Holy Yoga

True Reality
3 of you and 3 of me that's what creates True Reality
Father, Son and Holy Ghost
come together to complete your host
Body, Soul and Spirit agree
It’s an awesome double trinity
With Your reflection starring back at me
I can truly see who you created me to be
Trusting You to live through me...That's what creates True Reality
 
Melah’s Wings
My heart in now whole the way You intended it to be
I no longer have a chasm that consumes me
I still look to You Father to love me like no other
Repeatedly Your Spirit encourages me
to share my freedom with others
You whisper “stiff wings My Love conquer limitations”
As I spread my wings and give my life to You
I now have HOPE that all You are is true
As You faithfully blow new life into me
I will soar on Your breath with eyes like You to see
To leave a glimpse of You in everyone you glide me by
That is my destiny until the day I fly
 
The Cave
Cold, dark and lonely was my hiding place
When I crawled inside
I no longer could see Your face
The darkness consumed my heart
and I believed its lies
Until the day came and You opened my eyes
I have a choice of where I want to hide
And it is nestled on Your Truth with the Holy Spirit as my guide
It's ok to find refuge in Your secret place
To remain stable and fixed with Your shadow on my face
I will run to You when this life brings me pain
I have only death to lose and
Your HOPE to gain...
 
What's Your Hue?
We are who we are, but do you like who you see?
Sometimes, I don't like the image starring back at me
Too fat, too thin, too young, too old
It all depends on what lie we're being told
Let’s move beyond this worlds view
and see ourselves with a whole new hue
We all have beauty in all different colors
Reds, blues, yellows and pinks
They shift and collide as our soul thinks
Be joyous with who God created you to be
Because your beauty comes from what colors you see

SNORES

HA! Just the words snores and farts bring a chuckle to the body and smile to the face. The normal bodily functions somehow bring out laughter and embarrassing moments.  I recently taught a class when a student started to snore heavily during final relaxation (corpse pose/ savasana). The room was already silent, there was a peaceful presence in the room, the lights were dimmed, and the music played softly and then we hear a big fat grandpa like snore, the one from the back of throat. I chose not to say anything  when I noticed two of my friends cracking up uncontrollably, bodies shaking, hands over mouth. I went over to her and rubbed her neck and she stopped, but as soon as I walked away, the snoring began, even louder this time. The room was filled with thirty people, and all I could think of; this is really disturbing to others. So, I walked back over, lifted her legs and gave her a gentle tap on the feet. And then what do you know? Yep… she started snoring with a great big roar again. At this point the whole front row was busting out in laughter and I couldn’t even talk without my voice cracking, holding back my laughter…oh that calm soft voice we teachers get at the end of class to awaken the mind back to the body. “Bring awareness to your breath”…blah blah blah….hehehehe.  And we all let it go…it just turned into a laughing yoga session and a beautiful teaching opportunity of what it means to enter final savasana. Two important lessons were learned that day for me as a teacher and for my students.

1. Honor thy body, if you fall asleep, that is yoking to what your body needs that day.
2. There will be times that savasna will transcend us into higher states of consciousness. A time in which the physical body enjoys being absorbed with the soul, to connect with a deeper part of ourselves or hopefully communing with The Divine essence of LIFE. That the time is so sweet and peaceful that we don’t want to fall to asleep because we will miss that depth and nourishment, which fills our spirits.

FARTS

 So what about farts? They are normal too! It makes complete sense that gas is expelled by the detoxifying postures such as twisting poses that aid in digestion and allows the body to release.  I remember I took both my boys at 8 weeks old to infant massage classes to bond and to help alleviate gas. They were so constipated, poor little guys. And the exercises suggested were knees to chest (apanasana), and even rubbing the belly in a clock wise motion, the same flow as the large intestines to help push it all along.  There are ways to prevent and aid your personal digestion if this is what happens to you in class. Try to eliminate before class and keep a food diary to see if there are any foods that trigger flatulence, like acidic foods; beans, dairy, yeast. And perhaps add spices such as cumin, coriander, or caraway that help counteract the gas.  It is better to let it out then keep it in! LETTING IT ALL GO!  Remind yourself we all fart! Laugh it off!

LAUGHTER

 I will never forget attending a New Year’s Day class at Holy Cow Yoga with Amy Quesenbery and being guided into a laughing meditation. At first I was like, what? This is silly! And exactly what it was; silly, fun, contagious, and therapeutic.  The challenge was to stop laughing when the instructor said, “stop laughing.” Infusing the discipline of the mind that yoga offers. Laughter is so good for you and is way more contagious then any cold or a yawn. I was laughing so hard at others laughing that I totally let go of my desire to be in control. It was a true mark of a change in my practice (thank you Amy!) that I now teach a laughing meditation regularly.  Laughing relieves stress, boosts the immune system and strengthens relationships. I felt like I did about 1,000 crunches! No need for an ab workout with a laughing meditation.  Laughing relaxes the whole body, eases tension in the muscles up to 45 minutes after. Laughter also releases endorphins, the happy chemicals that are released in the body.  The Proverb “a happy heart is good medicine,” is utmost merit for laughing increases blood flow and may help in preventing heart disease.  Laughter creates lightness and joy in heart, mind, and soul.  Just say, “hee, hee, ha, ha, ho, ho! “Are you laughing?

 TEARS

My matt has become my sacred place to let it all go, a place to bow to the Lord in worship, adoration, and reverence. A place to come to my knees in repentance; stretched out palms in receiving His grace, and a place to stand on Holy ground. A prayerful expression of love and gratitude to the God of the Universe and Savior of the World, Yeshu Nam.  Not only am I moved in laughter but also to tears. If you ever experienced a tear flow during the flow of a class you are not alone.  Tears like laughter relieve stress and cleanse the body from emotional grief, but also a release of joy too.  Tears have enzymes that act like antibacterial agent called Lysozyme and without it eye infections could lead to blindness. Emotional tears are scientific phenomena, for human beings are the only creatures that shed tears beyond just lubricating the eyes and preventing dehydration. Tears have similar healing benefits like laughing, to releasing endorphins, cleansing the body by eliminating toxins and feeling lighter in heart. Biochemist William Frey spent 15 years of research of studying the miracles of tears and found that by “suppressing tears increases stress levels, and contributes to diseases aggravated by stress, such as high blood pressure, heart problems and peptic ulcers.”  When we step on our mat, we step into the world of our inner self and discover the things that are pent up inside, and so like the sweat that falls from our brow in head stand, to the tears that flow from our eyes will fall at His feet to cleanse the deepest parts of ourselves.

LET GO…LET GOD

In Holy Yoga we practice several Mudras. A mudra is a positioning of the hands used to direct the flow of energy.

Mudras are significant...

Because the hands are the last thing anyone is thinking about. Everyone focuses first on the positioning of the body, on the breath, and on the intention of the practice.

The hands are forgotten. And the posture is left unfinished. The fingertips hang without any attention given to them at all.

But, when we place our awareness on something so small, yet so powerful, it changes our practice. Mudras really do change the energy of the posture. There is a sense of power, of fire, of upward lifting, of encouragement - in simply extending your fingertips.

And are we ever really aware of what our hands are doing?

We wander around on our giant planet, living our individual lives, dumping our energy into nothingness.

We don't give much attention to where we direct our energy. We just get the job done. We just DO.

And all that energy is pouring out of us all of the time.

We position ourselves to run the race... but we don't have any energy left.

If you're anything like me, you are often clenching your fists tight; refusing to relinquish control.

The mudra of my life is often one of retaining. I am too afraid to stretch my fingers open...

To let go of the things I love.

I hold my kids, my marriage, my friendships, my holy yoga practice, my position in holy yoga - ALL of it - in the tight grip of my closed fists.

God has been using sorrow to pry my fingers apart. He has been gently and firmly asking me to let go.

And it is only in brokenness that I can even consider another life mudra.

I really don't want to resist God. I really don't want to try to control, or hold, everything so tightly.

I want to be King David - when someone moves against me to take something I love...

Can I say, "God gave it to me. He can take it away if he wants. It's not mine to fight for."

Can I spread my fingers wide, press my palms to the sun, savor the feeling of those tiny grains of sand spilling through my fingers?

Can I bring my awareness to my hands?

Can I stand with a fearless mudra, radiating surrender... peace from every single fingertip?

Tonight someone quoted St Augustine...

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

My hands are overflowing.

And, everywhere I turn, I can hear God offering me something better.

I just have to open my hands. I have to be intentional.

A person of intention.

So.

Fearless hands. Fearless, open, brilliant hands.

And back to the original calling.

Be free.

"That is why we should never judge the potency of a ministry by the excitement or crowds it generates."  This quote comes from Charles Stanley's book The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life.  I continually judge my classes based on attendance.  I even use my attendance to judge whether I am a good instructor or not.  A few years ago, I used to log the number of people in my class and then based upon that I would determine if I should continue teaching that class or not.  How self-centered.  It had everything to do with me and very little to do with how God was working in my classes.  Sometimes, I would leave a class devastated because I only had 1 or 2 people.  I continually wonder why I'm not getting more people in class.  I then reassure myself by remembering that I live in a rural area, most people don't connect God with their body, and our area is always about 5 years behind the times.

As part of Holy Yoga's core team I feel like I should have much bigger classes.  Instructors in Arizona would bring in amazing crowds-sometimes between 30-50 people.  Wow!  I remember teaching my biggest class at a Holy Yoga Retreat.  I felt so inadequate because I had never taught so many students in a class before-And I'm in leadership and I'm instrumental in program development.

All this to say, it has taken me what seems like forever to let go of the number of students in a given class.  I abandoned logging the number of students in my classes long ago.  This is still a work in progress for me.  I was humbled even further in this when another Holy Yoga Instructor started teaching in my area.  She had over 30 people in her classes and she just started doing yoga less than 1 year ago.  Then there was me, a Master Holy Yoga Instructor, program developer for Holy Yoga, and 9 years of teaching experience and I would be lucky to have 10 people show up at my class.  God is so funny in how he teaches us-it isn't about me, but about Him.  As I continually surrender that number mentality, I have seen an increase in my class sizes.  I just recently started a new class and have over 20 people at each class.  My biggest class ever...besides retreat!  One student or 20---it is about God.  Not how many people we think should be there.  This is a lesson I' still learning.

Doing God's work in the flesh; that is me 100%.  I feel like God has given me a mission/ministry of having people live healthier lives and as I live out this mission I feel like I'm pushing two huge boulders up a cliff.  Exhausting!  For whatever effort I'm putting forward people aren't getting it.  I cannot convenience anyone to use USANA products even though they are ranked number 1 and I cannot convenience anyone to participate in our weight loss program, even though 9 out of 10 people need to lose weight.  Charles Stanley says in The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life, "Doing God's work in the flesh boils down to depending on influence, personality, gifts, natural resources, education, and experience.

Dependence on personality, education, and experience get me nowhere.  But isn't that what we are continually taught.  The more you know the further you will get.  As a type A perfectionist not doing something in the flesh seems crazy.  When do I move forward?  When do I step back?  When do I plan and when do I work?  There is a fine line in all of this when it comes to a spirit filled life.  One thing I do know is that I can't plan or work my way into anyone's hearts or minds.  Even thought I tell people about the importance of nutritional supplements or how to choose a good supplement, people will only make choices based upon their own hearts and minds.  I can provide knowledge but it is the person's decision to accept or reject it.  So frustrating; especially when I can provide a solution to the very thing someone is struggling with.  Being spirit filled is being ok with people making their own choices and moving on-not being affected either way.  Being in the flesh is being driven to DO move or believe you didn't DO enough because the other person didn't buy into what I had to offer.  Lord, help me to let go of working the flesh because I'm exhausted!