Nothing Else To Do…

Daffs

Daughts makes a face when I suggest she take Yoga,

“It’s too slow and I don’t have the patience.”

Granted it’s not like Jazzercise or punchy modern or classical ballet.  It has its own qualities as a strengthener and stretches my body while both raising my heart rate and relaxing me.

It also expands my mind and causes a gradual change in perspective to occur.

Today my instructor told me, as I was shaping myself in a particularly deep hip opener,

“This pose has the tendency to cause feelings of claustraphobia.”

She is so right, to the point that I feel anxiety clawing at my chest and I struggle to ease the sensation.

“Stay with it,”  she says as if she can see me pulling out of the pose, “until your body relaxes and trusts that nothing dreadful is going to happen.”

After a few breaths the crushing feeling subsides and I am left to ponder, while I gently sink onto the floor…

How do I stay the course beyond the safety of my mat?

When I am faced with an unpleasant task such as, chopping broccoli, cleaning toilets, mopping floors or preparing my taxes?

When I Instinctively think, ‘How can I get this over with as quickly as possible?’

When after a few minutes resentment kicks in while I begrudge all the hours I’ve spent in my lifetime on brain numbing activities?

When anger joins the party and I all but pass out?

I have learned the more I feed these negative emotions the more fiercely they seek to shape me into someone I  was not created to be.

Instead I face the herd of dragons threatening my health.

I acknowledge the mundane and irritating parts of my life.

I nod to the boring and uncomfortable aspects of my job.

I doff my cap to the thief of my precious time.

And deny them dominion.

Each time I breathe through the challenging poses of my morning class,

I offer peace to the run-of-the-mill stanzas of my life.

I look to the Lord for help in my day-to-day and I surrender. (Psalm 121)

After a few minutes of mindfulness,

Impatience, Resentment and Anger fade.

“I am here because I want to be not because I have to be,” I reason.

With practice I melt and enjoy the task at hand,

every part of it.

I focus on the moment,

For…

I have nowhere else to go,

I have nothing else to do.

My God knows so much more than me.

Amen.

 

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