I then spent 15 years in EMS as a paramedic, peer supporter, and crisis responder.  During the last five years, it was my job to assist those who were in a mental health crisis, and I experienced individuals who were suicidal, overdosed, homicidal, violent…the list goes on.  What I didn’t realize is that I was stacking trauma after trauma into my body, mind, soul, and spirit.  It began to take a major toll on my physical and mental health, and I was also struggling with relationships and life as a whole. 

I felt like I had read every self-help book out there, I was seeing a counselor/therapist, I was active in my church, I was praying…I was doing everything I knew to do.  But nothing seemed to be working.  I felt like I was hitting a wall that I tried to punch through over-and-over again.  I had heard of yoga and had taken a few classes here and there, but I hadn’t truly practiced or payed much attention to it.  Through my studies in trauma care, I repeatedly heard about the amazing benefits of yoga.  So, I decided to dedicate 31 days to practicing yoga, and it changed my life.  I felt my body for the first time in over 15 years. Yoga connected my mind back to my body, and I knew I needed to give it to other people.  It was so healing for me, and I wanted to give this tool to help others heal too.  I wondered if anyone else would want to practice yoga while using Christian worship music like I did.  (Music has always been a major part of my life.)  I couldn’t get my mind off of a Christian style of yoga.  Did that or could that even exist?  I didn’t know.  I looked in to multiple (secular) yoga programs, reached out, and I never received a response from them.  I decided to attend a trauma-sensitive yoga training for social workers, crisis responders, etc. in another state to dip my toes in the water.  There were many required books, so I off I went to Half-Price Books to find them.  None of the books on the list were there, but a book called “Holy Yoga” literally fell off the shelf while I was trying to pull others.  I picked it up, assumed it wasn’t legit, but I bought it anyway to see.  I took the book home and pretty much read the entire thing in one sitting.  I then looked up “Holy Yoga” online to find that it was a legitimate business that trained people to become instructors in Christ-Centered yoga!

I reached out for an interview, prayed, and then God did the rest.  He lined everything up for me to be able to get my initial, trauma-sensitive, and master yoga certifications (over the last couple years).  I went to school while continuing to work as a medic, and I gave yoga to anyone who wanted it.  I started teaching in a studio, and I continuously fell more in love with yoga.  A year ago, I took a major leap of faith and left EMS to pursue helping others heal through yoga.  I knew it was the right path for me, and God was clearly guiding me to it.  But first, He had to remind me that we can connect to Him through breath and movement.  That was the piece I had been missing the whole time.  He created us with His breath!  He created us with unimaginable movement!  Just take that in for a minute!

That’s where the connection lies…in the in-between…in the waiting.  The connection is in those moments of taking a deep breath when you don’t know what else to do.  In that moment of vulnerability in a yoga class you never thought you’d be in.  In that moment of waiting while holding your body in an uncomfortable position as you try to heal.  He’s in the waiting.  He was there the whole time…waiting to reconnect you back to your mind, body, soul, and spirit.

Years ago, I saved a voicemail from him that said,

“Hey, Char! I was wondering if you want to go on another adventure with me.”

What was he actually asking? He was asking me to come to Dallas for yet another round of treatment, testing, and/or a surgery to battle his colon cancer. Every single time, he would ask that same question. This went on for 7 years. He even asked this when he was the first human being to have a brand-new drug (developed by a Japanese doctor and scientist) infused into his body that suffocated cancer cells in mice. He told me that he knew he was going to die, so why not help others find a successful treatment? This was my daddy’s mind-set. The side effects of that drug were unknown, because mice can’t tell us how they feel or how much pain they are in. The Japanese doctor and scientist returned to Japan to keep working on it, and we continued to go on more adventures. Thankfully, there were occasions when we would go on adventures that didn’t involve treatment. You see, he’d bought a sailboat shortly after his diagnosis. (He and my mommy had had one before my sister and I were born, but it was destroyed by a hurricane in Galveston.) He had called me one day and sent a photo of the boat via text message. He said that he was going to buy it on the spot if everything lined up. Everything lined up. And so, some of our adventures happened on the water.

I saw a peace wash over him every single time he was on that boat, whether we were sailing, fixing something, cleaning it, or just letting the waves rock us to sleep at night. One of my favorite photos of him was taken when he was sailing us into the blue waters of the Gulf. He was at home. He was at peace. He was exuding joy and light, and I knew I was seeing a glimpse of Heaven.

“I was wondering if you want to go on an adventure.”

Those words, his words, will forever ring in my ears. They are a positive expression of something that could have easily been wrapped up in fear. It’s all about perception. It’s about looking at life and being grateful for small, medium, and large blessings. Or for the moments that are so hard they feel unbearable. Those are the adventures that make you stronger. Those are the adventures that show the world how much courage you have, even when you feel you have none. Those are the adventures that allow you to absorb love from others. Those are the adventures that you look back on with gratitude, because they have shaped you into the amazing human being you are today.

So, what does that have to do with yoga, you ask? It has everything to do with yoga, because yoga has become one of my adventures.

At one time, I thought yoga was for a special group of people who were super flexible and could do crazy things with their bodies. I thought it was an exclusive club that allowed in only those who, for some odd reason, wore and loved patchouli. I thought you had to follow a certain religion. Turns out I was wrong. Yoga is for anybody. That means my body, your body, and the other bodies around you. Yoga is a place where I can move my body, breathe, and find peace while resting with the Holy Spirit. Yoga is a place where I can shed trauma, pain, insecurities, fear, and everything that holds me down. Yoga is movement that rocks me to my core, to my mind, and through my body and soul. Yoga is where I meet God on my mat. He sits with me as I breathe, He moves with me when I move, and He restores everything that has been broken in me. He heals me through yoga. I feel the peace, the rest, the joy, and the Light when I’m on my mat. I feel that glimpse of Heaven I saw in my daddy. God is my adventure.

In the next few weeks, I will be explaining what yoga is, what Holy Yoga is, how to practice it, and what a yoga lifestyle looks like. I will be addressing following Jesus and practicing yoga, how they intertwine, why I’m not using the word “Christian,” and how, no matter what, we are all called to love.

So, I was wondering if you want to go on an adventure with me?

My first live class! An intro to Holy Yoga.

Have courage & do it scared!

This video is my first ever recording of a yoga class!  I was terrified and oh so scared.  Seriously.  It took a lot of courage, and I decided I would just have to do it scared…and I did.  So, please let this be a reminder to you, that you can walk into the scary stuff.  God has you, and with Him, you have all the strength you need.  Take courage my dear friend. 

First, we’ll look at the breath.  In yoga, the breath is said to carry a person’s life force and is referred to as Pranayama.

“Prana” means life force or breath sustaining the body

“Ayama” translates as “to extend or draw out.”

So, when put together, they mean breath extension or control.

Breath is a major component of yoga and is sometimes forgotten, because we become so focused on the movements/poses.  There are many different types of breath that are used during yoga, and they are all great to have in your “toolbox” for when you’re feeling anxious, stressed, nervous, etc.  Examples include: Lion’s Breath, Ujjayi Pranayama (Victorious Breath or Ocean Breath), 4-7-8 breathing, etc.  Check out the descriptions and start practicing them by clicking on the link below.  She describes them perfectly!

https://www.doyouyoga.com/the-7-best-yoga-breathing-exercises-both-on-and-off-your-mat/

This brings me to meditation, which breath is an important part of.  Meditation, especially for the Christian yogi, is not about “clearing the mind”.  Wikipedia defines meditation as, “a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing their mind on a particular object, thought or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.”  I love how Headspace describes it. “Meditation isn’t about becoming a different person, a new person, or even a better person. It’s about training in awareness and getting a healthy sense of perspective. You’re not trying to turn off your thoughts or feelings. You’re learning to observe them without judgment. And eventually, you may start to better understand them as well.”  What a great description, right?!  Meditation can be done on your own, with an instructor, and/or with a guide.  The guide verbally walks you through the meditation by using cues, nature sounds, music, etc.  With Holy Yoga, meditation is focused on being in the presence of the Holy Spirit, can be guided while being still in God’s presence, and/or focuses on scripture.

Postures and poses (AKA “asanas”) are the physical movement of the body during a yoga practice.  This includes all of the poses you’ve (maybe) heard of like, “Tree pose, Camel, Downward Dog,” and so many more.  Feel free to search for poses online!  There are many different diagrams, images, and even videos.  (Just be warned, that you may find incorrect postures/poses, so it is better to seek instruction from someone who is certified.)

We’ll start this adventure with learning what yoga is and is not.

Yoga is a discipline that includes breath control/breathing exercises, meditation/prayer, and body postures/poses that promote physical and mental health, mental clarity, healing, and stress relief.

Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word meaning, “union or to yoke,” and was developed approximately 5000 years ago.

Wikipedia says the following, “Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophical traditions. There is a broad variety of yoga schools, practices, and goals. The term “yoga” in the Western world often denotes a modern form of Hatha yoga, consisting largely of the postures called asanas.”

Now I’m going to breakdown the terms of yoga, because we want to understand the basic foundations.  When I first started learning about yoga, all the new words and terminology threw me off, so take your time.  You don’t have to know all of this or memorize it.  Just know that yoga isn’t just “fancy stretching”.  There is so much more to it that can help you heal, become more in-tune with yourself and even with God.

Yoga Alliance explains that, “yoga is a system, not of beliefs, but of techniques and guidance for enriched living.”

Let me introduce you to the Eight Limbs of Yoga.

Yamas. Means social discipline and refers to how you act and behave in your environment.  The Yamas are the universal laws of nature, and there are five of them:

1. Ahimsa (non-violence or non-injury) means to not cause pain or harm to all living beings either by thought, word, intention, or action. The purpose of Ahimsa is to spread love and compassion.
2. Satya (or truthfulness/non-falsehood) being truthful in our thoughts, speech, and actions.
3. Asteya (non-stealing) which is the simple concept of not taking anything that does not belong to you.  Asteya can also be applied to waste in the form of: energy, water, and unnecessary material consumption.
4. Brahmacharya (sexual control, chastity, marital fidelity, and sexual restraint) is very often understood as complete control over sexual instinct.  As per ancient Sanskrit texts, “It is a form of self-restraint regarded as a virtue, and an observance recommended depending on an individual’s context. For a married practitioner it means marital fidelity (not cheating on one’s spouse); for a single person it means celibacy…it is refraining from sexual intercourse in all places and in all states in mind, speech, or body”.
5. Aparigraha (non-possessiveness/non-greediness) is the limitation of material possessions to what is necessary.

Next, we have “Niyama” or self-discipline: The Niyamas are the second component of the 8 limbs of yoga, and there are five of them as well:

1. Shaucha literally means purity, cleanliness, and clearness. It refers to purity of mind, speech and body.
2. Santosha (contentment) is being content and satisfied with whatever life presents to us.
3. Tapas—As per Yoga International, the literal definition of tapas is heat, “in this case the heat that builds during periods of determined effort. Tapas accompanies any discipline that is willingly and gladly accepted in order to bring about a change of some kind—whether it be improved health, a new habit, better concentration, or a different direction in life. Tapas focuses energy, creates fervor, and increases strength and confidence. The practice of asanas (postures/movement) is a form of tapas for the body; meditation is a tapas that purifies and focuses the mind.”
4. Svadhyaya (Self-study) to contemplate, to remember, and to meditate on one’s self.
5. Ishvara Pranidhana means to surrender your consciousness/a trustful surrender to God. “This niyama is not a process of defeat or of mindlessly submitting to another’s will. It is the act of giving ourselves to a higher purpose.” (Text adapted from Yoga: Mastering the Basics by Rolf Sovik and Sandra Anderson via Yoga International)

The third limb: Asanas – the postures, poses, and movement of the body, and the most physical part of the yoga.

Pranayama – controlling the breath; breathing exercises which can be practiced without the asanas (postures/poses).

Pratyahara – withdrawing of the senses/gaining mastery over external influences.

Dharana – mental focus, holding steady, concentration, or steadfastness.

Dhyana – is the training of the mind (commonly translated as meditation), to withdraw the mind from the automatic responses, and to lead to a “state of perfect equanimity and awareness.”

The eighth and final limb: Samadhi – a state of intense concentration achieved through meditation at which union with the Divine is reached.

So, that was a lot of new words that are hard to pronounce and you’re probably asking how that fits into your life and/or yoga practice.  This is what I’ve learned thus far.  Yoga is exclusive to every single person on this planet.  It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, where you came from, if you’re rich or poor, and/or if you practice any type of religion.  You don’t have to worship gods/goddesses, objects, or false prophets.  It’s about finding peace in your situation/life, it’s about showing and giving kindness to anyone (including yourself), and it’s about knowing that we are all human beings who are doing the best we can with what we have.  Yoga is not a competition with others or yourself.  It’s about finding out how amazing your mind, body, soul, and spirit really are…no matter what you’ve had to endure.  It’s about learning and owning your strength, so when you’re in those hard situations, you’ll be able to step back, take a breath, and move forward with love and kindness.  And, for me, it’s about connecting to my Creator.  (I’ll get more into that a little later.)

As for now, take your time with this and feel free to research all of it!  This is just basic, foundational information about yoga, and we will continue to move forward with breath work, postures/poses, etc.