also knows that sitting in very close quarters to that heart is a giant knot in my spine.  And not too far from that is the ball of concerns in my mind.  And didn’t He send me his Holy Spirit to break apart these distractions?  Didn’t he send me yoga, Holy or Hatha, to bring me back to the very breath He gave me?

I read in Yoga Journal recently that saying “Namaste” at the end of a yoga class acknowledges the belief that there is a Divine Spark within each of us.

I am able to feel that Divine Spark on both the Yoga mat and the pew, on a run around Lake Calhoun and snuggled up to my children on the couch.  Namaste does not belong only to yogis, just as Christ’s love does not belong only to Christians. 

Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians says this, “May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

I heard this in child’s pose today and it filled me up.  Amen to that.