The Breath Prayer ~ Inhale ~ God is, Exhale ~ Love indwelling
The Devotion ~ Yogadevotion’s vision is that through the practice of yoga, people will learn to pause, breathe and experience God. In pausing we open ourselves to experience the indwelling love and promised presence of God. None of us come to that experience easily; it is difficult sometimes to pause, settle and breathe. It is hard to believe we could be loved so much that the one who loves us dwelled among us and now desires to dwell within us.
The Jewish storytellers who passed down Mary’s story in the birth narrative of Jesus knew how hard it was for people to have hope for the long-awaited promise of peace and to imagine a love so great. In this story they offered people a way to move through extraordinary circumstances to experience God’s promised presence with great joy. When we experience this indwelling Presence of God, it often leaves us speechless. It is an “aha” moment. After exploration and discernment Mary found her voice, her aha moment became a hymn of praise called the Magnificat, or Song of Mary.
And Mary said,
“I’m bursting with God-news;
I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened—
I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
the callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.
It’s exactly what he promised,
beginning with Abraham and right up to now.”
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home.
Luke 1: 46-56 The Message
