Yoga Toes

Winter is thankfully long past and many transitions have been progressing during the past four months.

After moving from the home which we really conceived of as our place of retirement we have been settling into new daily patterns of living.

Some changes have been very good, and really quite unanticipated.

Gone is my morning walk in the desert.

It has been replaced with a gym membership and resumption of yoga practice.

My first introduction to yoga was during my ministry in Ashton, Idaho. A wise woman of the congregation approached me about offering a short introductory yoga class. She first met the teacher through her ministry to the dying as a Hospice Volunteer. The community interest in the yoga class was enthusiastic.  We started with a six week session in the fall, before the heavy winter weather would create travel problems at night. My own experience was positive. Frankly though, I simply lacked enough discipline to continue on my own after the offering. We repeated the offering again the following year. And again I lacked discipline to keep up the practice. Too many real obstacles to engage in a student-teacher relationship served as the reason for letting it slip. I merely dabbled in the practice, accumulating the equipment and supportive videos but tucking them just out of sight. I became a lapsed yoga student. It was a yoga seed planted in shallow soil.

 

Since our move has placed us in a neighborhood that lacks the same delightful place to do morning walks on the edge of our community, the membership at a local gym seemed the best way to recommit to our much needed and appreciated exercise. The double bonus was the availability of yoga classes.

So now, instead of cramped up tight toes I am developing Yoga toes.

That’s right, Yoga Toes.

Wide spread, supple and steady toes now provide support my Tree Pose. I am feeling stronger, more flexible and finding peaceful sleep with the integration of an evening relaxation practice. I feel more ready each day to walk “in Christ” and to offer presence to others as I find greater physical strength and flexibility.

“As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.” Ephesians 6:15

Footnotes - Crunch Toes