Yoga and Prayer: Strength
Life has felt really overwhelming to me this week. I didn’t even realize until last night how truly overwhelmed I had become. I had felt all week a sort of off centeredness and I antsy agitation. I felt stressed and eager to do something. But, there was something else I was feeling all week that I couldn’t put my finger on… until last night. Overwhelmed. That’s what I’ve really been feeling and I’ve tried to dive into stuff and distract myself from it but in my heart I felt incredibly overwhelmed and helpless, out of control and powerless. But, I didn’t want to admit it to anyone, not even myself.
So, this morning knew that I needed to remember with my mind and my body that there is a power greater than myself. I needed to remember that God is in control even when I’m not, that God is powerful even when I am not. I needed to remember that God is not helpless and that he is with me. And I needed to remember that he had given and will give me strength for each day and the circumstances of each day. I needed to call on that truth and that strength.
So, for yoga today those are the things we focused on and drew our attention to. We did a lot of strong warrior poses, remembering that God does and will fight for us. We spent a lot of time coming back to and staying in Mountain Pose remembering that our God is a strong mountain and grounding ourselves in that truth. And we prayed together - prayed for God to be powerful over the situations of our lives that overwhelmed and scared us.
We used a few songs from the Four Tet album Rounds again today for music and each time we came into mountain pose I said Deuteronomy 31:6. So, here’s what we did:
Sun Salutations – 2 sets
Mountain Pose - “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified…for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Lunge with right foot back
Warrior I right foot back
Lunge with left foot back
Warrior I left food back
Down dog with leg lifts (do both legs)
Mountain Pose - “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified…for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Lunge with left foot back
Warrior II with left foot back
Reversed Warrior II with left foot back
Lunge with right foot back
Warrior II with right foot back
Reversed Warrior II with left foot back
Mountain pose - “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified…for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Warrior II with right leg back
Triangle Pose with right leg back
Mountain Pose - “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified…for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Mountain pose - “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified…for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Warrior II with left leg back
Triangle pose with left leg back
Mountain Pose - “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified…for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Warrior I right leg back
Warrior III right leg up
Mountain pose - “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified…for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Warrior I left leg back
Warrior III left leg up
Mountain pose - “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified…for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Bharadvaja’s Twist to the right
Bharadvaja’s Twist to the left
Reclining Twists
Peace and strength yours today.
Rejoicing in the Journey - Bethany