Why This Hobby Lobbies For Religious Freedom

This week the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby as a "closely held" corporation, which according to my friend and IUK colleague Linda (a #yogathea who is very involved teaching her business law classes thus neglecting her yoga class) "brings up a host of other issues" about whether public corporations can hold firmly held religious beliefs reflected in their mission, vision and core values statements. If you're unaware of the details of this case, Hobby Lobby, a national craft store chain founded and operated by a religious group with fundamental beliefs about birth control, appealed to the US Supreme Court to be exempt of providing birth control options as a part of their employee health care plan as now mandated by Obamacare.

The last I knew, health insurance provided by an employer is a privilege not a right.  Because of this, I am grateful President Obama is making efforts to have health insurance accessible to all.  However, thank you to Your Honors for protecting the religious freedom of businesses as I run a "closely held" Christian Yoga corporation that relies on exercising freedom on a regular basis.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about women exercising their freedom to use birth control pills for whatever purposes, I simply don't understand why someone thought is was their employer's responsibility to pay for this inexpensive and accessible prescription. Evidently they don't want to accept the financial responsibility here.   Taking personal responsibility for ones health involves making informed choices on nutrition and exercise and following through to provide the resources to enable health.  The resources are often time, money and energy which Americans don't want to give.  Instead, American Citizens  place the responsibility of their personal health in the hands of their employers, hoping to avoid committing money, time or energy.  Employers are assuming this responsibility and directing health decisions for us.  Now, our employers and insurance companies are desperately trying to educate and incentivize us to take responsibility, though based on the sedentary look of these Justices above and the observation that more people patron restaurants than gyms on Monday nights(simultaneously the gym's busiest night of the week and the restaurants slowest); I'm guessing we aren't going to take responsibility for our health and our healthcare will be dictated by our employers' insurance company protocols.  This too may eventually influence our personal religious freedom as these protocols are likely going to be more sensitive to the business' core values, not to the many personal religious beliefs out there.  This young lady seems to have the right idea to "stand" for religious freedoms!  I doubt she is worried about what her employer's health care plan covers... (even if she may need help for cramps :-O)

Assuming responsibility for your health could very well protect your religious freedom.  Most of my #yogatheas participate in class as a hobby of sorts, this lobbies for their religious freedom.  Bike races, community runs, yoga class participation, tracking body-bug data are only a few of the hobbies that help you assume responsibility and lobby for your religious freedom.  I love teaching and training the Christian Yoga Instructors because I see them exercising their religious freedom in their communities. Most of these instructors teach as a hobby and this hobby lobbies for religious freedom.  

Deadspace is Sacred

Deadspace is an entertainment faux pas, Lord forbid we miss .025 seconds of digital screenshot stimulation.  We had a blizzard this week and my street is deadspace.  Looks pretty peaceful out there and sounds peaceful too!  I never realized the noise of passing vehicles until they weren't there.  Deadspace is sacred and I need some things to die for me to hear and see! Deadspace is the hallmark of meditation, perhaps this is why the corpse pose is recommended?  I hear God and grow the most from deadspace.   Jesus had to enter deadspace to complete a divine work for all people and one of the greatest recorded messianic miracles involved resurrecting a friend from deadspace (John 11:43-44).  Lazarus had to be dead for the miracle to be so phenomenal.  The apostle Paul was blessed with much deadspace to do his work while "doing time" (Philippians 1:13).  You get my point: Deadspace is sacred!  Unfortunately our natural tendency is to resist deadspace, this time when God does a great miracle in us.   I sometimes wonder if God will judge our character based on our reaction to the deadspace of the Windows 7 spinning circle.  Deadspace...

















annoying and peaceful and important and sacred all together!   So what was your reaction to the short deadspace or did you even bother to scroll down?   Next time you are annoyed by deadspace, or impatient with that red traffic light, remember, God might just be trying to do a miracle in you!

Faith 2014 is Going To Be AWESOME!!!

You can only achieve what the mind believes you can do with God:  aka faith.   Emphasis added on the "do" and "with God" parts here.  God counts us righteous, heals, blesses, and even saves us according to faith.  Jesus got frustrated with lack of faith.  Now let's get something straight here, faith is different than hope.  Hope is sentiment, faith is doing.  I believe the faithful person is too busy creating life to whine about circumstances.  Take for example the person who IS committed to one's workouts and diet to lose 40 pounds versus the person who  hopes to lose 40 pounds.  Faith is a daily thing and God isn't going to do all the work here...remember "do with God"?

 

 Faith can't be objectively measured though it can be seen through its results:

And Jesus said, “All right, receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.”  Luke 18:42

When the apostles realized they needed more faith, they were resourceful and asked Jesus:

 The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”  Luke 17:5

Jesus answers:

The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!  

Luke 17:6

I've never uprooted a mulberry tree.  There's always more to the story...

  

The request for instruction on how to increase faith came after a lesson on forgiveness:

 Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”  Luke 17:4

Jesus seals the discussion with teaching them how to simply do their duty and obey.  That mulberry tree is suppose to obey us too.  Wouldn't life be easier if people just did what they are suppose to?  Let's not talk about kids now...  My synopsis of this is that faith involves forgiving and moving on.

This year God has called me into my business full time.  Getting to this point has taken an incredible amount of faith, working and preparing  products and services that people may or may not buy.  Doesn't matter, I'm obeying the calling and am too busy "doing" to worry about it.   On the journey, I've had the blessing of letting go of my past to make room to create my future.  I'm learning how to live in the now, besides, now is the only time I can have faith or do anything about anything.   I have faith 2014 is going to be AWESOME and I can't wait to share the results with you!

Happy New Year! 

 

A New Culture: Bringing Christianity to Yoga and Yoga to Christianity

When God called me to teach Christian Yoga I considered it an opportunity to share the hope of Christ with my community in my yoga class.  Over time my perspective has evolved in developing a Christian Yoga class and DVD, facilitating Christian Yoga Retreats and training successful Christian Yoga Instructors.  It has become apparent to me that God has called me to develop the practices of yoga and meditation to the Christians.  With faith, yoga and meditation has helped me through some of my life’s greatest challenges.  If our minds and bodies can feel the elation and release by breathing through a pose, how much greater will our minds and bodies feel at the resurrection?   

Last week I finished Adyashanti’s Falling Into Grace:  Insights on the End of Suffering.  This Zen Master holds insights into the life and perspective of Christ that our performance-based-busy Christian culture needs to adopt.   Adyanshanti’s book as well as my yoga and meditation practice has taught me how being present in the immediate moment helps us realize grace.  Yet, Adyashanti didn’t mention Christ’s resurrection.   Yesterday I began a traditional yoga class at the new Cole Fitness Center on the Campus of Indiana University Kokomo.  The energy of the next generation’s top minds is felt on campus, even at 6:30AM! This energy on liberal arts universities, looking for something to believe in, is creating new cultures as grass root movements.  I believe in yoga and meditation, which is why I teach yoga.  I believe in the resurrection of Christ which is why I am a Christian.  I believe in the potential of a complementary relationship between yoga and Christianity which is why I created Spirit of Heaven Christian Yoga.  I also believe that this combination can be utilized by the new culture of the next generation to both still their minds in this ever-busier world, and also to grow their faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.