In February, we began our study of the original yoga knowledge, and building a bridge to our JudeoChristian traditions. The 196 yoga sutras, or little lessons, were compiled some 500-800 years before Christ. You can find many translations and interpretations on the Internet for free if you'd like to follow along. Sanskrit is hard to translate into English. However, I enjoy these two translations as the commentators often set the lessons in a Christian context. Here are my picks for the best two:

 

The word here translated as "breath" comes from the Sanskrit word prana which really means more than just breath--but rather the energy flowing through your body. In the next chapter we'll look at specific yoga-prescribed breathing exercises called pranayama. Many of you know I give major credit to conquering asthma through a regular practice of the basic yoga breathing technique: a deep, abdominal breathing with pauses between inhalation and exhalation. This deep breathing is a great way to become focused, recover from stress or anger, and lower the heart rate.

 

The commentators in How to Know God (book at left) take time in this sutra lesson to lecture on something I also try to drive home in my classes. "Many uninformed people imagine that yoga is nothing but a system of breathing exercises and complicated postures--'holding your breath and standing on your head.' When they speak of 'yoga' they really only mean hatha yoga, which is the correct name for this system of exercises." They go on to say that the real value of yoga breathing is as a doorway to the real end of yoga, to find God. The authors say that the West's obsession with only the poses and breathing is "obviously a distraction, causing us to forget, in silly vanity, our proper purpose."

 

For me, I always begin my morning prayer and meditation time with 3-5 minutes of deep breathing and then read scripture. No matter how fuzzy I am when I wake up, the breathing causes my mind to leap to attention and allows me to focus on and remember the Word.

 

Bible Study: Genesis 2  (from BibleGateway.com)

I attended an amazing workshop at Ghost Ranch run by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, noted author and Jungian psychologist. She gave us an interesting way to wake up I'll not soon forget. "Imagine as you wake up that God is breathing directly into your nostrils with the marvelous gift of life. Visualize yourself as Adam in this Genesis passage." If you have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, why don't you give this a try?

 

 

If you've not tried it yet, start the day with 3-5 minutes of deep abdominal breathing, and then breath slowly and rhythmically through one of your favorite Psalms. Psalm 121 is an excellent choice! See what happens.

Many of you know I've been struggling with a shoulder injury from schlepping bags up five flights of ancient stairs in historic old gasthauses in Germany. My physical therapist Amy has taught me some amazing new moves, and I was most impressed with this. She didn't have a name for it, but I call it the V-Dub. This looks incredibly easy but it is so not! I wish I had a photo, but I'll just talk you through it. 

 

Stand with good posture with your back, glutes, calves touching a wall. Extend your arms out flat against the wall in a W shape, with elbows just above your waist and palms facing out and even with your ears. Now, slide your arms up the wall into a V shape with your hands as high as they can extend above the level of your head. You know, like the opening gesture in the chorus of the immortal song "YMCA." The tricky part is doing this while KEEPING YOUR ELBOWS AND ARMS against the wall the entire time. It's easy if you let your elbows come away from the wall. I have to suffer through two reps of 20 each 3 times a week, and it's torture. But it sure does stabilize my injured rhomboid muscle and I know I'm a better person for trying. This is excellent for improving posture as well.