Prayer. What does that conjure up for you?
In my twenties, I discovered that my most reverent times were during yoga practice; especially when I slipped off during church retreats and did yoga on my own in nature.
My friend and teacher, Chase Bossart, asserts that the second sutra should be translated that yoga directs the thoughts (instead of "ceases" the thoughts).
Thus, yoga can help us direct our mind to any chosen object. Including God. Or the Holy Spirit. Or the Virgin of Guadalupe. Or, Mother Earth, or the Full Moon. Or whatever connects you to the Greater, the Divine, the Source of All Life.
Now, along with this mental focus comes a handy trick: lots of people, especially young people, have trouble sitting still. So...being able to move along with prayer really helps!
Last month I spent an evening with thirty Episcopalian college students at UVA. We used arm movements to represent the Trinity. Next month I will meet with junior high age students at the Unitarian Universalist church. They are just beginning to define their spiritual practices. I want them to know that movement, including yoga, is one of many ways to pray.
When I was a brand new teacher in central Virginia in 1994, some of my students got together on their own to practice yoga one day, and reported, "Well, we just felt like having a prayer circle after that, so we did!"
I am grateful that Starr King School for the Ministry allowed me to get my Masters of Divinity following my call to a yoga ministry, even when some people weren't sure what that meant. And now, I am finding people around me in Charlottesville hungry to integrate their faith and yoga together.
TKV Desikachar has observed hundreds of yoga students over the years and has seen many agnostics become interested in a higher power. I wish for you and for all seekers that you let the Spirit guide your yoga, and your yoga guide you to the Spirit. May mental focus and movement be with you. Amen.
