This morning I did the yoga shoulder stand to the tune of Handel's Messiah, a holiday favorite of mine.
Recently, my heart warmed when I read in a Washington Post Express article that a local yoga instructor was incorporating a celebration of Hanukkah in her yoga classes. She encouraged class participants to bring a menorah to class that each person would light “to have as a beacon throughout the class.” She said that the "lighting the candle represents not only the holiday, but also the light of consciousness and your internal spark."
I loved that! You know why? Because it shows an additional area in which yoga can enhance your life, your spiritual/religious practice, if you have one.
In my earliest blog posts, I explained that doing yoga (which has Hindu roots) requires no change in your religion. It does not matter if you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, or agnostic. Anyone can practice yoga. Yoga requires no change in your religion or require that you belong to any religion.
You will likely discover, however, that yoga practices further awakens your spirit and thereby enhances your spiritual and religious celebrations. Just as the yoga instructor said that lighting a candle in a yoga class represents not only the holiday, but also the "light of consciousness and your internal spark," yoga practice itself turns on your inner light. That is something we can all use in our often stressful lives.
By the way, this morning, I chose to start celebrating the upcoming Christmas day by playing Handel's Messiah as I did my yoga practice. As I listened and stretched to this classical choral Christmas music, I felt that I was paying homage to a spiritual and religious holiday that is important to me. I felt wonderful and spiritually moved.
Yours for celebrating and enhancing your own special holidays- religious or not- this year and next as you practice yoga. Yoga supports an holistic lifestyle.
Laura Venecia Rodriguez, The Beginner's Yoga at Home Coach