The purpose of activity is rest. It’s hard to think of anything more counter-cultural than this. Activity in any form that is not harmful is seen as self-justifying and true. Has there been any time when there was so much sheer activity as there is today, yet with so little real co-ordination and unity of purpose. 

Mere activity – activity for the sake of activity – is simply diabolical – noise for the sake of noise, bustle for the sake of bustle.The Vulgate translation of psalm 91:6 describes the devil as negotium perambulans in tenebris, “the business that prowls around in the shadows,” sheer mischief looking for a loophole by which it can make an entry. Dorothy L. Sayers wrote that “damnation is without direction or purpose. Why not? It has nothing to do, and all eternity to do it in.”

George Macdonald described heaven as “the regions where there is only life and therefore all that is not music is silence.”

It’s a sad feature of our culture that so many of us have little opportunity for genuine interior repose and quiet, and are reluctant to use it when it comes their way. I’ve been to more than a few yoga classes where three minutes would be considered a lengthy savasana. Even then, there are people who are restless and fidgeting, eager to get away and on with the day. Perhaps there is a fear that if we are deprived of the distractions, the noise, both literal and metaphorical, which is the condition of regular life, we might have to start paying attention to the disquieting suspicion that the very activity which so dominates life is largely pointless and self-frustrating. Noise can in fact make itself louder and louder in order to disguise its own futility. 

The Christian brings to the practice of savasana the pattern of rest which is provided in the book of Genesis where we are told that God blessed and hallowed the seventh day, because God rested from all the work of creation. There is a real sense, of course, in which God’s activity never ceases at all, since God’s creative act perpetually upholds and energizes the universe. Neither is the inner being of God dead or static. It is that unfathomable energy of life and love which is the Holy Trinity. But all this involves no change in God, no alteration or vacillation of actions. God is the unchanging ground of the changing universe. In God rest and activity are reconciled. 

Nevertheless, the truth that the anthropomorphic language of Genesis expresses is that God does not, so to speak, turn away in relief from the created world. God contemplates it and rejoices in it. God is not like the wage-slave who tries to forget work during the weekend break. God is more like the hobbyist who makes things and then takes pleasure in using them, or like the painter who can enjoy looking at a picture she has made. 

In the Genesis story, the story of the first creation, it was on the sixth day of the week that God made man in the divine image and gave him dominion over the lower creatures. In the Gospel story, the story of the new creation, humankind was remade by God on the sixth day of the week, the first Good Friday, when Christ, the perfect man, died on the cross. And Christ rested in the tomb on Holy Saturday – the Great Sabbath – in the enjoyment of the work of the new creation. He saw what he had made and behold, it was very good. The consummation of the new creation comes when Christ lies at rest in the tomb, happy in the fulfilment of his work and awaiting his resurrection. 

In Christ we have entered into the rest of God (see Hebrews 4:1-11), a rest that is not stagnation, inertia, or boredom, but perfect and unruffled life. Our full possession of this rest awaits us after death, but its foretaste is given to us here. We have already been made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). 

When we are at rest, we join with God’s delight in the creation. When we are at rest, we delight in the wonder of our own existence. When we are at rest, our vision clears, the eyes of our hearts are enlightened (Ephesians 1:18), and we are able to see things as they are rather than as we wish they might be. This is contemplation in the Christian sense — both a goal and the pathway to the goal. We cannot of ourselves make such a view of things happen, but we can dispose ourselves to allow God to bring it about in us. 

In contemplative prayer then we are not strictly speaking passive but receptive. We are receptive of God’s own self-contemplation, caught up into God’s own life and energized by God. Thus, contemplation is the source and foundation of all truly Christian activity. Many great contemplative saints, outside their times of prayer, have been veritable volcanoes of activity. But that activity has been unified, coherent, vital, and totally concentrated on one object, the fulfilment of God’s will.

Contemplation is, therefore, the source and the end of Christian action. It is the end because our final destiny is to contemplate God in heaven. It is the source, because Christian action is simply the overflow of contemplation. 

Kevin Flynn is a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada. He has served parishes in Toronto and in Ottawa, as well as having spent several decades teaching theology and pastoral practice in universities in both cities.
He has practiced yoga and meditation for most of his life.

First a bit of background. I was a professional modern dancer. I was strong and fit and flexible -used to calling on my body as a trained and honed instrument of artistic expression. But at this point in my life the natural aging process had slowly begun to affect my physical abilities, but I was in complete denial. I was attending the yoga class because I had been suffering from low back pain and I thought perhaps yoga might help.

As the class proceeded, I was pushing myself into extremes of stretch and twist and bend as we moved our way through the poses. Meanwhile the teacher’s voice kept reminding us to employ satya – being honest with others and with ourselves. “Okay” I thought as I forced my aching spine into a deep back bending pose.  “I am an honest person. Now and then I soften the truth so as not to be hurtful but mostly I’m truthful”.  Then the focus of the teacher’s monologue switched to the idea of being honest with ourselves within our yoga practice. And that was the moment – the aha!

I realized I was in pain. I had been working through pain for so long that I no longer recognized it when it came to call. But that day, in seated forward fold, I noticed I was not as flexible as I used to be so I was forcing it. In camel pose, my back did not bend the way it did in the past, so I was hurting myself trying to recreate an image of myself which was no longer true. I was pretending to be a 20-year-old dancer in her prime.  I was not being honest with myself. I was not gently holding my body in truthfulness.

For me, on that day, satya on my mat became a doorway to self acceptance and to a gentler approach to my yoga practice. I found a new freedom. Although it was irrational, I realized that I was angry at myself and that, in my heart, I needed to  forgive myself for not being 20 years old anymore. This breakthrough came about through accepting truth. I realize this is complex – there was ego involved.  I was also harming myself, so a reflection on ahimsa was warranted. There was also a need for understanding that a yoga practice is not a performance but can be a journey toward union of mind, body and spirit with The Holy One, but satya or being honest with myself was the foundation of my breakthrough. What I began to learn that day and in the many years that followed is that I am very talented at fooling myself. 

Now, 16 years later, as a yoga teacher I try to convey this lesson to my students.  I remind them, “If you are tired, be tired.  If you are sad, or ill or injured, it is what it is, that is where you begin your practice today. If you are joyful or strong, be joyful or strong, that is where you begin your practice today.”

I have always held the theory that attitudes we learn on our mat may generalize to attitudes in our life and in our prayer. I find that this long-ago lesson in honesty on my mat has helped me strive for honesty before God in my prayer.

In Psalm 139, the psalmist writes: You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.

God, in great love, knows everything about me so why would I want to pretend to be better than I am as I come before God in prayer? Why would I want to coat my soul with a dishonest veneer if my desire is to touch God intimately?

My goal for myself, even if I continue to be only half aware of my own weaknesses and shadow side, is to try my best to enter my prayer with an honest acknowledgement to myself and God about where I am at that moment. My path is to acknowledge this and then move on, surrendering into the love of the Trinity. I may ask Jesus, who also lived on this earth, to help me. Then I enter my prayer of silence or worship or intercession or praise or thanksgiving. My call is to do my best to let it go and meet God on God’s terms. I love the expression…My prayer will not change God but it will change me.

As earthly pilgrims we are on a journey toward God. Truthful self knowledge involves facing my weaknesses and my strengths, my emotions, my shame, my faith, my doubts, my kindness, my selfishness, my illness, my health, my loving, my unloving.  I have heard it said that the closer we come to the Light, we see more clearly our own foibles and weaknesses.  We also more deeply experience God’s great love for us.

By Joan Chittister again: “I must pray for the searing honesty that, with the grace of God, can bring me to the heart of God. (page 6)
*****************************

*The Truth Will Set You Free  - Gospel of John 8:32

Connie lives in Canada, teaches Centering Prayer and yoga, still choreographs dances and is CPY Co-President.

This was me in 2020—just months after launching Sacred Spaces Yoga, the Christ-centered community I had prayed for and worked toward for years. My dream had finally come to life, and yet something inside me was shifting.

To understand how I got there, let’s start at the beginning.

The Beginning

My yoga journey began in 2015, during one of the hardest seasons of my life. I had just been diagnosed with clinical depression and was searching for something—anything—that could help me breathe again. I didn’t set out looking for spiritual transformation; I just wanted to stretch, slow down, and quiet my racing thoughts. What I found on the mat was peace. And eventually, an unconventional way to experience God.

One evening at a studio yoga class, as thunder cracked outside, I heard an inner voice say:
“Be still, daughter. You are surrounded by chaos, but you can surrender to Me. Lean into My love. Find peace here.”

That moment became a kind of altar. It reminded me that God could meet me anywhere, even on my yoga mat. From then on, my practice became a form of worship. I arrived early to class to meditate on a scripture, using my faith to anchor my flow and stillness to listen for God’s voice.

As I began to share my yoga experiences with my social media, I had many Christians in my DM’s proclaiming to be concerned about my soul. *enter side eye here* They were screaming that Yoga was dangerous, even demonic and a practice that pulled people away from God. But my experience was the exact opposite. Yoga was helping me heal, quiet my mind, and reconnect with my body in a way that deepened my faith. 

Eventually the peace I was experiencing was too powerful to keep to myself and simply post yoga selfies on social media. I wanted to sit in the seat as a teacher and educator. I was being guided to share this practice with others, specifically with Black and African American Christians who, like me, had been told that connecting faith and embodiment was somehow wrong.

After years of practicing, training and eventually teaching in studios, I launched Sacred Spaces Yoga in early 2020. It was everything I had prayed for; a ministry of movement and stillness, a space where people could bring their full selves before God. My launch party was scheduled for March. Tickets sold out. The playlist was ready.

And then—the pandemic hit.

The Pause

Like everyone else, I tried to adapt. I moved classes online, hosted small virtual gatherings, even created a yoga connection group for my church. But within months, I felt drained. Something deeper was stirring, a quiet invitation to stop producing and start listening.

So I paused.

I took a week to pray, to journal, to breathe. Out of that stillness came my first course, Heart2Heart Sacred Yoga + Meditation. It was born from that same space of surrender that had first drawn me to yoga years earlier.

Yet even as my creative vision expanded, my faith began to unravel. The chaos of 2020 exposed cracks in my inherited faith and beliefs. I started to see how Western Christianity was entangled with systems of power and oppression such as white supremacy and patriarchy. Most importantly, I started to see how some of my own beliefs had, without meaning to, contributed to harm. That realization shook me. After a long season of reflection and the early steps of deconstructing and decolonizing my faith, I chose to leave my church and step away from Christian yoga circles that no longer felt aligned. I began sharing my questions and evolving theology publicly, and, as expected, I lost people: friends, followers, even pieces of the identity I once clung to.

For the first time in my life, I didn’t know if I wanted to be called a Christian. 

So again I ask, What happens when a Christian yoga teacher starts questioning her own faith?

I simply removed Jesus from my offerings, in name and scripture. And still, Sacred Spaces Yoga kept growing. Classes sold out, my retreats filled, and a new online community began to take shape. But inside, I felt unanchored.I was still teaching, still showing up—but I was wandering.

The Return

The beautiful thing is, even in the wilderness, God never left me. I couldn’t always feel Their nearness, but I could sense a quiet faithfulness threading through my questions, curiosity, and becoming. During that season, I began studying theologies of justice, embodiment, and love such as Black Liberation Theology, Womanist Theology, and Queer-Affirming Theology. These frameworks helped me see God differently: not as distant or demanding, but as deeply invested in liberation.

I found communities of people who were also wrestling with their faith, and I realized that questioning could be holy too. After years of wandering, I no longer felt the need to defend my beliefs. I could release what harmed and still hold on to what healed. I could hold on to Jesus.

By 2025, I felt ready to return—not to who I had been, but to a reimagined vision of what faith and yoga could be together. That year, I hosted the Flow in Faith Virtual Summit gathering teachers and theologians to explore the parallels between yoga philosophy and the teachings of Christ. It felt like a homecoming.

When I first launched Sacred Spaces Yoga, I taught from a place of striving, from the belief that I had to earn God’s love. Today, I teach from the truth that we are already loved. Already whole. Already good. Because the truth is God called us good before we did, produced or proved anything.

I no longer identify as “Christian” in the institutional sense, but I follow Christ—the Brown, Palestinian Jew whose ministry centered the poor, the overlooked, and the oppressed. The one who said the greatest commandment is to love: to love God, to love my neighbor, and to love self. Teaching from this place feels lighter, freer. I experience God in ways I once feared. I see the Divine in places I used to overlook. And though questions remain, I’ve learned that the questions themselves can be sacred too.

The Living Practice

Sacred Spaces Yoga looks different now. My offerings that include scripture or the name of Jesus carry the word Sacred in the title. Not every space I hold is overtly faith-based, but every space is spiritual. My practice has become a rhythm of remembering—remembering that God is not confined to a building, a label, or even a belief system. God meets us in the body, in the breath, in the pause between what was and what’s next.

This journey through the beginning, the pause, and the return has been anything but linear. There’s been loss and revelation but through it all, I’ve learned that the wilderness can be holy ground too.

Wherever you find yourself—rooted, resting, or returning—may you remember this:
you are good,
you are loved,
and you belong in the wholeness of body, mind, and spirit.

Shakethia “Queen” Robertson is a yoga educator, wellness guide, and founder of Sacred Spaces Yoga. Her journey with yoga began as a personal search for self-care, healing, and peace. What she discovered was a deeper spiritual home. Over time, her mat became a steady place to meet God, process life, rest, and reconnect with who she truly is.

Sacred Spaces Yoga was born out of this lived experience. Queen creates spaces for people who are navigating transitions, shedding old identities, questioning long-held beliefs, or simply longing for a moment to exhale. Whether someone arrives with faith or with questions, with grief or with hope, she holds the door open. Through reflective practices, somatic movement, spiritually rooted flows, and Christ-centered yoga Queen’s work is an invitation to return—to yourself, to God, and to the freedom that comes from presence and rest. At the heart of her work is an invitation to slow down, reclaim rest, and make space for God in the everyday. sacredspacesyogahtx.com
https://www.youtube.com › @sacredspacesyoga › videos

by guest writer Melissa Schultz 

My journey with yoga has been long and layered—part of a larger spiritual arc that began in  childhood with a Christian foundation, unraveled through deconstruction and exploration, and  ultimately circled back to my roots with new clarity and depth. It wasn’t yoga per se that called  to me, but India. Through marriage and adoption, Indian culture became part of the vibrant fabric  of my family life, and with it came Eastern spiritual and philosophical traditions. 

I was raised Catholic in the suburbs of Minneapolis and attended Catholic school during a time I affectionately call the  Kumbaya Catholic era: folk guitars at Mass, felt banners, and a focus on God’s love rather than  strict tradition and rules. At the same time, my mother had a powerful spiritual awakening and  converted to evangelical Pentecostalism. The contrasts between sacraments and altar calls,  between reverent ritual and charismatic praise, left me spiritually stretched—sometimes  confused, and definitely resentful. Yet through those turbulent formative years and into  adulthood, I never doubted the existence of God. Even when family life was fractured or adult  responsibilities weighed me down, I had a deep, intuitive sense that God was real, that He was  looking out for me, and that these trying experiences served a higher purpose. 

In my twenties, God blessed me with extraordinary opportunities to explore the world— studying, working and traveling through Europe and Asia, immersing myself in new cultures,  languages and ways of thinking. While in graduate school in Illinois, I met the man who would become my  husband—a generous soul from India, who would become my personal Gateway of India.  Visiting his homeland for the first time was like stepping into a sensory kaleidoscope: the bold  colors, the incense and spice, the sacred cows and cacophonous street life. A year spent in  Indonesia had already whetted my appetite for Asia, but India didn’t just offer a taste—she laid  out a full banquet of rich cultural practices laden with spice and soul. I was captivated and  savored every delight she offered. 

By then, I had already developed an appetite for natural living—vegetarianism, permaculture,  herbalism, and holistic health. These threads were already woven seamlessly into India's ancient  wisdom traditions. It wasn’t long before I discovered Ayurveda and Yoga—not as trendy  practices, but as profound systems of integrated knowledge that spoke to an inner knowing and  engaged my intellect. The more I learned, the more I could see God’s magnificent design in  creation—so elegantly and harmoniously articulated in Indian thought. Sāṃkhya, Yoga’s  theoretical framework, with its finely ordered interplay of principles and elements offered a  metaphysical map of creation, while Yoga charted a practical guide to liberation through  meditation. 

When my husband and I moved to Rochester, Minnesota just before the turn of the millennium,  yoga was still far from mainstream, especially in the rural Midwest. I sought out the only yoga  teacher in town, a devoted practitioner trained in the Himalayan tradition. Many years of  gymnastics had cultivated a natural flexibility and an affinity for the movement of yogasana.  Still, it was the philosophy that truly engaged me. 

For two decades, my connection to Christianity was faint—almost forgotten. But God never quit  searching for me patiently waiting until I was ready and willing. He was using my connection to  India to draw me back to him. My son, adopted from India, revealed a strong spiritual sensibility 

from a young age. In response, I found myself—somewhat reluctantly—attending a local  Catholic church to help guide him in his religious formation. 

Returning to church as an adult allowed me to revisit the tenets of my early faith with mature  eyes. As a child, my understanding had been shaped by a watered-down catechism and anxious  warnings about the End Times. But as I began to explore the Christian tradition, its breadth and  depth began to reveal themselves. I discovered that the Christian path was alive with  contemplative wisdom, mystical theology, deep devotion, and a lineage of saints, thinkers, and  seekers—Catholic and Protestant, charismatic and contemplative, traditional and revolutionary. 

With renewed faith, I could see my life’s trajectory with greater clarity and purpose. My years of  seeking, exploring and studying Eastern traditions hadn’t drawn me away from Christ—they had  laid groundwork, the stepping stones that led me back to Him. God wasn’t dismissing these  pursuits that had informed me—He was affirming them, expanding my understanding, and  directing them toward a ministry of healing—physical, emotional and spiritual. 

Formed at the meeting place of Heaven and Earth, East and West, I came to taste the fullness of  the feast—and with it, the call to live and share its healing.

Melissa Schultz is a Holistic Health Practitioner trained in acupuncture, Chinese medicinals, yoga, Ayurveda, and spiritual direction. She delights in exploring the meeting place of Christian mysticism and global medicine. With a heart devoted to Christ and a mind open to the world’s wisdom traditions, Melissa weaves together God’s promise of restoration, modern research, and the insights of traditional Asian healing systems to guide those seeking spiritual growth, mental clarity, and a healthier body. Grounded in Christ’s principles of transformation, healing, joy, and abundance, she believes in the boundless possibilities that emerge when faith, surrender, grace, and knowledge meet. You can learn more about her at melissaschultz.nccaomdiplomates.com/about-me.

• Trauma-Informed Yoga: A Toolbox for Teachers by Joanne Spence

• Yoga for Children by Mary Stewart and Kathy Phillips 

• Yoga for your Spiritual Muscles by Rachel Schaeffer

• Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope

• Honoring the Body Stephanie Paulsell

• Praying with our Hands by Jon Sweeney

• Patanjali’s Meditation Yoga by Vin Bailey 

• Meditation from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison

• Echo of the Soul by Philip Newell 

• Finding Jesus on the Mat by Bethany B. Connelly

• Christianity and Yoga by O’Brien 

• Yoga Body by Mark Singleton

• L’autre et les autres by JM Dechanet

• Yoga and the Jesus Prayer Tradition by Matus 

• I am My Body by Moltmann-Wendel

• Jesus in the Lotus by Russill Paul

• Airplane Yoga by Rachel Lehmann-Houpi and Bess Abraham 

• The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Alistair Shearer 

• Yoganap by Kirsten Rentz

• Yoga for Integral Health and Growth by Swami Devaprasad 

• Jesus Christ and Yoga by Goswami 

• Beatitudes, Christ and the Practice of Yoga by Randazzo/Ferrara-Matheis

• Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality by St. Romain 

• The Four Yogas: A Guide to the Spiritual Paths of Action, Devotion, Meditation, and Knowledge by Swami Adiswarananda 

• The Wisdom of Yoga by Stephen Cope 

• The Spiritual Quest and the Way of Yoga: The Goal, the Journey and the Milestones by Swami Adiswarananda

• The Deeper Dimension of Yoga by Georg Feurstein 

• Kripalu Yoga by Richard Faulds 

• Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda 

• Christian Yoga by JM Dechanet

• Yoga and God JM Dechanet

Featured image by Joyce Hankins via Unsplash

Since the initial idea about Radical Trust came from one of the retreat organizers, Sally Grillo, her voice joins me here for part 3 of our 2024 Retreat theme - digestible tidbits that investigate Radical Trust, how it fits with abhyasa (practice) and vairagya (loosening the grip on worldly desires) and ways to embody them. 

Sit down, have a favorite beverage and meander with me.  Pause and breathe in. 

Breathe out longer…ahhhhh  that’s better. 

Gaze at the triangle.  

Look Inside first.  Living a life in Spirit requires God to be at the center where the essence can inform all decisions.  This requires trust.  Note how abhyasa and vairagya lean into each other.   See that scriptural and self-study create a base, a foundation.   

Now, Let’s explore the inside.

 “Trust in God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 

in all your ways submit to God, and God will make your paths straight.”  

Proverbs 3: 5-6 NIV

Pause.  Inhale, exhale longer.

Next, read  

From trustful surrender one is given perfect absorption into Spirit.  

Yoga Sutra 2.45

This comes from Chapter (pada) 2 which begins with a trio describing what it takes to progress along a spiritual path.  Tapas (disciplined effort or heat), swadhyaya (self-study/scriptural study) and (Ishvara Pranidhana) trustful surrender to a higher power - something beyond our desires and our own understanding.  This trio is so vital, it appears again later in the chapter as part of the guiding principles for behavioral observances (yama and niyama) to live life by.

The gift of perfect absorption into Spirit comes from Trustful Surrender - Radical Trust.  Last winter, while helping to plan the theme, I did not understand why Sally suggested ‘radical’ because I think of the word  to mean ‘fringe, or violent’ - not something to seek, especially not in terms of trusting in the Divine Mystery. 

 So I looked it up.  

Radical, in fact means: (1) arising from or going to a root or source; basic. (That  sounds like God.)  (2) departing markedly from the usual or customary; extreme or drastic or relating to or advocating fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions, or institutions. (Seeking God in all things and at all times goes against the worldly desires -- the material nature vs. spiritual nature.  Living like Jesus IS extreme or drastic in relation to the world’s ways.) 

Sally explained that she thinks of radical as ‘complete’.  The aim is to live the human experience with Spirit leading every moment.  That takes focused awareness (practices, effort & self-study) on the Divine to guide all of the heart’s decisions (often a letting go and trustful surrender).  Read Proverbs 3:5-6 again: Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart, and LEAN NOT on your own understanding.   In all your ways give your whole self, not part, but all. Lean on God in love and loss - Lean into Grace. 

What might Radical Trust look like?

• Being open to The Holy Spirit blowing everywhere and filling all things.

• Trusting Spirit to whisper - for you to be guided to where you need to be (whether at this retreat or elsewhere).

• Trusting you will get what you need (even if it doesn’t look like what you thought you needed - which can happen when spirit puts us together).

• Cultivating qualities like humility, curiosity, stillness, resilience, play, balance

Recall that this exploration is not merely an academic endeavor. 

It is a matter of the heart as well.  Pause.  

Now ask yourself: What graces are you in need of right now? Can you lean into Grace enough to ask?   You will receive, (in God’s time, not yours).

Put it all together

It’s like spaghetti, these concepts-- a bit messy and tangled. 

It is also like a feedback loop….  Vairagya circle dances with abhyasa. Through practice, we gain a direct experience of the Divine.  We learn to see where we attach.   Through non-attachment (dispassion), we are inspired to practice more.  We become more free - more available for the Holy One’s plan in our life.   As we gain a direct experience of the Divine we come to trust in the process. The more we radically trust in God, the more we are motivated to keep going with study, practice and letting go.  In this way, the yogis and Jesus show us a Way, a Truth beyond this world of habits and desires. 

Embody these concepts

Sally invites you  as you prepare for the day, night or CPY retreat, to pray on Psalm 109 

May I break the fetters of fear 

and welcome peace into my heart! 

May I grow in wisdom 

and abandon myself 

to You with radical trust, 

and though I may suffer,

 may I reach maturity of soul! 

Psalms for Praying by Nan Merrill

Doreen invites you to sit with a poem that came to her while preparing these essays.

Seek not your own understanding but to 

glorify God in your every move, 

every thought, every breath, every moment. 

Practice letting go - out of this world’s envy and desire 

into my world of Love, Awareness, Quiet, 

Spacious friendship, Companionship and Peace. 

 

Trust me.  He whispers to me: Trust me.  

Let go into the Light of ALL Lights.  

He again whispers:  I AM …..  Trust me.

Sources: 

defining ‘radical’:  American Heritage Dictionary

Now, pause and breathe in. 

Breathe out longer……  ahhhhh  that’s better.

View the triangle.

Note abhyasa and vairagya on the sides.  They are supported by a foundation of scriptural study (including following an ethical code and other practices for growing spiritually).   Inside - all of it - is held together by radical trust in God.

Pause and breathe in. 

Breathe out longer……

Next, read how vairagya is described in the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali as the state when “… the mind ceases to thirst for anything it has seen or heard of; even what is promised in the scriptures.  It acquires a state of desirelessness which is called non-attachment (also translated as freedom or dispassion).   This is the triumphant state of consciousness that is beyond the influence of desire.  Higher non-attachment, (freedom, dispassion) is a total absence of craving for anything material, which comes by discriminating between spirit and material nature.  It is the complete liberation from the world of change that comes from knowing the unbounded Self.”  Yoga Sutra 1.15-16 *

Living in the world and having desires is part of being human.  How we manage and respond to desires will reveal our level of attachment or freedom from it.  It will also reveal our true focus.  

Pause and breathe in. 

Breathe out longer……

No one can serve two masters; for either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24

Often, attachment or gripping is revealed in negative or unuseful thought waves - conscious and unconscious thought patterns that develop into negative habits. By exploring places in our lives where we have gripped or attached so much that we have stopped the flow of peace, joy and beauty we can discern where to let go. This requires self-study (swadhyaya), effort & courage (tapas), and trust in something beyond our desires and own understanding (Ishvara Pranidhana). **

Vairagya dances with abhyasa.  Both support the release of attachment to worldly desires, leaving more space.  We are then more free and available to hear the Holy One’s plans in our life. 

Pause and breathe in. 

Breathe out longer……

It is obvious that this path is not at all an easy one.  Jesus warned us that the path is hard.  Many are called but few succeed.  Many of his parables and teachings referenced this difficult spiritual growth process (e.g. Sower and the Seed, Camel through the Needle).  

How might we experience vairagya on retreat

We create time and space to step away from habits which gives perspective to explore what the scriptures advise:  discriminate between spirit and material nature - to see where desires and clinging arise.  

For instance:

• We experience different daily routines and habits - different foods, different bed for sleeping, new ideas, new people, new ways to practice on (and off) the mat all fodder to see where we grip.  

• Our identities as caregivers, parents/guardians, and business owners are left aside for a few days, which may highlight negative thoughts and habits in life. 

• We are exposed to new hymns, perhaps an unfamiliar shape of worship, and different interpretations of scriptures, which might lead to some clinging.

• We are invited to discern how far into yoga philosophy is it ‘okay’ to go… 

• We are invited to let go into the Grand Silence.

• With this opportunity for space and time to rest we might discern best practices upon the return to daily life. 

Vairagya dances with abhyasa - two sides of a triangle that are held up by the sacred scriptures and infused with Radical Trust.  In Part 3, we will explore Radical Trust, then put it all together.  

*Sources:  B. Stoler Miller, M. Stiles, Bengali Baba, A. Shearer

**See Yoga Sutra 2.1 

“Trust in God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to God, and God will make your paths straight.”  Proverbs 3: 5-6 NIV

Ahead of the bi-annual retreat in August 2024, the team asked me to ponder our scriptural inspiration.  This 3-part essay is designed to dive deeper in and explore how it might be applied to real life -- in digestible tidbits.   Sit down, have a favorite beverage and take in a few minutes of anticipation for our gathering.

Now, Pause and breathe in. 

Breathe out longer……ahhhhh that’s better.

Read from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  Instead, fix your attention on God.  You will be changed from the inside out.  Readily recognize what God wants from you and quickly respond to it.  Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you and develops well-formed maturity in you.  (1) 

Pause and breathe in. 

Breathe out longer……

Next, read Yoga Sutras 1:2 and 1:12

Yoga is the mastery of the modifications of the mind.  Yogah chitta-vritti- nirodhah

The modifications of the mind are controlled by means of practice & non-attachment.  Abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tan-nirodhah

Pause and breathe in. 

Breathe out longer……

About these two scriptures, one commentator writes:  

We are not trying to check the thought-waves by smashing the organs which record them.  We have to do something much more difficult - to unlearn the false identification of the thought-waves with the ego-sese.  This process of unlearning involves a complete transformation of character, a ‘renewal’ of the mind’ as Saint Paul puts it. (2)

When we study from both sets of scriptures, we have the unique opportunity to explore what happens in our lives at the crossroads (of Christ’s teachings and yoga teachings). This exploration is not merely an academic endeavor.  It can be a matter of the heart, body, and mind as well.   Both traditions emphasize that consistent practice and letting go of attachments are essential to deepening our trust in our Source.

Let’s look at the first part Abhyasa - Practice 

Abhyasa is Effort to acquire a steady mind, devoid of modifications or ardent effort to maintain a peaceful inward flow - free of roaming tendencies (of the mind).  The practice is firmly grounded when it is performed for a long time, without interruption, and with zeal (devotion). (3)

Spiritual practices help cultivate strength and healing.  They also cultivate awareness of what is NOT working well. We can notice what sort of situations create mental agitation.  As we determine areas of resistance, we can then practice asking the Holy Spirit to help redirect our efforts.  That is mostly inner work.  What does it look like during a CPY gathering?  

Embodied Abhyasa on retreat

There are obvious ways like ….

• Grand Silence (a time to listen more and be distracted less; spacious time for inner reflection including opportunities to note uncomfortableness -- where do you avoid yourself and fill with noise?)

• Twice daily posture, breath, prayer & meditation together.  God’s first and most accurate language is Silence.  Learning how to listen is critical to a deepening into Spirit.  

• Workshops to explore both the joy and tension at the crossroads of yoga philosophy and Christ’s teachings.

• Each assembly is an effort to flow with Grace and to explore what gets in the way… Where is the body holding? What emotion comes up?  What can be released as an act of trustful surrender?

• Gathering Graces in small group discussions we ask: what was stirred in us?  What is God calling us to be now? 

Less obvious is the work that can only be done with others who are ‘not your people’ - ‘them’ - ‘ those people’ -- the ones we might not agree with.  Jesus’ commandment to love your enemies feels almost counterintuitive -- our first reaction is defense.  This is an excellent opportunity to practice (abhyasa) - to maintain a steady peaceful mental flow.

When we choose to come in contact for 5 days with other Christians, we might assume we will be in alignment.  Yet there have been times on these retreats where one or many of us have experienced confusion and tension, especially around interpreting and understanding Christian theology and/or around how Yoga cosmology & philosophy are different from the mainline interpretations of Christ’s teachings.  I remember one year, a long-time active participant came up against a conflict that nearly sent her home early.  We all sat in silence, not knowing what to say among her deeply painful challenge.  Father Tom Ryan entered with kind words, reminding her, and all of us, to lean into Grace.  That God knows where we are going  and will lead each of us as we discern our relationship at the crossroads.

Another experience of tension: read Jennifer and Doreen’s story.

Until we meet in August… may God bring the best out of you and develop well-formed maturity in you, as Paul wrote.  In the next post, we shall explore vairagya - letting go and in the final post, Radical Trust and how these concepts fit together.

Sources (1) The Message  (2) Sutras  1.13 -14 Sources:  P & I and Stiles (3) How to know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali by Prabhavananda & Isherwood  

Born in 1891, Goswami spent most of his life deeply involved in the practice and teaching of Yoga. He made tremendous contributions to Yoga, before passing away in 1978.  One of those contributions fits squarely within the field of Christian-Yoga dialog.  

Ever the meticulous scholar, Goswami convened a panel of fourteen dedicated Yoga pupils to assist him with gathering Christian textual sources, including apocrypha.  Poring through what they gathered, Goswami worked to answer two main questions:  were the life, activities and sayings of Jesus consistent with Yoga; and was the wisdom of Jesus unique to him, or can it be found throughout all ages and cultures?  His research into these questions culminated in the book, Jesus Christ and Yoga.

One thing which sets this book apart from similar books is that Goswami never makes any attempt to postulate on how the historical Jesus might have learned Yoga.  Did he travel to India?  Did an itinerant yogi pass through and secretly instruct him?  We don’t know and we will never know, but we can examine Christian Scripture to compare its portrayal of Jesus to what is known about Yoga.  Goswami bases his examination upon the 4 Canonical Gospels, as well as the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas.  (The inclusion of Thomas may rankle some Christians, but Goswami felt that it provides reliable evidence about Jesus.)

Goswami’s book, a slender volume of 150 pages, is presented in 8 chapters.  Chapter 1 is intimately familiar to Christians, as it recapitulates the significant events from the life of Jesus.  However, Goswami intersperses comparisons to the lives of Eastern religious figures (such as Buddha and Krishna), great yogis of the past (such as Shankara and Chaitanya), and various Hindu religious texts (such as the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita).  The non-yogi reader will quickly see the value of looking up terms in the glossary!

Chapter 2 delves into Jesus as an incarnation of God, the special relationship which Jesus saw between himself and the Father, and how he perceived his mission in the world.  These are paired up with references to Krishna, who is commonly regarded by Hindus as an incarnation of Vishnu.  Goswami never makes the case that Jesus and Krishna are somehow the same (as certain authors assert), but points out the consistent parallels in how they perceived themselves and were perceived by their followers.

Chapter 3 examines the miracles of Jesus—curing the sick, raising the dead, walking on water, etc.—but terms them from a yogic perspective as “superpowers,” a more colloquial English translation for the Sanskrit, vibhuti.  This term covers the various miraculous powers attributed to advanced yogis and saintly figures from all world religious traditions.  The superpowers of Jesus are discussed and paired up with similar instances from the lives of important Hindus, Buddhists and yogis.  This is not meant to diminish the miracles of Jesus, but to situate them within a wider context.

Chapter 4 takes an important turn towards establishing that Jesus was indeed a yogi.  Historically, the fundamental underpinnings of Yoga have been the spiritual and ethical disciplines which regulate the life of the yogi, such as non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, spiritual study, and concentration through love for God.  In each of these categories by turn, Goswami uses Scriptural passages to show that Jesus was in strong alignment with the guiding principles of the yogis.

Chapter 5 centers on the nature of God.  Goswami discusses numerous Scriptural passages where Jesus speaks of God, the Father, or Abba, and then compares them with Hindu and yogic concepts of God.  Goswami shows that the Christian understanding of God is harmonious with Hindu/yogic concepts of the ultimate nature of God (if one can set aside the Hindu penchant for representing God through a multitude of names and forms).

Chapter 6 deals with Divine Love.  While Jesus tells us to love our enemies, love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and to love God with all of our hearts, souls and minds, Goswami makes a case that Jesus is actually pointing us towards something greater.  The culmination of all this practice of love is the attainment of what Goswami calls “superlove,” which brings about an absorption into the Divine Love of God.  In Hindu/yogic terms, this state is referred to as bhakti, or God Consciousness.

Chapter 7 explains the Scriptural concept of the Word as being synonymous with the yogic concept of mantra.  The Gospel of John famously begins with “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).  This passage directly aligns with Hindu/yogic concepts of mantra, especially the quintessential mantra Om.  This sacred syllable is regarded as being one and the same with God, and the sound which called all creation into being, and also the sound which can awaken us to our oneness with creation.  It is difficult to overstate the importance of Om within Yoga practice; those looking for a deeper dive on this mantra might start with this article on Om by the Goswami Yoga Institute.

Chapter 8 brings the book to a conclusion by asserting that the final goal of Yoga was attained and summed up by Jesus, when he said “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).  Through the cultivation of superlove and the use of sacred mantras, one may follow Jesus in the attainment of superconcentration, a state where all distinction between the yogi and God disappears.  Many Christians might be uncomfortable with this conclusion, as it clearly implies that Jesus attained his Divine status through his own efforts and we can all potentially do the same, but this is very much in alignment with the teachings of Yoga. 

In the final analysis, Goswami concludes that Jesus’ life, activities and sayings are very much consistent with Yoga.  Goswami proclaims that, whether or not he was ever formally instructed in Yoga, Jesus was an accomplished yogi and a source of inspiration for all humans.  Also, Goswami concludes that the wisdom of Jesus was not in fact unique to him, as it is very much in alignment with the wisdom of Hindus, Buddhists and yogis who lived before him.  That being said, Jesus presented this perennial wisdom in a unique way, tailored to the particular time and context in which he lived. 

 The ultimate message of Goswami’s book is that Christians and yogis need not distrust one another.  While the two perspectives can seem so different, a deep harmony underlies them both.  It makes perfect sense for a Christian to be a yogi, or for a yogi to be a Christian.  Many different paths can lead to the one goal—God.  

About Jim Earles

Jim Earles, of Dubuque, Iowa, USA, has been a certified 3HO Kundalini Yoga teacher since 2001. Raised Catholic, he strongly considered becoming a priest for a few years, but instead ended up as a husband, father, and Yoga teacher! The spiritual aspects of Yoga have always been very important to him, and they have melded with his faith. He now sees Jesus as a master yogi and Christianity as a yogic path. Although he no longer teaches Yoga classes in the usual sense, he has developed a passion for researching and sharing about the history and philosophy of Yoga. In this capacity, he assists with several local Yoga Teacher Training programs. He would be very happy to connect with people through email at yogaspectrum@yahoo.com.

Are you curious what our retreats are like?  

Over the 20+ years of attending CPY gatherings, I have collected plenty of keepsakes.  Gifts from people, artwork, resources shared, workshop handouts, info on other happenings in the community and silly mementos.  They remind me of bonding over dinner conversations, walks in nature, the flow of 30+ people moving and breathing in prayer together, of walking the labyrinth, singing in harmony in a chapel and driving home, heart open, body refreshed singing over and over

 “Come Lord Jesus, Send us your Spirit, Renew the Face of the Earth”.

This retreat is a precious combination of intellectual geeking out, connecting with other Christ-centered yogis, contemplative community practices, time to rest, self-exploration and (for some) a chance to offer their gifts in class or workshop form.  What connects it all is love for Jesus and the direct personal experience that yoga supports the incarnate faith journey.

Are you feeling a pull to join the Retreat this summer?

Here are some pithy quotes that other participants said during our gathering:

God doesn’t call the qualified; 

He qualifies the called. 

- Dayna G

Pranayama provides the vehicle to feel incarnate.  

Holy breath merges with our breath -- energy flows 

and we are enlivened. 

- Anon

A sacrament is a physical sign of Grace.  

Yoga is a sacrament - a way to open the inner eye.  

Yoga cultivates the depth to have a sacramental view of life. 

It goes beyond the senses, the physical, 

beyond the mental to inner divinity. (paraphrased). 

 - Dana M  

Savasana 

After the effort, 

we yield to death 

to rise again to life.  

- Fr Kevin

And as we speak out our gifts, 

others become whole.  

- Dayna  

Yoga is a metaphor for 

the spiritual journey … 

Come as you are.  

- Alice 

Breathe, 

we can’t bank it 

or borrow it.  

It’s always NOW.  

- Gaylie  

We don’t understand in order to believe; 

we believe in order to understand. 

- Fr Tom

Unzip our hearts, Lord 

that we may do your will. (paraphrased)  

- Kristy praying 

Is something in you stirring? 

We invite you to step away from the hectic demands of your life.  

Come rest in the arms of Love.  

To learn more about past CPY retreats, take a look at Our History — Christians Practicing Yoga.

As a newlywed in 1999, I received the ‘starter set’ of the Willow Tree Nativity.  Each year after, I added to it until it was complete. Then a new tradition began. Robert, my youngest, and I set it up together.  Or should I say, I would meticulously direct him where to place the pieces: wise man #1 next to Joseph; Joseph over Mary’s left shoulder, angled 30 degrees; then baby lambs - 2 on the base and 2 around the base of the manger.

This year, I was running behind on my Christmas to-do list, so I delegated some decoration tasks.  Since Robert has been my protege for several years, I felt confident that he would follow in my footsteps and set up the nativity perfectly - wise man, Joe, 30 degrees; lambs, half-on half-off.  The kid’s training would finally be put to the test.  I gave him the task and left to run some errands confident of the perfect placement upon my arrival. 

When I got home to my surprise I saw this…….

At first my brain couldn’t process what I was seeing, “Why are all their backs towards me?” Why is Joseph down with the wise man and shepherds?” When I realized it was set up wrong, annoyance washed over me. Then disbelief and disappointment kicked in - my protege had failed me!  All those years of training for naught.  Where did I go wrong!?  As my disappointment festered and the voice of “See, if you want something done right, do it yourself” grew louder, I let out a breath of frustration and reached forward to fix it. 

In the space of my breath leaving my body and my hand reaching for the wise man,

 I saw it……

I saw through the eyes of an innocent child.  I saw the beauty and the true meaning of this season.  They weren’t in their “perfect” positions or placed for perfection. Their backs were turned away from the outside world with their eyes and hearts fixed on Jesus.  

Robert got it. My 12-year-old son meticulously displayed the true meaning of the nativity.  All of his years of training were not lost.  

In that moment I learned to see through the eyes of a growing child, who had no Christmas shopping duties or to-do checklists to cloud his sight.  I realized I need to turn my back to it all sometimes and fix my eyes and heart on Jesus. He doesn’t need me to be perfect, fixed in the right place with the right people. He needs me to keep my attention on His love for me and others, on His teachings and His grace.

Now whenever I pass the nativity, I smile. I smile at the visible reminder to turn away from what the world is calling me to do and rest my focus on Jesus. When I asked Robert why he set it up that way, he just shrugged his shoulders and muttered, “I don’t know.”  But I think I do. Matthew 5:8 states, “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.”--they shall see God during this season, and not their to-do list.  

This Christmas and Epiphany season, don’t worry about being in the perfect place, having the perfect gift or if the gathering is just right. Turn your back on all of it.

Fix your eyes and heart on Jesus.

Keep in mind that God’s first language is silence.

- Thomas Keating

I personally have practiced meditation, more or less, for over 40 years. I began with Transcendental Meditation when I was in university.  Raised a Catholic, I had a Christian faith but found myself floundering emotionally after the recent death of my mother. I knew I desperately needed something, so I responded to posters throughout campus advertising Transcendental Meditation (TM). My Catholic-trained mind only felt safe to join when the teacher told me that TM was not a religion. I chuckled recently when I asked a friend and discovered that the mantra that was given to me by my Transcendental Meditation teacher - a mantra said to be chosen especially for me -was the number TWO in Sanskrit. That aside, I committed totally to this practice which became a healing gift for me. I gradually found myself to be less scattered, more peaceful and more aware of God as I knew him/her through my Christian faith. 

Years later I became part of a Christian community and was introduced to the book The Way of a Pilgrim, author unknown, translated from Russian, believed to be written in the early to mid-1800’s. This appealed to me as it offered a way to pray constantly with the Jesus prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”. Following this I discovered Living the Jesus Prayer by Irma Zaleski which described a Christ-centred approach to meditation based on this repetitive prayer.  I began to meditate/pray with a mantra which was a shortened version of the Jesus Prayer. Intuitively, I shortened the prayer more and more until I was simply praying the name Jesus with each breath. 

Between each of these experiences as well as the births of my four children, my commitment to my meditation practice would wax and wane. I remember visiting my Jesuit spiritual director with one of my infants in arms and complaining that I didn’t have time to pray.  At that point the wee one needed to eat so I covered up and put him on my breast.  My wise and holy director said “How can you say you are not praying – feeding this child is prayer”. I guess those years were filled with a different approach to meditation, one of sitting quietly in absolute fatigue while nursing, pouring out sustenance and life force.

Fast forward many years, my kids were grown, and I became seriously interested in the practice of yoga as a Christian. I was introduced to Patañjali through my yoga teacher training. Patañjali, the compiler of the Yoga Sutras, is believed to have lived between the 2nd century BCE and the 4th century CE. Patañjali set forth eight component stages or an eight limbed path of classical yoga. This path begins with behavioral and ethical guidelines (yama and niyama), continues with  the physical poses (āsana) and breathing practices (prāṇāyāma).This process then moves on to three mental practices; withdrawal of the senses from the outside world (pratyāhāra), focused concentration (dhāraṇā), all leading to the seventh limb which is meditation (dyāna). Patañjali’s 8th limb (samādhi) is a state of union or profound intimacy with God. For the first time I realized the intimate connection between my seemingly independent asana and meditation practices.

Next came a great blessing.  I read Prayer of Heart and Body by Father Tom (Thomas Ryan), and I was overwhelmed with joy and inspiration, which grew into a sense of a deep calling. Recommitting to the meditation practice described by Father Tom, I introduced a new mantra, Maranatha - which means “Come Lord” in Aramaic, the language of Jesus.

Around 2017, I began to feel a longing for a Christian meditation community. I live in a small city in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada and all that could be found was a centering prayer group that met every Monday to meditate/sit in silence together and then practice Lectio Divina (contemplative listening and sharing) with a gospel passage. My husband, Stephen, was also interested so together we joined this group, learned the centering prayer method, and attended several silent centering prayer retreats. Last year we both became certified to lead centering prayer introductory workshops. Our marriage has been blessed through the sharing of this practice and ministry.

All of these methods and approaches to a Christ-centred meditation practice are similar, with slight variations in method, and all are good.  (For a further description of the methods, see Father Tom Ryan’s blog post below.)

Over the last six years, I have experienced fruit from this renewed practice. Although I am not saintly, some joyful gifts/transformations seem to have arisen in my everyday life: 

• When I move onto my mat, breathe, and flow into a pose, I enjoy the blessing of unity of Spirit, mind, and body. My asana practice is fed from the deep place I have found within myself while encountering God in the silence of meditation. 

• When I find myself in a competitive atmosphere, and everyone seems to be trying to outspeak each other, I retreat for a few seconds to this deep place, to God within. I find myself able to listen peacefully and openly, knowing that the Spirit will cue me. 

• When something is going on in my life and I am overwhelmed with thoughts and feelings, and it feels like I’m on a wild merry-go-round but I cannot get off, I draw on the emerging discipline I have achieved within my centering prayer practice regarding letting go of thoughts. I can, perhaps, slow the merry-go-round. 

• I see my own weaknesses more clearly, but the realizations don’t overwhelm me. I am confident in that interior place full of love where I have met God in the silence.

• I am noticing God everywhere, in all people and in creation. I seem to have more love and patience than before. 

Following is a short review of Thomas Keating’s book Open Mind, Open Heart. Quotes from this book are interspersed. 

Father Keating lays out the historical, theological, spiritual, and scriptural underpinnings of Centering Prayer. 

The fundamental purpose of centering prayer and contemplative outreach is to contribute to bringing the knowledge and experience of God’s love into the general consciousness of the human family.

Centering prayer consists of consenting to the call of the Holy Spirit to consent to God’s presence and action within.

Contemplation is accessed by letting go of our own idea of ourselves, turning our will over to God, and resting in the divine Indwelling that is already present within us and waiting to reveal itself to us. 

Most importantly for me, he clearly explains the method. Each chapter includes - in italics - questions and answers about centering prayer.  These are real questions asked by people in his seminars, both by beginners and folks who have been practicing centering prayer for a while. His answers are practical, succinct, and sometimes even humorous. 

Question:  Can you say to people with whom you are travelling, “I’m going to do my meditation now?

Answer: Sure.  They might be happy to have a few minutes of quiet themselves.

Question: Is it really possible for people who run around all day to be contemplatives?

Answer: You only have to be a human being to be eligible for contemplation.  After all, that is what we will all be doing in heaven.

Difficulty understanding and coping with spontaneous thoughts while meditating is often a stumbling block for those practicing centering prayer. Father Keating writes in depth about how to manage thoughts kindly and gently.  He offers guidelines for learning to let them go.  

When you are in deep interior silence, any thought acts on you as tasty bait acts on a fish resting in the deep waters of a lake.  If you bite, out you go.

Thoughts are a normal, inevitable and integral part of centering prayer. Our ordinary thoughts are like boats sitting on a river so packed together that we cannot see the river that is holding them up…When we pay no attention to that flow, space begins to appear between the boats.

The main thing to keep in mind in this prayer is that there is no effort; There is only the very gentle activity of consenting.

Father Keating died in 2018 at the age of 95. Contemplative Outreach is the network organization that supports centering prayer and they now published a 20th Anniversary Edition of Open Mind, Open Heart.  The website below presents a wealth of teaching, videos and prayer supports. 

It seems appropriate to close with Father Keating’s words about the transformation that can happen through this contemplative prayer practice.

Christ’s view of things becomes more important than our own.  God is answering our greatest prayer which is to be transformed.

Links:

For more information on Thomas Keating.

For more information on Transcendental Meditation.

To purchase Open Mind, Open Heart from the CPY bookshop.

To purchase The Way of a Pilgrim, author unknown from the CPY bookshop.

To purchase Living the Jesus Prayer by Irma Zaleski from the CPY bookshop.

To purchase the Yoga Sutras from the CPY bookshop.

To purchase Prayer of Heart and Body by Father Tom from the CPY bookshop.

For more information on Thomas Ryan.

Read Father Tom Ryan’s blog post.

A new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that the idea of the body and mind being inextricably intertwined is more than just an abstraction. The mind-body connection is built into the brain. The study shows that parts of the brain that control movement are plugged into networks involved in thinking and planning, and in control of involuntary bodily functions, such as blood pressure and heartbeat. The findings represent a literal linkage of body and mind, and the very structure of the brain.* In other words, our thinking can control involuntary bodily functions by design.

The Bible teaches us that 

“As a man thinks in his heart, so he is”

- Proverbs 23:7 

A key concept in psychology is: how we think precipitates how we feel, and how we feel dictates how we behave and the decisions we make.  If our thoughts or emotions are negative, this chain reaction sets in motion a sympathetic nervous system response, sending the body into a fight, flight or freeze reaction. Alternately, positive thoughts and being mindfully present with both mind and body allow the parasympathetic system to engage;  lending  more cognitive clarity, connection, calm in our lives, and providing more spiritual meaning and experiences of belonging. When we take a holistic approach to well-being by focusing on our mental, physical and spiritual health and their relationship to one another we live more fully into our God-created selves. 

As a psychotherapist, I am trained in Compassionate Based Cognitive Therapy (CBCT) which is a neurobiological approach that aims to develop compassionate motivation, sympathy, sensitivity, and distress tolerance through the use of specific training and guided exercises designed to help us further develop non-judging, and non-condemning attributes. **

Combining tools and strategies for greater awareness, better health, increased feelings of happiness, contentment and overall life satisfaction is certainly a worthy pursuit. Spiritually speaking there is only one problem.  I know it is my problem at times, and I suspect it is some of yours as well. It is not that we desire too much for ourselves or from God. No, the reality is we are willing to settle for too little.  We are content with a little bit of change, a little bit of growth, or a little bit of maturity. We settle for far less than God has in mind for us, long before Grace has completed its work in our minds… in our bodies … in our spirits. 

So how do we wholeheartedly engage in this integration?  How do we allow

“The God of all Grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ … restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

- 1 Peter 5:10

We lean into Grace and we learn to develop compassion.  Studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between self-compassion and psychological well-being yet  self-compassion is foreign to many of us.  The apostle Paul reminds us “To put on then, as God’s beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience”.  Self-compassion opens the heart to see ourselves as God sees us, his be-loved. 

The integration of mind-body practices such as meditation, yoga, Centering Prayer, Somatic Movement, praise and worship, creative expression etc. reveal that the science and practice of compassionate, Grace-filled presence can heal us.  It is one way God restores and strengthens us from the inside out from daily stressors and toxins that build up in our bodies. 

Here are more BENEFITS of Mental and physical self-care, combined with a focus on spiritual formation:

• Reduces stress and decreases stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline.

•  Elicits positive hormones like oxytocin, endorphins and other “ feel good” neurotransmitters that change neuropathways.

•  Improves immune function to ward off infection and disease.

•  Optimizes the level of telomerase, which repairs and maintains the ends of our chromosomes, keeping cells youthful and functioning well.       

•  Enhances the “epigenetic” regulation of genes to help the prevention of inflammation. 

• Modifies cardiovascular factors, improving cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and heart function. 

• Increases neural integration in the brain, enabling more coordination and balance in both the functional and structural connectivity within the nervous system that facilitates optimal functioning, including self-regulation, problem solving, and adaptive behaviors that are at the heart of emotional and spiritual well-being. 

• Cohesively integrates mind, body and spirit for a higher sense of purpose with hope and peace. 

• Lastly, helps one assign meaning to their life experience. ***

Let’s not be satisfied with anything less than all of God’s powerful Grace to produce God’s goodness, in and through us. 

Please join Barbara online for a three part series  “Rest Your Nervous System” Mondays, September 11, 18 and 25, 2023 at noon-1:15 EST.  Together, we will explore ways that yoga, faith and neuroscience intersect. 

Sources:  

*Nature, April 19, 2023. 

** Negi, Phd; Emory University. 

*** Sweeney, Michael, Brain: The Complete Mind, 2009; Siegel, Daniel, A Clinician’s Guide to Mindsight and Neural Integration, 2011; University of Minnesota: Earl E Bakker Center for Spirituality and Healing, 2023

Each month we gather together to explore the crossroads of yoga and Christ.  Our gatherings together are precious, and we look forward to them for our own growth,  healthy sharing with each other and maybe even the creation of a public post for you, our readers.  Enjoy this sampling that came right out of one of our meetings. For more on how our private writing becomes public read Part I. 

MY FIRST YOGA EXPERIENCE - PART II OF II

Allyson Huval  CPY Managing Director & Teacher

I returned to yoga from years of wandering and landed in a body I didn’t quite know. Years and years fluttered by using my body but ignoring it. I attended an aerial yoga class at the end of the summer in 2015. When the time came to invert, I was terrified. I didn’t trust myself and I definitely didn’t trust this piece of stretchy fabric. I feared the unknown of what was behind my back. My back and my motor skills were a part of me although it felt like we just met. My body felt like an old acquaintance I casually said hello to in the grocery store of my hometown. I did not want to ask too much of it, yet we know by going upside down your perspective changes.

Change.

Not only did my body change after this one class but my relationship with her did too. She became tired and I listened. She became strong and I listened. As she changed, so did I. I embraced her change and listened when she did. I felt the growth of muscles and trust. Sometimes I felt the waning of energy and confidence. The only thing that stayed consistent in our relationship was change.

Renee Prymus - CPY Former President & Blog Creator

I’ve written about my first experience in a yoga class before on this site, but that wasn’t my very first experience with yoga. My very first introduction to yoga was through a Gaiam DVD. In the fall of 2004, I was in my second year teaching high school English at missionary high schools in South America. I was living in “the pink house” with six other women who were teaching at the same school. My room was in a small building behind the main house; the room was painted yellow with a high ceiling and rafters–I had plenty of room to stretch my arms. 

The room had a tile floor, and I did not have a mat. The DVD must have been a beginners’ video because there was a different track for each pose and one track that put them all together. I played the DVD on my laptop computer and followed the instructions for each pose individually. I remember turning off the lights because it seemed calmer in the room. Now, I think it was perhaps also more sacred–but at the time, I did not connect the yoga practice to spirituality. I do not remember a savasana in the DVD–perhaps the practice ended in savasana but did not dwell there in actual minutes on the video. I moved slowly through the poses, but didn’t really connect with the practice.

The experience wasn’t like the yoga class I took later, where I instantly connected my faith to practicing yoga. I followed the DVD a couple of times, but mostly used Billy Blanks’ Tae-Bo DVD or ran laps around a neighborhood park. As a young teacher, I was drowning in work and self-doubt, and I knew that I needed to do something physical. Later, when I began practicing yoga, I knew that if I had had the actual yoga practice while I was teaching, I might not have burnt out so fast–I left the school after that year. In this memory of the DVD, I see that I had had access to yoga as a tool–but I may not have been ready for it then. I’m sure it planted a seed for my later experience of falling in love with yoga as both a physical and spiritual practice. 

Joanne Spence CPY Writer & Teacher

My first encounter with taking a yoga class was a little unusual. It was unusual because it was the beginning of a yoga teacher training program.  That’s not often the place one begins learning to teach something one knows virtually nothing about. But then, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

There was nothing at all relaxing about the class. Running through my mind was “oh crap, what have I signed up for?” I’d like to say that things got easier as the training progressed, but it didn’t. Instead, I became disheartened. The poses I was learning didn’t look hard but when I tried to do them as instructed, they looked nothing like the rest of the class. It was exhausting. This was also confusing. Why was it so hard? And boring? And slow? Added to this line of inquiry was the fact that the training was just one weekend long. There I was learning all there was to know about teaching a yoga class so I could go out the following month and teach others. Sounds like a total recipe for disaster, right? No one would blame you for thinking that. However, something happened during that weekend of confusion, boredom, and pain.

It’s true that my initial encounter with yoga was both physically and psychologically painful. I had two solid years of post-car-accident trauma stored in my body. And before Bessel van der Kolk ever wrote about and reminded me that the body keeps the score,  I felt it. But I can’t end the story here. The real reason I tell the story of how I started is that despite the challenges, that weekend changed the course of my life. Three days later, I woke up and did not experience pain in my body as I usually did upon waking. Something had shifted. To say I was surprised, astonished, grateful is an understatement. At first, I wasn’t even sure if it was the yoga training. Except that on the days I practiced yoga, I continued to be pain free and when I didn’t, I could barely get out of bed. It felt like a miracle. To me it was a miracle – a real gift to me and my family. When I reflect upon this time from twenty plus years later, it was just like God to orchestrate such a scenario that I could never even dream up for myself. I have never looked back!

Doreen Corwith Eckert  CPY Vice President & Executive Editor of the Blog

After a few years of traveling around the USA studying environmental education with the Audubon Expedition Institute, in my 20’s, \I moved to southern Vermont to work. Recurring tension headaches started manifesting as severe pain that debilitated me.  My boss (who was one of the causes of my tension), called a friend of his to give me a massage; she sent me to her friend, Amy, a yoga teacher at the Praise Song Spiritual Center in Brattleboro.  

I walked into a long room with wood floors and tall, old windows opening out to the Connecticut River three stories below.  Amy's calm demeanor welcomed me among the half-dozen people setting up.  She was small in stature with dark wavy hair.   I can still hear her voice.  She led us in a yoga sequence ending with shoulder stand, plough and savasana. I remember them because of the intense stimulation in the back of my heart where I have always felt like there is a hole.   After class, Amy asked how I felt.  I said, "My mid-back really hurts; I can feel the tight muscles there".  She assured me that with practice, I would become more flexible and feel better. 

For my second class, I brought my two roommates.  The long room was already full, so Amy opened the door to the neighboring office and allowed us to be there as she taught to both rooms.   As we left, I developed a SEVERE headache and cried all the way home in the back of my roommate’s car.  They were at a loss as to what to do with me.  Shirley tried to massage my temples and Steph got me some aspirin.  Eventually it subsided.

In time I figured out the headaches had to do with self-worth.  The asana and pranayama opened the dam of collected experiences from 20 years of stuffing my feelings - of not knowing how to process emotions or communicate words like " I am upset with you; I am sorry; I love you; please forgive me; I forgive you".  The body truly does keep the score of the heart.

Spiritually, I was in a rejection and exploration phase.  Having left my Christian roots during college, I also rejected my mom’s definition for my adult life and was determined to manifest life on my terms.  I felt defiant.  Yet I felt lost and fearful too.  Defiance helped me grow out of my cultural boundaries, but I carried it to an extreme.  Finding moderation and balance to become my best True Self took decades.  

Amy's kind soul in those first yoga classes spoke to me, and I carry gratitude for her and the practices that propelled me into three decades of self-healing and a career in the holistic health field.  Yoga also helped me to reclaim Christ as my Guide and become an advocate for living at the crossroads of yoga and Christ.

Featured image by Glenn Carstens-Peters @glenncarstenspeters via Unsplash.

Peek behind the scenes with our blog writing team.  Each month we gather together keenly interested in the crossroads of yoga and Christ and how that intersection supports our faith walk -- as people, as teachers as congregants.  We take turns leading.  After we pray and move and breathe - to help us settle into synchronicity with the Holy One - we receive a writing prompt to explore on our own.  After about 20 minutes, we share (optional).  Some writing is too raw and stays private; some we share with each other.  Then, in time, some get shaped back and forth between the writer and a few kind peer editors.  A tiny portion becomes public as a blog post. 

Writing takes effort, creativity, research, and reflection.   As one writer told me recently,  "I forgot how much time and work this is to write a really good, clear piece!  I am sick of looking at it and editing, here, you have a go." 

Our gatherings together are precious, and we look forward to them for our own growth,  healthy sharing with each other and maybe even the creation of a public post for you, our readers.  Enjoy this sampling that came right out of one of our meetings.  We split up the 7 essays so look for Part II as well.

MY FIRST YOGA EXPERIENCE - PART I OF II

Connie Moker Wernikowski  CPY Secretary & Teacher

As a dancer I had dibbled and dabbled with yoga to warm up or work on flexibility, but no first class stands out in my memory except for one.  At the time I was dealing with constant low back pain. I was tired and stressed due to a difficult work situation. I attended a “yoga for dancers” class being taught by a dancer, an amazing performer, who was visiting from Vancouver.  

His teaching style was unique (possible because we were all dancers). We stood at the top of our mats. He simply said, “let’s begin” and led us through standing flow after flow with lots of repetition, no pauses, and very little explanation.  He did not name any poses but only briefly told us where to move our bodies.  We simply watched him and followed. 

I remember that somewhere in the middle of that class I recognized that I was having a deeply spiritual experience. I felt that the air around me was thick with the Holy Spirit.  I felt my heart rise and fall in prayer through every ascent and descent of my body.  I was filled with gratitude for my life, my body and my Christian faith. After about an hour, he led us to seated and we began some slow stretches. He told us he was on his way to India to live in an ashram that also served as an orphanage.  In his words he would be “peeling a lot of potatoes”.  He asked for donations, and I wrote a check. 

Thomas Ryan CPY Inspirational Founder & Teacher

My first assignment after ordination in 1975 was to the Ohio State University Newman Center in Columbus. One of the on-campus sessions offered for students was yoga. Hmmm, I thought, I’ve heard about yoga, and would like to have a personal experience of it to see what it’s like. So I signed up for the sessions and began to engage with the practice.  

And the more I did so, the more I saw that the goal of yoga is to center us, to ground us, to make us present, all here, now. It was, in short, leading me to a direct, intuitive experience of the Divine Presence at the center of my being. It freed my mind from anxieties and problems and rendered it available to the Holy Spirit within.

Given the seamless unity of the human person and God’s incarnational embrace of our totality, I realized that my spiritual life could not help but be affected by exercises in which body and soul are in possession of each other and work together.                           

I wanted to deepen my appreciation of this and enrolled in a yoga teacher-training program at Kripalu in western Massachusetts, after which I began offering a weekly class at the OSU Newman Center, calling it Prayer of Heart and Body, which eventually became the title of a book published by Paulist Press. And not long after, I shared in the DVD Yoga Prayer what had evolved as my practice: composing prayerful posture sequences to the music of song prayers. And even now, 47 years later, it remains for me a regular spiritual practice.

Barbara Carlin

“In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities;

 in the expert’s mind there are few.”  

- Shunryu Suzuki

Pondering my first impressions and experience with yoga, I realize I approached my practice with a strong desire to learn something new – not as an expert, but as a beginner. In my soul I was seeking that curious excitement that comes with discovery and newness; a kind of letting go to see what was possible. Like my art, I had been taught to always approach the creative process as a beginner, because it is in that space that magic happens. 

It was in a library that I was first introduced to yoga by reading about it. Spending time perusing books on yoga, I found a book entitled Beginners Book of Yoga by Adams L. Beck, 1937.  I was intrigued. Even though I was  an anxious and overly stressed college student, I was a seeker. Learning about yoga made me  excited to slow down, to sit in silence and escape all the noise. 

 As a beginner, I had a strong desire to let go of a driving force to perform and achieve. I needed something that would feed my soul and my body. I was exhausted and felt very disconnected from myself, others and God. I resented feeling like a slave to performance and craved some nurturing relief. I thought surely there had to be a way to create balance in my life. I wanted a means to soak up the love of God and to feel that love in my body.

“My child, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings,

Let them not escape from your sight; keep them close to your heart. 

For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh” 

– Proverbs 4:20-22

At that time, one thing that already nurtured and fed my soul was the Bible. The words I read were a soothing balm to my soul. I asked myself  “How might I make the experience of my ever growing love and faith in Christ, whose Spirit dwells within me, be central in my new yoga practice?”  “How might I listen to God’s Words and keep them close to my heart while practicing yoga?” I wanted my yoga practice to not only speak to God’s presence outside myself, but within. The realization we are created in the image of God became even more profound.

“The Lord God  formed man from the dust of the earth. 

He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul”.

 – Genesis 2:7

Through yoga I began to  experience my faith  in my body and through the Breath.  God breathed new life into me, like He did Adam. When God created the world, he spoke everything into being. However, when God created man, He did not speak Adam into being, He was intimately involved. Getting down into the clay, He carefully formed Adam with His own hands.Then putting His lips onto Adam’s, He breathed life into him.

In my “with God” yoga practice, I imagined God’s breath keeping the same rhythm with me as He did with Adam. God breathed peace, comfort, love and stillness into my body.  Today, as then, God invites me in my yoga practice  to come into “beingness” with Him–as a beginner, always a beginner. I feel centered, grounded, balanced, content, soft, still, whole hearted, ready to receive and ready to give. I feel more confident, not in circumstances, material things or my accomplishments but in Christ, the solid rock on which I stand.  

Image by @neonbrand via Unsplash.

My 31st birthday, in December of 2005, should have been celebrated uneventfully - simply at home with my spouse and our 22-month-old son. Instead, it included an MRI scan of my brain after I woke up that morning partially paralyzed from a stroke. Next, a whirlwind of tests took place before scheduling me for surgery and preparing my husband, myself, and my parents for the worst of outcomes. According to the scans, there was a mass, at the base of my brain—one they expected to be cancerous. 

As if delivering the gift I did not know I needed, it was during one of those scans that I began practicing breath prayer. I had no idea where the prayer came from or how I had learned about breath prayer, but it met me at a vital time. 

God whispered to me and invited me to pray. 

I inhaled: Jesus. 

And I exhaled: Give me peace. 

Over and over again. For hours, I prayed that prayer, and Jesus did give me peace that day. A peace that passes understanding. A peace that carried me through the unknown and all the decisions that would lie ahead. 

God’s voice can be majestic no matter the volume, yet we must be willing to listen. During one of the loudest and most stressful and chaotic moments of my life, I heard the clearest whisper of a prayer and offered it back to God as a request. God’s whisper was not audible, but there was no mistaking God’s voice that day. I often wonder if I heard so clearly that day because I was in crisis or because there were no other distractions. There was no escaping the small space where I lay or the very loud noise of the MRI machine. Thankfully, God’s whisper was clear and offered a prayer I have clung to for years since.

Surgery was scheduled rapidly, but not before my body began having seizures. After the surgeons removed the mass, a roller coaster of emotions greeted us as we heard some unexpected and joyful news:  there was no cancer. There was, however, a long road ahead of healing. This career mom who juggled a full-time job, home life, and community volunteering was halted in her tracks. And amid the surprises that followed my discharge from the rehabilitation unit came anxiety and chronic pain. 

Quickly, I became diligent at caring for my body in new ways. There were new foods, supplements, and routines. And prayers, there were lots of prayers! If there was a suggestion made for how I might feel better, I looked into it and gave it a try. But little was helping my anxiety after the surgery, and life felt overwhelming. 

Attending church became hard as it heightened my anxiety, so we found smaller services or TV preachers to glean from. I missed my church. I missed meeting God in worship. 

One day during a doctor’s visit, my physician listened to my woes about my anxiety and chronic pain. And as if he were at the end of his idea list  (I had tried it all), he paused and said, “What about yoga?” 

Yoga? This question was surely an afterthought. He sent me to a physiatrist - a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist. She evaluated me, offered a basic sequence, then recommended I contact a yoga instructor to help me with both movement and meditation on an ongoing basis. All I could think was, “What about yoga, really?

Indeed, this was a crazy idea for a recovery plan. How could breathing and being quiet, and stretching heal this extrovert’s anxious mind and help calm the pain in my body? Because I was miserable and willing to try anything, I called a local yoga instructor, Leighanne, whom I had met previously. She taught a class I had taken in a gym once. I knew enough to trust her and “try” to see if yoga could help me (with an eye roll). I knew she used scripture in her classes, and I liked that experience. Maybe it was worth my time to try this thing called yoga.

With a bad attitude and little hope, I met her for my first session. I told her my feet hurt and I would not take off my shoes. She told me that was fine, so we began from there. I cannot imagine what would have happened if I had not called her or if she had told me I was being too stubborn (I was). I am grateful for her patience and the practice that helped my body find its way. Today, I can call Leighanne my friend and teacher, and I’m grateful she shared yoga with me.

So, what about yoga? 

The gift of yoga helped me connect with my body and spirit again post-trauma. Yoga helped me meet my Creator in an accessible way when the way I knew before was not working. 

I love to go to church again (thankfully, no more of those panic attacks, which I credit largely thanks to meditation) but I’ve also learned how to meet God anywhere thanks to the gift of contemplation - whether on my yoga mat, in meditation, with my Bible in my lap, in a pew, or under a tree in nature. Yoga, as a practice, taught me how to meet God anywhere. It even led me to train as a spiritual director and a yoga teacher. 

Many years later, that breath prayer has become one I turn to often. It became transformational not only for my life but also in my calling. Now this is my work. I lead others to listen with their bodies through the ancient practices of yoga and spiritual direction every day - sometimes on a yoga mat, sometimes in my writings, sometimes on my podcast, sometimes on zoom, sometimes at a retreat, sometimes from a pulpit. 

“What about yoga?” Well, that question changed my life.

And, thankfully, my body and my spirit are more integrated. For my birthday, I may have experienced a traumatic health crisis, but in the end, I was given the practice of yoga and, ultimately - the gift of peace that only Jesus gives.

To learn more about how Whitney incorporates breath prayer, visit her podcast here.

Featured image by Max van den Oetelaar @maxvdo via Unsplash

On July 4th, Americans celebrate Independence Day. This national holiday commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence by Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced the separation of the American colonies from British rule. It affirms freedoms such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly. 
But what is freedom and what does it mean to live as a “free” people?

These questions around freedom are not specific to the United States of America, nor are they solely political in nature. In fact these questions are as old as time itself. 

In one of his sermons, modern theologian John Piper says, “(There are) those who define freedom as doing whatever you feel like doing when you feel like doing it. But thoughtful people don’t define freedom or liberation that way.” 

So how do thoughtful people define freedom?

As we seek out answers to these more nuanced questions about freedom, we can find rich discussions and deep wisdom in ancient texts like the Yoga Sutras and the Bible. 

Patanjali’s Path to Freedom

Considered a path to freedom, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is a collection of 196 short verses, or aphorisms which provides one of the earliest known definitions of yoga and describes the art and science of classical yoga. 

The objective of classical yoga, as outlined in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, is to balance the qualities of our inner-world (gunas) and to become free of the influence of the material, temporal world (prakriti), so that we might re-establish our identity with our original pure state of being and remember our True Nature (purusha).

According to Patanjali, we have to overcome the obstacles in our minds and free ourselves from the power and dominance of our thoughts, so that we can be reunited with our True Nature. 

In his article, “The Flowering of Freedom: The Yoga Sutras Of Patañjali,” Richard Miller writes, “The Yoga Sutras is an extraordinary text that expounds upon the nature of human psychology, spiritual self-inquiry and practice, and the realization of freedom and embodiment of our highest potential as human beings.” In other words, the wisdom found in the Yoga Sutras can help us live more fully into our potential as human beings.

According to Patanjali, our fullest potential can only be reached when the mind is still, and the student is said to be reunited with their True Nature. In his Sutras, Patanjali outlines an eight-limbed path of yoga which is designed to help the student steady their body, balance the energies of their inner-realm, and sort through their memories and accumulated experiences in order to cultivate stillness in their mind. 

This eight-limbed path is Patanjali’s path to freedom. It is a path leading to kaivalya, the Sanskrit word for liberation.

Kaivalya for Christians

So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:36

Freedom is described throughout the Bible as the liberation from the power of sin and death in our lives. This is not something that we can achieve on our own but is offered and found through our union with Jesus Christ. Why do we need Jesus to free us from sin?  The Bible Project describes sin as “to fail” or to “miss the goal” and illustrates what this means for humans in this way: 

“With the word sin, the Biblical authors are offering a robust description of the human condition. It is a failure to be humans who fully love God and others. It’s our inability to judge whether we are succeeding or failing. And it’s the deep selfish impulse that drives much of our behavior.” 

In Christ, we have been restored and freed to live the way that we were created to live: in relationship with God, partaking in God's divine nature, and operating in our God-given spiritual capacities by the power of the Holy Spirit. This kind of freedom enables Christians to love God and others with the same self-giving love that we have so freely received from Jesus. Eugene Peterson explains Christian freedom this way in The Message: 

"It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom." 

Galatians 5:13-14

The path of yoga from a Christian perspective is tempered by the understanding that we alone cannot overcome our own minds. Instead the Spirit gives us the mind of Christ. This is a gift, or a grace, from God!

The Yoga Sutras can be used like a manual for the student who is interested in responding to God’s grace by exploring the human capacity for reflection and for digging deep into the workings of the human mind and heart as we seek freedom and learn to put on the mind of Christ. (To learn more on what it means to “put on the mind of Christ”, read my blog, Walking in Christ’s freedom: Jesus, yoga, & the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali)

Living Free

Both the Bible and the Yoga Sutras recognize our deep need for freedom. As we seek answers to thoughtful questions about freedom, the wisdom found in both The Yoga Sutras and The Bible gives us insight into the concept of freedom and what it looks like to live as “free” people. 

Though the vehicles to achieving freedom may differ, these texts can work together, supporting Christians as we “put on the mind of Christ” and break the worldly yokes that bind us in order to walk in the freedom that we have been given through Jesus.

When studying both these sacred texts, it is clear that “thoughtful people” believe True liberation is the freedom to live life from an eternal perspective, free from the pushes and pulls of our own thoughts, desires, and the influences of the world around us and that walking in this Freedom allows us to live our highest potential as human beings.

Featured image by Eneko Uruñuela @nkuutz via Unsplash.

What are chakras? 

The word chakra (the first syllable pronounced chu like chuck) or cakra means “circle.” The Sanskrit word comes from the verbal root car which is translated in the ṛg-veda and atharva-veda as “to wander, to roam about” etc. In another Sanskrit text, the bṛhat-saṃhitā of varāha-mihira, car means “to diffuse.” This helps us to envision the chakras as energy permeating the subtle body rather than fixed entities.  

When speaking of the chakra system, we must first need to speak of the subtle body–sometimes called the energetic body. Unlike our physical body (the bones, muscles, etc.), the subtle body is composed of energy that may not manifest completely in physical form. The subtle body in comparison to the gross body responds to the energetic plane rather than the physical, though a disruption to the subtle body can affect the physical one and vice versa.  In all systems, chakras are located in the subtle body. The chakras themselves have no definite shape or color since each chakra is a conglomeration of energy. 

Because of the nuances of the chakras, several systems have emerged, some focusing more on the physical elements, some on the energetic. As David Frawley writes, “Today, the chakras, like yoga, are defined in physical terms, which obscures their real purpose and function.” 

Since most of us are not taught to see energy, many practitioners will look to visualizations in order to interpret the chakras. So, on the one hand, some systems will be devoid of visualization altogether and focus on feeling the energy. On the other hand, most systems today associate the chakras with visualization as a guide into experiencing the chakras. Some systems will use the colors of the rainbow corresponding to each chakra. The number of chakras depends on the system a practitioner is looking at, but the most common number is seven, also making it easier to associate with the colors of the rainbow. 

Where can we find research on the chakras? 

There is little scholarship on the chakras by South Asian scholars. According to Hareesh, a modern researcher of tantric yoga and Sanskrit, modern chakra students usually get their information from Western occult systems, self-proclaimed expert gurus, or Arthur Avalon’s translation of the Shat-Chakra Nirupana. The academic study of the chakras is steadily increasing as mystical and esoteric knowledge gains prominence in the realm of religious study. However, what we do know of the chakra system trending today is most closely associated with the Tantra traditions.

Based on the Introduction of Arthur Avalon’s translation of the Shat-Chakra Nirupana, the first documentation found on the chakra system was in 1526 by Tantrik Purnananda-Swami. The Shat-Chakra-Nirupana, translated originally by Avalon in 1919, described the seven chakras and their origins within laya, tantra, and hatha yoga. It is important to note here that these chakra systems may have existed in different forms for thousands of years before the modern translations due to pre-colonial South Asia’s tendency to use oral transmission over textual. 

Each chakra has certain qualities and characteristics that separate themselves from the other. The chakras were originally “prescriptive” yet through their popularity became more “descriptive.” If you are interested in diving deeper into the individual chakras, I suggest reading Your Guide to The 7 Chakras & Their Meaning by Yoga International.

What does this mean for Christians? 

Ultimately, it is up to the practitioner to decide whether or not to engage with the chakra system. We have several posts on the Christians Practicing Yoga site that speak on practitioners’ experiences with the chakras and the energy body, including a few posts from our founder Father Tom Ryan like Kundalini, Chakras and Auras: A Christian Perspective on the Energy Body. This brief introduction hopefully highlights the diversity of systems within studying chakras, yoga, and South Asian traditions to allow you to be a more informed practitioner. 

For More Exploration

If you are looking for more resources on the chakra systems, check out our resource list below. Most of the books mentioned can either be found on Our Blog, Our Bibliography page, or on Our Bookshop page. 

• Christian Perspectives

• For a personal account of a Christian’s experience of Kundalini, see The Kundalini Process: A Christian Perspective and Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality: A Pathway to Growth and Healing by Philip St. Romain. 

• If you are looking for concise and approachable posts about the chakras and Christianity, check out Getting Still’s blog.

• To engage your faith and the chakras in a practical way, check out Kelly McLellan’s chakra cards and Pauline Wallace’s chakra cards. 

• Yogic Perspectives 

• For a site with robust resources on the subtle body, see Yoga International’s blog. 

• If you are interested in exploring the Chakras through traditions other than yoga, see The Subtle Body by Cyndi Dale. 

To take a deep dive on laya yoga, see Layayoga: The Definitive Guide to the Chakras and Kundalini by Shyam Sundar Goswami.

Featured image by Ravi Pinisetti via Unsplash.

As St. Paul reminds us: “If there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain, and your faith been in vain” (1 Cor 15:13,14)

Bodily resurrection from the dead? Yes, that’s what it was! And what’s the message in that for giving our bodies a significant role in our spiritual lives? Could yoga help open us to this marvelous mystery of the resurrection?

Yes, it can. It quiets the body as the environment of the mind, and then empties the mind, bringing one to a state of focused, intuitive awareness of the Presence at the center our being, freeing the mind from anxieties and problems and rendering it available to the Holy Spirit. Given God's embrace of our body-mind-spirit unity in the incarnation of Jesus, one's spiritual life will be enriched by exercises in which body and soul are in possession of each other and work together.

In short, yoga and prayer can be inextricably linked.  When we perform the various asanas/postures, we’re praying with our body. As my friend Pat O’Rourke once shared, “These physical exercises help me to achieve a sense of stillness and peace in which prayer becomes easier and the nagging worries of the day seem less urgent. Yoga has helped me to feel centered and grounded, not only when I do the exercises, but, increasingly, in all of my life. It helps to quiet my over-active mind and has led me to be more receptive to other people and to God.”

One of the ways in which yoga gradually assumed a prayerful expression in my own practice was through the creation of what I came to call “yoga prayers”. It simply began by taking one of the prayers that I would regularly pray—like the Our Father—and giving expression to the words of the prayer through a flow of yoga postures. It truly felt like holistic prayer, involving body, mind and spirit. And when I began to engage in these posture flows to the prayers in their musical version, it literally became all the more delightfully engaging! I eventually produced the DVD Yoga Prayer as a way of sharing these embodied posture flows to music with others.

The surprise for many is the discovery that something as ordinary as a set of exercises has such an amazing ability to alleviate stress and dispel our scatteredness. All the masters of prayer dwell much on the importance of preventing the mind from moving away from God once it has been focused there, preventing it from engaging with the distractions which present themselves. The basic postures of yoga and simple breath-control exercises offer themselves as a method of so doing—not the only one, of course, but one that many Christian yoga practitioners do find find very helpful.

And given that the core event of Christian faith is the “incarnation”---the embodiment of God in the human flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ—the integration of yoga as embodied prayer into one’s spiritual practice makes great sense!

Two central feast days in the Christian calendar are Christmas and Easter: God becoming flesh in a little child, and rising from the tomb in a resurrected body. Should not, then, an embodied spiritual practice such as yoga make great sense in the lives of Christians?

Much more on this theme can be found in my book  Prayer of Heart and Body: Meditation and Yoga as Christian Spiritual Practice (Paulist Press) and DVD: Yoga Prayer: An Embodied Christian Spiritual Practice (Paulist Productions).

Featured photo by Father Tom Ryan. Artist unknown.