I have four classes to write about on this 6th day of the challenge. I will say, I really like the intentionality I have to put forth in order to write about my practice. I have to be paying attention. It breathes another dimension of into this grounding and connectivity I've found in yoga.
10/5 7:45pm power w/Elvis
The class was extra sweaty tonight, due to water sprayed in the room to tone down the odor. So I was dripping like I haven't in a long time when Elvis brought us to the L sit part of class. I like L sits. I can do them fairly comfortably for short periods of time. But there's a variation I always wanted but never had. Until tonight. In our fourth set of five, I kept going. And I held it. I pushed it again in the fifth set, and it wasn't a fluke! I did it! In that moment, I felt so proud of myself, so strong. I've had a tumultuous relationship with my body, and I faced some really dark stuff again as recently as several months ago. But over the last month or two, I've finally begun to feel strong again. I feel like anything is possible for me. I feel redemption in my body, a beautiful taste of the full redemption coming at the end of the age. I can't express my gratitude for this gift enough, so I sit in awe of the God who sees me, knows me, and makes all things new.
10/5 9pm yin w/Devyn
As promised, a post on yin. After a big moment with a lot of emotional weight, yin can be the most important place a person can be. Yin, to me, is about slowing down to let gravity, time and your body mend itself. It's a time for grounding, for breathing a whole, whole lot. It's about letting things happen instead of forcing, manipulating or pushing. Restoration or recreation is the last part of the five-word history or pastor gives: creation, fall, promise, redemption, restoration. Restoration is what will happen when Jesus returns and puts the world back to how it should have been all along. We will be made new. And we will see Him as He is and has always been. Glorious, full of grace and truth. I have a longing for restoration - everyone does. Eternity has been written on our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And tonight, I caught a dim glimpse of what that finale that never ends will look like. And it gives me a deeper hope, a deeper peace, if only for tonight. I may not know how or when restoration will happen, but my heart has been encouraged, and it is well with my soul.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12
10/6 6am power w/Morgan
Unsurprisingly, I was really sore this morning. And tired. When a lot of people would be tempted to turn off the alarm and go back to bed, this is when I know I need to jump out and get going more than ever. Walking to the studio, then hitting the mat, is the best thing I can do for myself on days like these. Because even if I start off feeling slow and weak and tired, I feel myself getting stronger and more sure with every breath and posture. Sometimes, when it's easier to curse instead of bless, to run away instead of press in, we have to, "lean into the ugly and whisper thanks to transfigure it into beauty and give thanks for all things at all times, for He is all good" Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
10/6 noon power w/Elvis
This week I've been struck by simple things - all stemming from the word "good". In the beginning, when God created, He looked around and said it was all good, or very good. In 1 Timothy (the book I've read six times in the last two days), Paul writes that everything created by God is good. My practice today was full of good. And I can take time to pause and savor and enjoy it, because when I do, I do as God did. Take time to enjoy what is now, instead of jumping ahead to what is to come. Practice contentment, for the Lord is good, right now, and yes, His steadfast love endures forever.
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
1 Timothy 4:4
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 136:1
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