The Pose of Tranquility

For a while now I have been doing yoga stretches every morning. I turn on PBS, and there is this lady who slowly and calmly twists her body into all sorts of impossible poses and positions. I was intrigued at first, because judging from the skin on her neck, and the fact that she talks about her granddaughter, she is around 60 years old.  Judging instead from her strength and flexibility and how straight and slender she is, I would guess her to be in her late 20s. She looks positively elegant as she twists herself into poses with names like the pretzel and the plow. I am pretty sure that I do not look elegant as I try to follow her lead. I think it would be really nice to look the way she looks when I am 60ish so I do yoga stretches with Priscilla every morning.

This morning, she led me and whatever other students she has in PBS land, into "the pose of tranquility". It goes like this. You lay stretched out straight and slowly raise your legs until your they are over your head, parallel to the floor, with your knees just over your forehead, your bottom in the air. Then, you gradually raise one arm at a time over your head, and rest your hand lightly on your shin, still without moving anything else. You balance there for a while, absolutely still, weight resting on your shoulder blades, legs over your head, stomach tight, your hands resting lightly on your shins, breathing softly. Tranquility is kind of challenging.

This morning I wrote a quick list of all the things on my mind. I was surprised at how many concerns were buzzing around my head. None of them were big, earth shattering, urgent crisises. These concerns were like the fruit flies that somehow found their way into my house this fall. Tiny, but annoying.

Until I started listing them in my journal, I didn't realize there was a whole swarm of fruit fly problems buzzing around my head. I didn't realize that I was really quite tense because of them. As I prayed over my list, I was reminded of the scriptures that tell us to "be still", "cast your cares on the Lord", and "be anxious for nothing".

These admonitions are the scriptural version of the yoga lady's pose of tranquility. Just like the yoga pose, the spiritual pose of tranquility sounds easy, but it isn't always.

Over the months of twisting myself into pretzels and plows with Priscilla the yoga lady, I have noticed that I really have gradually become stronger and more flexible. I suspect that maintaining spiritual stillness is like that too. As we slowly and patiently move ourselves into positions of trusting God, and being still, we grow stronger, calmer, and more flexible.

I am going to keep coaxing my reluctant self into both poses of tranquility.