The Huffington Post ran an article recently that talked about how the Encintas Unified School District in California was offering yoga as an alternative to regular physical education classes in their schools. The classes are made possible through a local non-profit that promotes yoga and the grant provides twice a week, thirty minute classes to the district's 5600 students.
A family in the district filed a lawsuit attempting to block the classes, stating that they believed teaching yoga would promote Hinduism and inhibit Christianity, in particular that they encouraged praying to, bowing to and worshipping the sun god. The family's lawsuit was unanimously thrown out and the court stated that the classes were devoid of any religious, mystical, or spiritual trappings.
I have been practicing yoga on and off for probably twenty years, but it has only been in the last two or three that I have begun to take my practice seriously. At first, it was all about flexibility. I am and always will be a runner at heart and yoga allowed me to work out the tight hamstrings and hips, to stretch those hard to get to areas that running wanted to tighten up. It created balance and strength and I do believe it made me a better runner - if only that with regular practice, it kept me from any of those common overuse injuries that are the nemesis of runners.
Recently, however, yoga has become something else entirely. Around the time of my divorce when it seemed that every piece of my life was in a state of utter chaos, the yoga studio was my safe haven. Second only to church, yoga was where I went to find a little peace in my day. For the eighty minutes I was in class, there were no fears, no doubts, no judgment. During those early days of my practice, my thoughts were centered solely around staying upright and somehow not passing out and face-planting in front of everyone.
Slowly I began to adapt - to the movement, to the heat - and as I did, I was able to focus less on the physical adjustment of my body and tune in to what was happening within me.
I realized that thoughts had begun to return to me while I was practicing. But unlike before, they simply flowed in and immediately flowed right back out - like the waves of the ocean as they hit and recede from the shore. I breathed them in and before they could take root and do damage, I breathed them right back out again.
I have heard yoga described as a moving meditation and I believe that is probably the most beautiful and accurate definition possible. Because while I have tried repeatedly to meditate outside of yoga, it is only in class within the confines of the four corners of my mat, where I have finally found success.
Through yoga, I am learning to let go of what does not serve me. Through yoga, I am learning about grace and acceptance and joy and love and forgiveness and selflessness, which seem very much like the lessons I have learned through Christianity. Through yoga, I am learning to practice self care and do no harm. And ultimately through yoga, I am learning to be still and to listen for God's voice in that silence.
So while I am thankful that the court upheld the decision to continue allowing the practice of yoga in the Encinitas schools because the benefits our children will reap, even if solely physical, will be immeasurable, I would disagree that yoga is completely devoid of spiritual trappings as the court suggests. At least for me.
xxo.
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