The Scripture ~ “so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which God has called you, what are the riches of God’s glorious inheritance among the saints,” Ephesians 1:18
The Spiritual Focus ~ “Until we can receive with an open heart, we are never really giving with an open heart.” Brene’ Brown
The Devotion ~ Yogadevotion’s, devotions during our Lenten journey, have a sub theme of being open. Open eyes to see where we are going, open ears to hear God whisper affirmations along the way. Many would contend that if our eyes have been opened to see as God sees and our ears have been opened to hear God’s prompting, that we have a change of heart. We feel different on our journey. We are enlightened. With open hearts we are more emotionally available to love. We have received the love of God and trust those feelings enough to share the love with others who are on the path with us. We can now incorporate our senses of seeing, hearing into feeling, differently.
Feelings can be tricky, sometimes the feelings are glorious and hope filled and other times are confusing or unwanted. In yoga, some yogi’s practice something called a mudra. Mudra’s are most commonly understood as hand positions that are used to shift our energy or feelings in a more desirable direction, getting us back on the healing path. Harvard studies have pointed to mudras as beneficial in dealing with chronic pain. Believe it or not we have all done a mudra at one time or another, probably as children, when we have crossed our fingers and hoped for something positive to happen.
A familiar hand position in church, that would be considered a mudra in the yoga world, is our prayer pose. Bringing our hands to heart in prayer, tipping our head to our heart, is a hand position we use to open ourselves to be moved in the direction of God’s will, God’s desire for us and for all people. Prayer pose shifts our energy aligning us with God’s Spirit. Prayer pose opens us to receive the love of God and in receiving this love we authentically share that love with all people.
Breath Prayer
Inhale ~ I receive love
Exhale ~ I Love
