Why Yoga?

-

Abide. In. My. Love.

John 15:19


As Christians, we are invited to live a Temple Life. A With-God life.  I am passionate about the healing and wholeness found there.  This Kingdom Life  is an invitation to trust Jesus not just for our eternal destiny, but for an inheritance lived in the Here and now, in the "land of the living" (Psalm
27).

We are containers, Abiding in Jesus and Jesus abiding in us.  But how often does our reality reflect that? What percent of our daily moments feel lived in His presence and favor?  How many of us criticize and curse our containers?  How many of us use them more as ornaments than instruments? How many see them as obstacles instead of vehicles ?  Struggle to feel God's presence in the middle of the coming and going and haste of days?

 I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant"
John 15:5 (Message)

"Jesus sculpts a new garden of Eden in their imaginations--one that is bursting with fruit, sustenance, and satisfying aromas.  This is the Kingdom life.  It is all about connection, sustenance , and beauty.  But within this promise of life is the warming that people must be in Christ or they will not experience these blessings." ( Excerpt from the VOICE commentary on John 15)

For so many, this quality of life, this well-being, this fullness, this abundance is forfeited to our external attachments:  Perfectionism, performance, relational insecurity, self loathing, approval seeking,  busy as a lifestyle, anxiety as default, hurry as autopilot, insatiable comfort acquisition, people-pleasing...

St. Augustine said "God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them."

Yoga literally means union.  Yoking.  Holy Yoga is about yoking ourselves to Jesus in such ways that it disrupts those attachments, clears your mind of clutter, and makes space for our heart to be filled by the Spirit.  Empties our hands and readies us for the things our Good Father wants to give. 

The practice of yoga is like a cultivating prayer space.  Experience the Lord space.  Get in your body and find peace space.  Feel a homecoming like never before space.

It provides a threshold into the unseen parts of yourself - a diverted path from our lists, need-to-do's, compulsions... and to a cleared sightline to the Lord.

Yoga is simply preparation for prayer. It is stilling your water, unplugging from auto pilot compulsions,  readying yourself to move from the external world to the internal world where you can spend time with Jesus.
Click here for More on Yoga and Christian spiritually, physical benefits,  and Class offerings at Jordan Stones. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psychological Approach or Spiritual Approach?

-
Resting in the blend of  spirit, mind, emotions, and body that I dwell in, I come into contact with the edges of this question all the time.  It is easy to lean more fully on one or the other.  Most of us have a comfortable automatic bend toward finding solutions in spirit or material ways.  Robert Mulholland, a respected spiritual formation writer and trusted Christian theologian, expands an answer to this wondering that satisfies my soul.  I hope it illuminates for you as well: "We need to realize that not only is psychology not a substitute for spirituality, but spirituality is not a substitute for psychology. While most Christians would not tend to make the first assertion, many would and do tend to make the second. As we have already noted, spiritual formation is often seen as the answer to all problems.  Often, profound, deep-seated psychological problems are met with demands for deeper faith, more rigorous obedience, more vital spirituality. ...
Read more

Finding your Cremaster

-
Image
How do you begin this cocoon business?  You have to find your Spiritual Cremaster. What in the world is that? It’s the place you start. It’s your anchor.   I’ll just let Sue tell you : “When the caterpillar begins to spin its chrysalis, it forms a spiny little protuberance at the end of its abdomen called the cremaster. The cremaster is like a button or patch of Velcro that fastens the pupa in the cocoon and holds it in place.  It’s the anchor point, the place from which the caterpillar hangs “ The still point is our cremaster. Without it, there’s no dance of transformation. It’s the place where all cocoon making starts.  We need to find the point in our soul where we go neither forward nor backward but are fastened in our waiting. We need to discover the “protuberance” from which our lives can silently hang and become new. What IS this still point?  It represents the Center, the quiet core where God’s Spirit dwells in us.  “Do you not k...
Read more

2023 Invitations of Advent

-
Image
  Let’s set aside a little time to slow down during advent and pay attention.  We are going to walk through the precious little book:  Silence and other Surprising Invitations of Advent by Enuma Okoro.  It is based on the unlikely story of Zachariah and Elizabeth and has true gems of how to integrate the whole of life into the sometimes lopsided season of Advent.  Meeting 4 Sundays for reflection on the weekly portions of the book, discussion questions for the live chat, guided Lectio Divina on a corresponding Scripture, a simple commemoration practice or ritual and lighting of the Advent candle. For this group offering, please feel invited to join with other Advent lovers for a private Facebook group with a private FB Live video every Sunday at 6PM EST 11/26, 12/3, 12/10, and 12/17.   It will be recorded if you can’t make it live.   It will include some don’t-miss points from the readings from the week. It will include a Lectio Divina readi...
Read more