Amy @ Generous Wisdom | Spacious Heart – Page 39 – Generous Wisdom

Christian Yoga Practice

Announcing The Catholic Yogi’s first ever formal Christian Yoga Practice. Seems kinda funny (but pretty much just right) that it’s taken 16 years’ worth of teaching yoga classes for me to offer one specifically and formally designed for Christian worship. I’m excited, and I hope you are, too!

Our first class will meet this Sunday afternoon, Feb. 3, from 1:00 – 2:30pm at No Limits Studio in Lexington.

Christian Yoga Practice is just like a regular yoga
class, but with the intention to spend time in Divine
Presence through Christ and the Holy Spirit. It resembles Power Yoga Practice in that we are acknowledging and moving away from ego-driven tendencies like vanity, greed, self-criticism, and division, and moving toward benevolent qualities, such as self-compassion, gratitude, loving-kindness, and unity. Christian Yoga Practice begins with biblical scripture and ends with silent meditative prayer. This is a gentle yoga class. All levels are welcome, and no prior yoga, prayer, or meditation experience is required. You are invited to bring a journal and pen, prayer beads, meditation cushion, and/or any other special items that are important to your prayer practice. However, a willing spirit is all that is necessary!

Space is limited. If you are planning to attend, please contact me here.

I hope to see you!

Happy Practicing,

The Catholic Yogi

Opportunities for Christian Yoga Practice:

Sundays, 1:00 -2:30pm

Feb. 3, Mar. 3, & April 7

No Limits Studio

$15

Yoga Class Update

Happy Monday!

I hope you were able to try something new and make some sweet connections with your closest people this past week, especially yourself!

Yoga Classes resume today, Jan. 28. Join us for Gentle Yoga at 9:30am at the Butterfly House and Power Yoga tonight at 7:00pm at No Limits Studio. Check out the full schedule to other opportunities.

Remember to sign up to receive text notification of class cancellations due to inclement weather by texting @yogapr to the number 81010.

It’s a cold and frigid time. Find ways to bundle up and get outside to move and breath in some fresh air. Back inside, light candles and snuggle in.

Create space to expand and embrace.

Happy Practicing!

The Catholci Yogi

A Perspective on Break Week

Hey Yogis,

Martin Luther King, Jr. day marks the beginning of our week away from studio classes (at least my studio classes!). I’ll be spending some time reconnecting with my closest people, the little ones, the medium one, and the big one. And hopefully trying something new to broaden my perspective. My invitation to you is to do the same: connect with your people & explore: Keep trying different yoga styles online and in person. Keep trying different teachers within the same tradition or style. Or dip your toe into a new movement practice like Qigong, Tai Chi, cross-country skiing or snowshoeing, or join your people in some of their favorite activities.

Speaking of perspective, when I find interesting quotes or pictures, I print them out and hang them on my walls, so I’m reminded to look beyond my present thoughts, ideas, and opinions. Currently, I’ve got a lot up there in the kitchen, as well as some random ones in the hallways.

One day I noticed markings on my signs, went up close to take a look, found that someone had been doing some underlining. A few days later I noticed the little one flitting around the house with her pencil, popping up to my “sacred signage,” and making marks!! I noticed that this caused me anxiety, as well as surprisingly strong feelings of attachment to these insignificant pieces of paper. After reminding myself that the pieces of paper are, indeed, insignificant (compared to my love for this little graffiti artist), I smiled, exclaimed my surprise at this turn of events, and kindly asked her to stop. At which point she sheepishly began erasing the underlines.

Two things happened: first, my ego-self immediately felt the sacred signage would be even more damaged by the erasures, and second, my true-self realized that I had been too attached and too harsh. So I told my little one not to worry about the marks but to refrain from making any new ones.

She told me she was sorry and explained that she’d only been underlining the most important words. I walked over to see which words she had chosen and found these: Pause, Courage, Mystery, Love, Admiration.

Wow! I thought, this was profound. “Emma,” I said, “You can underline the words on my signs any time!”

“Well,” she replied, “I really just wanted to try out my new mini pencil.”

There are so many different ways of seeing.

********

My prayer for all of us is this:

May we practice awareness,
look closely,
pay attention,
and suspend judgement.

May we pause,
take courage,
embrace the mystery,
and love one another
as though our lives depend on it,
as though we are extensions of the same Ground of Being.

May we take time
to look for the jewels
in our own lives and the lives of others,
even when the jewels are hidden in the dirt
and buried beneath the snow:

Pause
Courage
Mystery
Love
and Admiration.

…and try out something new…!

Amen? Amen.