To the mat we go, in 2016.

I grew up hearing and learning and thinking and believing that yoga was evil. After all, the poses were based on Eastern religions. After all, Harry Potter was about witches and Pokemon glorified magic and violence. After all, wearing all black was indicative of someone’s preference for the dark side. It wasn’t my parents’ fault. It was just the way things were in the Church in the 80’s and 90’s. I didn’t question it. Instead, I grew up dancing competitively, with the fake eyelashes and the gyrating and the provocative costumes. And like a good girl, I avoided yoga like the devil, until a few years ago.

A few years ago, I met Brooke. I was introduced to Holy Yoga through the Influence Network. Quite simply, there was just no way to justify the argument against yoga once I’d experienced it for myself. God uses whatever and whoever he wants to bring people to himself. I believe the Creator has the right to use his own creation to reconcile, reclaim, and redeem. He’s not scared of anything, and we shouldn’t be either. And if people’s lives are being changed for his glory and their good, well, then the proof is in the pudding.

My life is just one example, but it was changed nonetheless. During the darkest point in my journey through postpartum anxiety and depression, I found Holy Yoga TV. I became a monthly subscriber and still support it to this day, even though I’ve since begun taking yoga classes at my local gym. Moving my body while meditating on God’s word, while someone sang Truth over me in the form of worship music was indescribable. It was so life-giving. It was healing. Transforming.

And so two years later, here were are. I’m ready to continue my journey in the form of Holy Yoga instructor training and I couldn’t be more excited and expectant. Like Brooke said on our first call tonight, “The only way I can know who I am is if I know who God is.” So I plan to spend the next few months asking God over and over who he is and what he thinks about me, while I read his word and get a little stronger and more aware of my body on my mat. Thank you, Jesus. To the mat we go, in 2016.