A Christmas Reflection

In addition to hanging out with family and all that jazz, the holidays are generally a time for spiritual reflection. Of course, if you know me, simple daily chores usually spark spiritual reflection. Christmas just gives me an added excuse to share these reflections. Christmas—the celebration of the birth of Christ. God made flesh. God as human. God as Jesus. A loose translation of John 1 would read that Jesus came and made his tent among us.

And then I take this idea further. When Jesus left earth, he left with us his spirit and his peace.

“Peace on earth, goodwill toward men (and women).” That’s very Christmas-y.

Last Friday, I toyed with the ideas of Jesus’ spirit and peace while subbing for a gentle yoga class. Our studio’s definition of a gentle yoga class is a class where we don’t ever stand up. It’s an incredibly peaceful class—an amazing end to a workweek and a glorious beginning to the weekend. The class starts after dark, and with the dim glow of Christmas lights from the street, we don’t even need the studio lights. It’s like moving softly inside a snow globe.

The tradition of Anusara yoga speaks of inviting grace into the body. According to Desiree Rumbaugh, the idea is that if one experiences grace inside the body through yoga, one might take it off the mat and into daily life. Practiced consistently enough, this might alter how one responds to life on a regular basis. Knowing how yoga has changed my life—how it has radically altered my internal dialogue—I love this idea of experiencing grace within the body.

But why stop with grace? Why not peace as well?

Generally, I think of peace as more of a physical feeling than grace. Perhaps that’s because grace (unmerited favor / undeserved blessing) can be a theologically weighted term (which I almost got into with this post, but that wouldn’t have been very peaceful!). Peace is a calm we crave in our muscle fibers, a blanket of serenity we want in our minds.

While on earth, Jesus promised us his peace: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). As God incarnate, Jesus did not give conditionally. He gave us his unconditional peace. A peace that the apostle Paul says is beyond our understanding (Phil 4:7).

When I think of Jesus’ peace—which is here but that I don’t often feel—and his spirit, I think of the breath. Yoga is all about the breath, drawing life-giving oxygen in, pushing toxic carbon dioxide out. Drawing life-giving peace in, pushing toxic anxiety out.

So in my yoga class Friday night, we invited peace into our bodies and thus our lives. By moving slowly and being kind to our hamstrings and our shoulders and our thoughts, we felt peaceful. At the end of class, watching my students linger on their mats before picking up, I saw peace on their faces. And it certainly wasn’t my peace, because by myself I am not peaceful.

This is why I love mixing yoga and Christianity—the yoga helps me experience what through Christianity I supposedly know to be true. And although you and I are not in a yoga class right now as I write and you read, I hope the peace of Christ manifests itself in your life this Christmas...


Namaste.