Heart Soul Mind Yoga Podcast

Upon arriving at the airport in Phoenix to fly back home to Denver I was asked if I was interested in lightening my load at the curbside check in. It was well worth the extra money to unload my baggage right there rather than lug it half a block inside to the check in counter. My body was tired & I had dropped the prideful and stubborn nature I had at the beginning of the trip. I was all about unloading my bags full of useless items that I had never even unpacked, much less used, as fast as I could. I wasn’t about to carry them unnecessarily for even one more step. This is the invitation from Jesus this morning. He’s the skycap at the curb, offering to lighten your load right here, right now. Thanks to the cross, He’s already done the work of overcoming shame, guilt, anger, fear, regret, hurts that have morphed into bitterness and anger…you just have to be willing to accept His offer.

Each plant is created to flourish in a specific type of soil. And a flower will bloom if it’s root system is planted into it’s personal perfectly formulated conditions. We too were created to flourish in a perfectly specific type of soil. And let me tell you today...that perfect soil has nothing to do with your house, or your neighborhood, or your job, or your relationship status. The perfect soil you were created to be planted in is Divine Love. When you are rooted in His love you will naturally and effortlessly, begin to bloom right where you are planted.

I know that in less than a breath the floor will literally drop out from under me and I will fall. And so, quickly, I realize that I can’t depend on the floor. I realize that the only constant in that tube that will remain when I fall is the back of the slide. And so, you guys, I lean back into that slide so hard, willing myself to become one with the slide. I try to convince my brain that the thing that’s supporting me at this moment isn’t the floor which is about to literally disappear but what’s supporting me is that which I’m leaning into. I press every inch of myself into the back wall of my clear coffin and the floor drops out from under me and I fall.

I almost let this list of disqualifications override the call on my life and when I talk to other men & women I learn that I’m not the only one who’s calling is threatened by shame. This is why some of my favorite stories in scripture are those that show God swooping in on the broken life of a disqualified person and doing mighty works in and through his or her life. One of these broken & disqualified people is an unnamed Samaritan woman who we know best as “The Woman at the Well”. Scripture never tells us her name, but she had a reputation & it’s likely that everyone in her village knew who she was.

We still carry the image of God. We might be born into a sinful world and in need of repair but we still carry the image of God. The Pieta was damaged, but despite the damage, it is still The Pieta. Despite the damage to the sculpture the woman still bore the original image it was created to represent. Allow that to be your intention this morning, believing and embracing that YOU are made in the image of God. --- I teach Holy Yoga in the Denver, Colorado suburbs. You can find me across social media at Heart Soul Mind Yoga. My website is www.heartsoulmindyoga.com

That Easter Sunday, in 1991, to a 9 year old girl in San Diego, darkness represented work...weariness, and the light represented rest and worship. For all of humanity, in all of the world, that FIRST Easter Sunday...Resurrection Sunday, sunrise represented the end of work... weariness and the beginning of rest and worship. Join me for a Holy Yoga class in the Denver, CO area! Find my schedule at www.heartsoulmindyoga.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/heartsoulmindyoga Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/heartsoulmindyoga

Harriet Tubman is quoted as saying: “I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more, if only they knew they were slaves.” When I look back at my life during that time, I see that I actually wasn’t free at all. I was playing a part, pretending to be free...but actually I was a slave. I was playing the role of a free person when inside I was empty and tired and hopeless. If I could go back in time, I would cup my hands under my chin, look into my eyes and tell that younger version of myself that finding freedom in Christ doesn’t mean we are free TO sin, it means we are free FROM it.

Maybe you aren’t a runner but you can relate to this hustle. This constant jockeying for position, ping ponging through your own personal course, aware that you are spending unnecessary energy, yet unsure how to stop. I love this amazing quote by Elizabeth Gilbert: “Grace will take you places hustling can’t.” Today we’re going to unpack that quote a little bit in hopes of living under the promise of 2 Peter 1:2 “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

I can sympathize with my daughter. Sometimes what I mean to say & what I actually say are two totally different things... The Bible has a lot of words about words. Today, as we explore some of what God has to say, let’s set our intention on recognizing the power and the importance behind the words we choose. Find me on Facebook & Instagram! Search Heart Soul Mind Yoga Holy Yoga class descriptions and schedules can be found at www.heartsoulmindyoga.com

Save the Date! I'm celebrating my one year anniversary of teaching Holy Yoga with a special class! We'll have LIVE WORSHIP, GIVEAWAYS, a GIFT for the first 20 students, and MORE! This will be a Slow Flow class accessible for all spiritual seasons & yoga levels. Arrive early to reserve your spot! When: January 28th yoga from 8:30A-9:30A Where: South Fellowship Church 6560 S. Broadway St. Littleton, CO More information can be found on: Facebook: www.facebook.com/heartsoulmindyoga Instagram: @heartsoulmindyoga

In the artistry of Kintsugi, there is no attempt at hiding brokenness, in fact, it’s just the opposite, there is this beautiful highlighting of the imperfections. The flaws are seen as a unique piece of the object’s history, adding to it’s beauty. The piece is believed to be more beautiful for having been broken. The artist makes no attempt at smoothly blending together the cracks….instead he illuminates them with precious gold. Kintsugi is the art of repairing but it’s also the art of understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken. Because YOU have been repaired with precious grace and love and mercy, you are far more beautiful for having been broken.

Many of us start a new year with a list of intentions and resolutions and ways we plan on making our lives better. We look at our failures and shortcomings of 2016 and commit ourselves to working harder, doing better, striving more fully in the coming year. Today’s verse encourages me to look at the New Year & the resolutions that come with it differently and I invite you to set your intention on inviting God to shift your perspective on your list of resolutions. We’ll use these scriptures as a guide.

His bed was a manger, which is traditionally represented as a feeding trough filled with hay. Hay. If you’ve shopped for infant clothes lately, maybe you’ve noticed that those tiny outfits are all tagless...the tag information is printed on the fabric itself negating the need for a tag that could irritate the sensitive skin of a newborn. We take such care to protect the skin of our infants and yet our Savior was laid in an imperfect bed of scratchy, itchy, pokey, hay.

"So a piece of paper that costs 14.3 cents to make is worth $100 because the MAKER and the BACKER of the currency says it is. God, as your MAKER and your BACKER determines the worth of your soul."

"She explained that math formulas can be seen in trees and plants and PINEAPPLES! You guys. This crazy friend of mine loves math so much that she cannot help but see it in PINEAPPLES. This is what loving God does to our vision. When we love God with our entire beings we can’t help but see His reflection throughout creation."

Have you considered the difference between thanksGIVING and thanksLIVING? Thanksgiving has to come before thanksLIVING which is why we started our practice by meditating on the goodness that God has provided. That flow of yoga poses that we just practiced were specifically chosen because they all involve our hands in the air, representing the vertical relationship that we have with God. Representing us standing, arms high, receiving & saying thanks for His gifts. ThanksLIVING is the act of receiving the gifts from Him and then extending our arms out horizontally, to those horizontal relationships...the relationships we have here on earth. ThanksLIVING is taking that grace, peace, hope, forgiveness, life, love, steadfastness, and living those out daily to those with whom we come into contact.

In this season of my life, I feel like the message I take away is ...See how bold in his faith, Peter is? ASKING Jesus to call him out upon the water! When I’m faced with a storm in my life I’m praying, asking God to make it stop, rather than asking Him to call me out into the midst of it. I’m surveying my situation and thinking the boat is the safer place where as Peter knows...the safest place is to be with Jesus. Even if that means walking right into the storm.

God gave Jacob a new name to fit his new circumstances. God says to Jacob “Your name of swindler & usurper no longer fits you. You are no longer defined by your past actions of trickery and dishonesty. You have wrestled with God and as a result you are no longer the same person you once were. I have a new identity for you.” When you step into the grace & salvation offered by Jesus, you too are given a new name! You are no longer defined by your sins or who you are or what you have done. You are defined by His grace. Who He is. What He has done. And even if you walk with a limp after your past life, don’t try to ignore or hide it. Instead, let it remind you of your complete dependance on God.

The way a grove or community of aspens starts is pretty complex {it’s like yoga for my brain} so I’m simplifying it like this: An entire community of Aspens originates from one organism. That organism grows one stalk up from where it’s planted, while the roots grow out & from those roots more Aspen trees grow. Aspens start with this one organism as the center of it all... every subsequent aspen is connected not just to that originating tree but to the entire community of trees. You guys. Is there a better example of Christian community? Jesus is the originator and the center of it all...and from His roots a community is born.