Thoughts From The Yoga Mat

Some crazy things are happening to my mind while I workout. My current morning routine is to spend time with God, reading the Bible, praying and writing in my Bible Study journal, then I might do one urgent work item like sending an invoice, then I spend 30 minutes moving my body.

Before having Luke and then into my first year as a mom, yoga was part of my morning routine. My yoga practice was deep when I started reading the Bible, one verse a day. I would read one tiny Bible verse and then do about 30 minutes of yoga and meditate on that verse or talk to God while I moved my body. The parallels that would proceed from spiritual to actuality of my body were amazing. Moving my body while meditating on scripture and talking to God, depended my faith.

When I got pregnant with Elizabeth my yoga practice faded and eventually was put on hold but I wasn’t worried. My love for moving my body first blossomed in my 20s and I had seen over the last 10 years how my circumstances could sometimes restrict my ability to move regularly. I had also seen the rebirth time and time again, of what my body was capable of, after taking a season of rest.

Are you in a season or rest or rebirth with your fitness? Both are beautiful. Both hold purpose.

Becoming a mom of two, nursing Elizabeth and not sleeping through the night, allowed me to accept that a regular fitness routine was not a part of that season. So I rested whenever possible, walked and played with my children, had sex with my husband, cleaned the house and accepted it all counted for something good.

I knew the passion for movement was still inside of me, she was just dormant for her winter, waiting until the temperature was right, the surroundings were proper for her to begin to blossom again. I payed attention to the nudging inside of me, which I know to be The Holy Spirit, to let me know when it was time to move again. 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies. 

During this current season, I have started to grow that passion for movement again and just like before, God is working through my movement when I dedicate this time to Him. The world is telling us so much right now, during quarantine and Covid19, there is a lot of fear and anxiety and for some, rightfully so. What if you don’t feel afraid though, what if you don’t want to be afraid?

Before I became a mom, I saw so many mom memes telling me what it would be like, how awful it would be, how much it would change me for the worse. I chose not to accept those messages. I found women I admired, the way they did motherhood inspired me and so I watched them. Motherhood changed me but it was on my terms and it has only been for the better.

Where I am going with all of this is, my thoughts from the mat today were this: We don’t have to accept all the messages that are being put out into the world, there is real crisis and that should be taken seriously and with great responsibility, but how will you choose to live in this moment. How will you choose to feel in this moment? That is entirely up to you. 

I am choosing to build my strength for what waits ahead. I am preparing. I am in a season of growing and I choose to sink into the blessing; like time, that abound around me.

xoxo

Audrey