I have found that the best way to ensure that I make it to the mat every single day is to have a plan. When I first started doing yoga, I just did the same two or three videos over and over. While it helped build strength and confidence, it got boring and it was hard to choose what I would do each day. I ended up missing some days because I didn’t have a plan and choosing in the moment was too overwhelming.
In November 2020, I started following Yoga with Adriene’s free calendar and playlist. While that was great, some of the videos were either too easy, too short, too long, or too hard. Haha! I felt very much like Goldilocks. I would skip videos that weren’t for me and fill in with the same ones I’d done earlier in the year. Or I skipped the day entirely.
In January, I followed Breath, a 30 day journey with Adriene and by February, I felt confident enough to make my own plan. I was building endurance and strength and decided I needed a minimum of 25-30 minutes on the mat each day. So using, Adriene’s calendar as a base, I made my own and substituted longer practices on days that she had short flows. In March, I did much the same thing, but focused on her Yoga for Weight Loss series.
For April, I have tried to take a few different things into account – I chose several videos that focus on weight loss or targeting certain body parts. I have also chosen several videos for balance, stress relief, and renewal as I feel that is what I am needing right now.
In addition to the practices on this playlist, I will add bedtime yoga some evenings before bed and post-run yoga on days where I go for a run with my husband.
I hope this playlist will help you find what feels good, too, and empower your daily practice!
I talk a lot about my weight and my a1c and trying to improve those, but I want to take some time to talk about the other changes in my body. The first one is flexibility & strength. I can do little things that I couldn’t do before, like getting up from the floor without help, crouching to get into lower cabinets, and lifting heavy boxes. My husband and I rearranged the garage last Saturday and I had zero problems helping with the heavy lifting. I can pick up my son and carry him around. I can run up and down the steps. The bulk of my own body is no longer a hindrance to my mobility.
But it’s more than that. I had my gall bladder out in 2017. Unlike most people, my system never leveled out. I was sick after every meal. I was put on medicine to take every night before bed and if I missed it, I was sick all the next day. Over the last 8 months, I’ve stopped slowly taking it entirely because it was having the opposite effect on me. I can eat the food I love without hurting my gut. Last week, we ate one of my favorite meals – shredded beef sandwiches. Normally this meal would cause acid indigestion and I’d be chewing tums all night in order to get some sleep. Not anymore. I went to bed fine and had no gut issues.
I’ve noticed other changes in my body, too. Clothes that were too tight are too loose. Y’all, I’ve lost more than 12 inches on my belly! I’ve gone down several sizes. My yoga pants this morning are a medium. I can’t remember the last time I wore a medium… it’s been at least a decade. My BMI has dropped 10 points. Even on days when my weight loss isn’t as fast as I’d like it to be, I am still losing. I am down nearly 50 lbs in total and am inching closer to my next goal.
How have I done this?? Diet and exercise, guys. And I don’t mean like “diet” but I mean I watch what foods I put into my body and I am careful with portions. Gone are the extra carbs and saturated fats and high calories. I feel better, I have more energy, and I feel like me again. I don’t take any medicines or supplements for my weight or gut health. I just move my body everyday and feed it what it needs.
Yoga has been an integral part in all of this. Would I be losing weight just by changing my diet? Sure. But there comes a point where you have to start moving. You have to exercise. Yoga is wonderful because it has varying intensity and is proven to help stimulate gut health. You don’t need an expensive pink drink. Just a mat and an internet connection. Start with some beginner videos. Then move up to higher intensity ones. I’m doing Yoga for Weight Loss this month and loving it! Find what makes your body feel good, strong, and healthy. Trust me, it will thank you for it.
The short answer is, “yes”. If you don’t have time to read all the different reasons why yoga is not outside of the realm of Christianity, you can stop here. If you are a Christian and you want to try yoga, go ahead. It’s not going to break your relationship with Jesus and will most likely enhance it. Go get your mat and learn some asanas.
For others who want some more background, keep reading. I’m going to talk about the background of yoga, how it can develop your faith, and some objections to Christians practicing yoga.
Common objections to yoga
Even before I practiced yoga, I heard people say that Christians can’t or shouldn’t do yoga. The biggest reason is that ancient yoga comes from Hinduism and Christians cannot perform any religious practice that comes from another religion. Y’all, I really love you, but I’m trying super hard to not eyeroll right now. I’ll go into this more in the next section, but let me just say for now that ancient yoga and modern yoga have very little in common, other than the asanas (or poses).
#1 The poses are offerings to Hindu gods
While this might have been true in ancient yoga (it’s not mentioned in any of the books I have), it isn’t in modern yoga and it doesn’t have to be for you. It’s all about intention here. Paul asks the people of Corinth, “Don’t you know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? The Spirit is in you, and you have received the Spirit from God. You do not belong to yourselves. Christ has paid the price for you. So use your bodies in a way that honors God,” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). I believe that yoga can be used to show honor to God, if that is where your intention is.
When I get on the mat every morning, I do so with the intent to get healthy and take care of my body. I want to care for my body because God created it just for me. It is my job to care for it and doing so honors God. There are many types of exercises you can do to be healthy and care for your body, but I prefer yoga because of the emphasis on self care and moving your body with intention.
#2 Yoga is too sensual
Like many other things in this world, overemphasizing sex and sensuality has plagued yoga. Let me first say that sex is a good and healthy expression of love between two married persons. It should feel good and there is nothing wrong with enjoying sex. But with that said, yoga has nothing to do with sex. It is our culture’s over obsession with sex and, especially, with porn that has tainted yoga as being overly sensual.
I know a lot of yoga is about finding what feels good, but it is not in a sexy or sensual way. It is about learning how your body and muscles move and learning to not overexert yourself by pushing into a pose that you aren’t ready for. For example, I can make my heels touch the ground while doing downward dog, but it stretches and hurts more than is ok. If I force my body there, I’m in pain for the rest of the day. However, if I find what feels good or what feels right, my heels are about an inch off the ground and my body feels strong.
If we call all things that have to do with physical feelings “sensual” and then outlaw them, we’d be left with very little to do.
#3 Yoga is “New Age”
Yoga can be New Age, if that’s your focus. It can also be Christian. Or Hindu. Or atheistic. Yoga is meant to be spiritual, but it doesn’t have to be, so atheists could totally participate. A lot of people tie it to New Age Spiritualism because it doesn’t tie you down to a specific spirit. Now, you could practice with a yoga instructor that teaches New Age Spiritualism, but you don’t have to. By now, many of you know that I follow Yoga with Adriene for most of my yoga flows. She does not spout spiritualism of any kind.
# 3.5 But, what about Namaste?
Namaste means “the spirit in me honors the spirit in you.” That’s a pretty Christian idea, if you ask me. Is it present in other religions? Yeah, sure, but they don’t lay exclusive claim to it. In fact, in many Bible studies over the years, I have learned of the importance of acknowledging the Spirit in my brothers and sisters around me. Doing this actually helps prevent a lot of the negative and judgmental thoughts we humans are prone to.
Background of yoga1
Ancient yoga originated in India thousands of years ago. Practitioners would seclude themselves away from the rest of the world (think monks) and completely dedicate themselves to uniting or yoking their mind, body, and spirit. This is what yoga means, literally to “yoke” or unite. Yoga was a part of social and cultural constructs in India, including their belief in the caste system. Yoga was a way to move up the ladder of that system. Back in the ancient days, yoga was practiced entirely by men. Women weren’t allowed to practice yoga until the 1900s! Ancient yoga was taught one-on-one and practitioners lived very Spartan lives (again, think monks).
Ancient yoga is very different from modern yoga which came into being in the 1900s as Eastern yogis travelled to Europe and America spreading their styles of yoga. Modern yoga is not religious, though it can be tied into the religion you practice. Modern yoga is practiced primarily by women in group setting who own all. the. things. yoga-related.
What is yoga?2
Yoga is blend of physical exercises, meditation and prayer, and breathing exercises. It also includes a general “do no harm” philosophy and a high moral code that will bring you closer to God (whether that is the triune God from Christianity or another God is up to you).
The most common form of yoga in the West is Hatha Yoga and it has an 8-limbed approach. The first two limbs focus on the moral code and includes refraining from certain actions, studying spiritual works (like the Bible or theology books), devotion to God, and cleanliness (aka eating well). The third limb is the one everyone recognizes as yoga – the asanas or poses. These poses are meant to help clear your mind and prepare your body for meditation.
Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Have respect for the Lord and avoid evil. That will bring health to your body. It will make your bones strong.
Proverbs 3:7-8
The fourth limb is the pranayama or breathing practice. This is one that many Christians have a problem with because prana means “life energy” or “life force”. To make a long argument short, some say that messes with things we’re not meant to mess with. However, this is a huge misunderstanding of the point of pranayama. The breathing practices in this limb are among the same practices I’ve learned for controlling anxiety, for controlling my breathing in exercising, and for relaxation. It is well known that slowing your breath, taking deep breaths, can help calm a restless or anxious heart. Your breath is important because it’s necessary for your life, but how you breathe is equally important. For example, when you hyperventilate, your brain convinces your body that you don’t have enough oxygen, when in fact the opposite is true. You end up with too much oxygen in your brain and you pass out. Learning to control your breath is a good practice.
The 5th through 8th limbs of the Hatha Yoga approach do tend to lend themselves more into ancient Indian practices and beliefs about enlightenment. That said, meditation and prayer are important to a spiritual life, regardless of what religion you follow.
In 1957, Swami Vishnudevananda came to the West with his five principals of yoga to improve physical health & mental health, as well as develop your connection to your God. These are proper exercise, proper breathing, proper diet, proper relaxation, and positive thinking and meditation. These are the 5 things that I focus on most.
Yoga to develop your faith
As a Christian, I have found that practicing yoga first thing in the morning helps me set an intention for my day, wakes up my sleepy mind, and gives me time to pray. My Bible study companions jokingly say I need to pray during yoga so I don’t fall or because the poses hurt! While that is true sometimes, I find that especially in savasana (corpse pose) and child’s pose, I am able to determine my mindset for the day (positive thinking!) and spend some time talking to and listening for God. The harder poses wake up my body and my mind so I can really begin to think about what I need to say to God. I can think back on the Scriptures I read before getting to my mat and pray about them specifically.
When I start my day with yoga, I am able to spend my day focused more clearly on God’s path for me. I have set my intention on what I believe God’s path for me is and I am able to walk it with Him.
I rarely leave time for myself to do yoga in the evening before bed, but when I do, I am always grateful for it. Not only do I sleep better that night, but I spend that extra bit of time with myself and with God, letting go of the day and handing it over to Him. Yoga has definitely only drawn me closer to God.
Aside from the mindset and content spirit that I have found, yoga has led to a much healthier body. Physical health is something God is deeply concerned with. John, in his 3rd letter from exile, writes that he hopes the letter finds the followers of Christ to be as healthy in body as they are strong in faith (3 John 1:2). Daniel and his friends refused to eat the rich food and drink the wine given to them by the king and they instead ate vegetables. The kings attendants almost wouldn’t allow this, worried that they would be too weak to serve the king, but Daniel convinced them to let him try and at the end of their trial period, he and his friends were healthier and stronger than all the other slaves (Daniel 1:8-16). Even the author of Ecclesiastes reminds us to refuse to worry and keep our bodies healthy (Ecclesiastes 11:10).
So friends, if you’re worried about how God feels about your yoga practice, talk to Him about it, find your intentions behind it, and remember that God wants you to do what draws you nearer to Him.
1everyBODY Yoga. Stanley, Jessamyn. Workman Publishing, 2017 2YOGA: Your Home Practice Companion. Sivanda Yoga Vedanta Yoga Center. DK Publishing, 2018.
Yoga is great for all ages, even teens & pre-teens!
I’ll say that again.
Yoga is great for all ages, even teens and pre-teens!
I don’t know about you, but if it doesn’t involve reading or video games, my kids are not into it. If it involves physical exertion, they are really not into it. Now, I’m not saying my kids are lazy, they just are not used to a lot of physical activity and they do not play sports. That’s fine, but yoga is a good way to give your kids some physical activity while also teaching them about their minds and bodies.
But why is yoga important for teens?
As I said in this post, yoga is so much more than flexibility! And while many children are naturally flexible, it can be like foreign language. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Not only that, but teens and pre-teens grow at a pretty rapid pace. This can lead to them losing flexibility, balance, and coordination. Yoga will help them maintain those things.
Yoga helps create a love of physical movement. Teens, even more than young children, tend to sit for long periods of time. Either at school or at home, learning or playing video games, our culture has created a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Physical therapists will tell you — movement throughout the day keeps you from getting stiff, creates more energy, and helps your brain function. Teens preparing for college really need to keep moving in order to keep their brains processing.
Yoga also helps to create mindfulness. This is important at all ages of life, but I think it is especially so for teens and pre-teens. As children enter into adolescence, their hormones change pretty rapidly and that leads to moodiness, emotional upset, and lots of drama. This is all totally normal for teens, but they need a way to process their emotions and let out their frustration safely. Yoga does this!
Resources for Kids Yoga
Yoga for Virtual Learners – this a playlist of videos that are great for teens and pre-teens. We use these for our PE classes occassionally.
Yoga for Mental Health – this is a playlist of videos that helps with mindfulness. It includes meditations and poses for all sorts of things teens & pre-teens (and adults!) may be feeling or dealing with. This includes depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, feeling stuck, being a bad mood, and so much more!
Yoga Mat – Gaiam makes a lot of really great and durable mats. My husband and I love ours!
Do your kids like yoga? What are your favorite resources for them? Let me know in the comments!
My 5 year old loves yoga, even though he’s picky about his teacher. He does not like doing Yoga with Adriene videos. They’re “too hard”. He does, however, LOVE Cosmic Kids Yoga. He also loves following books with yoga poses like Good Morning Yoga.
My 3 year old goddaughter also loves Cosmic Kids Yoga – she does it with my son anytime they come to visit. Jamie (the teacher of Cosmic Kids) is hilarious and a fantastic storyteller which is important for engaging little minds and little bodies.
But why is yoga important for children? Aren’t they already pretty flexible?
Yoga is so much more than flexibility! And while many children are naturally flexible, it can be like foreign language. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Practice yoga will help children maintain their flexibility while also strengthening their muscles. As they grow, yoga (or other stretches or exercises) will help little muscles stretch more easily.
Yoga helps create a love of physical movement. Children today tend to sit for long periods of time. Either at school or at home, learning or playing video games, our culture has created a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Physical therapists will tell you — movement throughout the day keeps you from getting stiff, creates more energy, and helps your brain function. Children, who are naturally wiggly, are taught to sit still for long periods of time and yoga can help counteract that stiffness that creates.
Yoga also helps to create mindfulness. First, you have to be mindful or intentional about the way you move or the poses you get into. Classes like Cosmic Kids Yoga make those transitions into poses fun and safe for kids. It teaches them to notice how they move and to move in certain ways to protect their bodies. Second, yoga puts a focus on breathing which in turn helps us (adults and kids alike) to create a calmer mindset. This calmness is so important now more than ever. Children can feel the stress of their parents and we are under more stress as a society than we have ever been. Even if children aren’t aware of the problems in the world, they can feel the stress oozing off of their parents. Doing yoga helps them to release some of that stress and restore calm by focusing on their breath.
Resources for Kids Yoga
Yoga with Adriene has a few videos for older kids (think upper elementary – high school age), but this one for younger kids is good: Yoga with Kids: Play in the Park
This month, rather than following the February calendar from Yoga with Adriene, I created my own. I made a playlist on YouTube, put the calendar in my bullet journal, and got up each and every morning (so far, lol, the month isn’t quite over yet).
I’m happy to say that I have loved every minute of it. I revisited some flows that have become favorites and saw some awesome progress.
I also noticed that some flows that used to cause my heartrate to increase or make me lose my breath now come much easier. But that also means that I am burning less calories. While that’s fine, it’s not helping me with my goal of weight loss. So I made a new calendar and playlist for March.
This playlist is made up of Adriene’s videos that focus on strength training, ab work, or weigh loss. I’m hoping these flows will get my heart rate up and work off some calories!
So, first, a disclaimer: I have only been doing yoga for a hot minute so I definitely do not know all there is to know. As always, with my posts, these thoughts and opinions are my own. Feel free to disagree. Oh, and I don’t make any money from this.
What I have…
I bought these URBNFit yoga blocks from Amazon with some Christmas money. They are a soft yet firm foam that I can really claw my fingers into. But they also appear to be self-healing so all that clawing doesn’t really seem to be doing any real damage. Thank goodness.
The one thing I don’t particularly love about these blocks is that they don’t quite fit my hand. They are either too narrow (longwise) or too short (widthwise). So, in downward dog, I feel like my hands are falling off the edges. This sort of defeats the purpose, as I got these to help myself learn to claw through my fingers and stop slipping in downward dog.
The purpose of yoga blocks
So what is the point of these things, anyway? Well, let me start off by saying you absolutely do not need them. If you are strapped for cash or just in general stick to a tight budget, then yoga blocks are not required for yoga. If any of the reasons for having yoga blocks sound good, you can substitute with a thick pillow, some books stacked up, or a rolled up blanket.
Bring the earth up to you
In many of the asanas in yoga, you need to be able to reach the floor either with your hands or head in addition to your feet. For many of us vertically challenged yogis, that just isn’t an option. Insert a block or two where you need it and boom – you’ve brought the earth up to you and made life a little easier.
My favorite use for this is in wide legged forward fold. My head is maybe 4 inches from the ground in this pose and the yoga block bridges that gap, allowing my head to rest comfortably and take some of the pressure out of my arms. This is also great in lunges. My arms just don’t reach the ground and I still have too much bulk to be able reach around my stomach and thigh and touch the ground. Placing a yoga block under each hand brings the ground up to me!
No block
Upright block
Flat block
Blocks in low lunge
Extra balance
I recently learned how to do eagle pose. This fun little bind reminds me of that scene in Two Weeks Notice when Sandra Bullock is trying to convince Hugh Grant that she’s a twisty bobcat pretzel. The pose really has nothing in common with this scene at all, other than it is a little twisty.
Anyway, the yoga block in this case goes under your foot this is wrapped around your leg. This gives you added support until you are able to balance without it.
Yoga blocks are also a great support for beginning to learn crow pose. Adriene Mishler suggests using them in her Foundations video for Bakasana. By placing the block under your toes, you’re much closer to getting your knees up to your arms and your feet off the ground. It hasn’t worked for me yet, but it’s my goal for 2021.
Clawing through your fingertips
Downward dog is so much easier with blocks!
This was the primary reason I purchased my blocks. I love downward dog, but my hand slip, even with a hot yoga towel. I know part of it is my cheap mat but until I’m able to replace it, I want to learn how to really claw through my fingers. Plus, this will take a lot of the pressure out of my wrists and help my alignment. In her book Everybody Yoga, Jessamyn suggests using blocks for this very purpose. I’m working on this one and I think once I get over the clumsiness of the pulling the blocks in mid-flow, I think I will really love using them.
My Overall Opinion
Look, I still think they aren’t necessary, but yoga blocks are definitely nice to have on hand. If you have some money to splurge, buy a set. I think your yoga practice will thank you.
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This is a week when I really need the reminder that health is more than just a number on a scale and muscle weighs more than fat.
While I know both of these things to be true, they often feel trite and do very little to assuage my disheartened spirit. I have been sitting at roughly the same number on the scale for a couple weeks now (even going up and down a little bit, too) and it’s frustrating. I eat 1500 calories or less each day! I think and I stay in my carb limit and I exercise for 30 minutes each day, WHAT IS THE DEAL?!?
Have you ever been there? This is about the point in which most people give up. This is the point that I have given up many, many times before. Why bother, if there is going to be no noticeable difference?
Except…. there is a noticeable difference. For one, the yoga flows that were too fast and would leave me breathless 3 months ago are easier now. My heart rate has lowed about 10 beats per minute. I am more flexible – I can get into poses that I couldn’t do before. I’m stronger – I can hold plank for 10 whole seconds now. My mobility has increased – I can get around with little to no pain. My clothes are looser. So, who cares if that number on the scale is the same?
I do.
Ugh.
I wish I could say I didn’t, but truthfully, I’m disappointed. I’m 2 weeks away from my 6 month check up and I had really hoped I’d make it to my 2nd weight goal by then. I’m 6 lbs away and I just don’t think I’ll make it at this point. That sucks. It really sucks.
This journey is not without hard days.
So I want to encourage you. You can do this. On the easy days when the pounds seem to melt away and no food tempts you and the exercise is fun and good.
And on the hard days when the pounds stick like glue and the hunger is insatiable and you can’t find the energy to come to the mat (or the gym, or wherever you workout).
The bulk of my own body is no longer a hindrance to my mobility.
Normally this meal would cause acid indigestion and I’d be chewing tums all night in order to get some sleep. Not anymore. I went to bed fine and had no gut issues. 
Momma's Musings 