the art of a moment

There aren't enough words to express the value that each moment has on our life, yet we lack the integrity to acknowledge its power and inevitable impact.

Class today was full. Which was to be expected as the yoda of 3 Tree led the 10:00 Hatha class. There was only three of us ready to check in 15 minutes ahead of class, the earliest that the door unlocks, myself, another instructor at 3 Tree, and a new girl, a swimmer and upcoming sophomore at TCU from Alabama. Small talk is made on the back patio of the studio as we wait for a private lesson to conclude before entering. The amount of respect for others' space is inspiring within this community.

Once we shift in I am greeted with a hearty welcome by yoda in her rockstar tank top, iRobot type knee brace, ivy tattoo that wraps around her right arm, and super short and edgy hair cut (one I wish I could pull off). We have only messaged up to now and had a passing introduction, but I had not yet experienced a class with her. I was nervous. But also excited.

As we sat letting the minutes tick away to 10 o'clock, class quickly filled up so much so that we used both sides and the full length of the studio. Something about doing a class in a community is encouraging. Everyone is trying to do the same thing but are at different parts in their yoga practice.

Yoda moves us through various poses in a very seamless and fluid tone. She blends yoga terms with terms you would find in the urban dictionary - it is quite entertaining and educational. At the beginning of class, we start in a restorative pose (one of my favorites) where you press your right hip up against the bolster with the blanket on top and then twist your torso and lay your chest flat down on top of the bolster tower. Then, the whole point of the pose is to relax the weight of your body and give into gravity. Do you understand how hard that concept is? To completely let go of all your thoughts, to release every muscle in your body to gravity, and to continue breathing in a deep and intentional rhythm.

Yoda then explains, "Advanced yoga is not about the pose you can do, but the ability to focus your mind for an extended period of time on the task at hand." Well damn, if I had known this a long time ago I would have maybe started yoga earlier. Whatever I am here now. At one point during the class I thought to myself, "wow we have done a lot of poses, but it doesn't really feel like that many...weird."

Later in the day I sat down to lunch with a dear friend and minister who I admire. We chatted and got to the point of the conversation where we were finally going to touch on the topics that were predetermined and the purpose of the "meeting". Don't worry that all our food had already been devoured by this time. The opportunity for me to preach as one of the topics led to him asking me what I had in mind that would be the topic of my sermon.

And it hit me. So much of what I am learning in my yoga practice is what I feel like Christianity needs. The ability to live with intention and focus in the moment. Not to obsess about the past or plan every detail of the future because God is not judging you on your past mistakes and He has your every step predetermined on the path where He will lead you and take care of you so you can fulfill your calling. So our job is to focus on each moment, to live in the moment as Christian and to do what Jesus has taught us: to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Your neighbor will not always look like you, think like you, believe like you, or act like you. Just like in yoga class. Your neighbor may not always be the same as you, yet we are a community of supporting members there to encourage each other at each pose and at each breath because we are participating intentionally with the mindset of bettering ourselves on our mat in order to go out the door of the studio and better the world.

Maybe I will make everyone do yoga during my sermon? Why not? I should probably check with my minister first on that one.

The moment concept is overwhelming if you try to control them; instead, live in them, embrace in them, and delight in them filling your life with moments of intentionality.