First Yoga

Today, the plan was to go to ballet, fast walk back, and then check out the new yoga class at Tricycle (the group exercise studio I frequent). I woke up, though, and my hips and calves/achilles were ridiculously tight. The mere thought of standing in turnout, going in and out of releve and doing quick jetes for 90 minutes made me grimace from the depths of my soul. Instead, I went for a walk, grabbed a cup of coffee, and went through Genesis for the 15th team. I relaxed my way over to "Deep Dynamic Yoga".

I was amazed. The class was originally developed as a yoga for athletes, specifically national ski teams. The teacher was very instructive, helpful and hands-on. We did some active movements that built on momentum, but we also held a number of poses for several minutes. The teacher would come around and help you really sink into the poses. By the end of class, my hips were so loose and open, I couldn't even believe it.

He also talked a little bit about what yoga is and how it can be worked into our lives. He said something that really stuck with me, about how yoga is about bringing together two things that seem in opposition to each other and making them one - like gravity and lifting, body and mind, and, light and dark.

This is where my readings of Genesis really came in. We ended in corpse pose, and I was thinking about how in the beginning, God separated light from dark, but at the same time the darkness is not dark to Him (Psalm 139). In fact, He, as Jesus, the light of the world, entered into our darkness to bring us into the light, the true light of His presence. All of this led to me crying just a little at yoga class because of how deeply good and faithful God is. This is also another reminder that immersion in the Word can breathe new life into every part of our day. Writing His Word on our heart lets us carry it with us wherever we go.

I'm hoping to make this class a pretty regular thing for me, although it might be tricky with ballet. We'll have to see how things go.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and morning, the first day. Genesis 1:1-5

If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. Psalm 139:11-12 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it...The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:1-5, 9-13