Breathe Deep, Seek Peace

 I wanted to be a gymnast in grade school, but I quickly became too tall. I didn't have to jump to reach the bars, and I couldn't do a back flip to save my life. Though I was very competent in getting into a backbend position from standing, I just had too much legs to get them over my head with the strength of my upper body. Still, I loved tumbling- cartwheels and somersaults and round-offs.
Later, my parents bought a trampoline and this marvelous anti-gravity device enabled me to perform a flip and all other kinds of exhilarating tricks. My sister and I would make up routines. Still, I mocked my sister when she decided to be a cheerleader for a couple of years. I was a jock, and proud of it (though my skills were certainly nothing to crow about).

I think I secretly wanted to be a cheerleader, but I despised the short skirts and ultra-pretty-prissy-girl expectations, and the shouting in front of people. I just wanted to show other girls up with my leg kicks. Maybe I would have been a good cheerleader, 'cause cheerleaders are mean girls like that.

Really, fitness was my true interest. Probably not in a healthy way, most of the time. I was much too concerned about how flat my belly was (or, to my thinking, wasn't). I was fastidious about "eating healthy" to the point of obsession. I didn't count calories, but I was very conscientious about "fat content". Some days, I ate practically nothing but blueberries. I know, it sounds a little scary, but I can laugh at myself now. I can't imagine getting through a day denying myself of any food possibility but blueberries...
That was SO highschool.


Besides, I started this post for another reason.
I wanted to let you know my opinion on yoga.
Because you were all just waiting with bated breath.

I have, for a long time, been interested in practicing yoga. I've "fiddled around" with it. I learned some postures from a teen magazine in high school and enjoyed practicing them on a blanket in the backyard at home (didn't we all).  The postures felt like really great stretches, and made me feel strong and limber like a gymnast. Some of the breathing techniques I learned helped me fall asleep more quickly at night, sleep more peacefully and wake more refreshed in the morning.

I could use some yoga these days. (I thought I wasn't sleeping well then...guffaw).

I am undeniably out of shape. I don't feel motivated to "work out". I don't have time to work out. But I really need to. At 6'0-1", I'm a somewhat exceptionally tall woman. When people tell me they envy my height, I often find myself qualifying to them that while I am grateful for how God made me, height has its disadvantages. My neck and lower back have started to let me know about what exactly those disadvantages are.

So. I'm looking into taking a yoga class. Or at the very least, getting myself committed to the "Yoga" video gathering dust on the shelf.

In recent months I've learned that yoga may be very offensive to some in my Christian community. But, I found a couple of articles expressing counter opinions that I feel summarize my thoughts on the matter fairly well. So, I thought I'd like to take the time to present them here.

The first is an article from Burnside Writers Collective, a webzine that offers a refreshing variety of perspectives on topics that Christians discuss, or should discuss- namely, pretty much everything.
Christians and Yoga: The Om's Dilemma 
From this article, I linked to a website about a woman who has developed a type of "Christian yoga".
When I looked up her book on Amazon, among several other interesting titles and a video, this one was suggested: Holy Yoga: Excercise for the Christian Body and Soul. I read an excerpt. I was really enthused by what the author was suggesting- basically, that a practice that may have orginated with "heathen" roots, can be made pure, lovely, and virtuous with a mind renewed by Christ. Much in the same way that holidays such as Christmas and Easter are now such deeply meaningful times to remember the work God has done to make me His own.

I'm feeling even more motivated now, to get started with a yoga routine, anticipating getting to spend some special time with my Creator in it, caring for the temple He has given me- my body and mind. I'll be so...Dinotopian. So just smile and maybe give it a try it, if I suggest you "Breathe deep, seek peace".