The Scripture ~ “Serve the Lord with gladness: come before God’s presence with singing.” Psalm 100:2
The Spiritual Focus ~”If we are willing to stand fully in our own shoes and never give up on ourselves, then we will be able to put ourselves in the shoes of others and never give up on them. True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings.” Pema Chodron
The Breath Prayer ~ Inhale gladness, Exhale compassion
The Devotion ~ If one Googles the term March Gladness, one will soon find that it is a relatively new term. Like the March Madness NCAA basketball brackets we are more familiar with, there are March Gladness brackets that churches and organizations have created to encourage fun competitions around acts of compassion. It is not hard to imagine the connection between gladness and compassion, as they are both soft emotions of the heart. Cultivating and embodying compassion is a path to gladness, a path that begins with the spirit of God that dwells within us, our true nature.
In yoga philosophy a calm psyche is achieved through cultivating mudita or gladness. We do so by first re-turning to our inner life looking for positive experiences of gladness in ourselves. This self-examination is not only for personal benefit but as a door to be compassionate with others. Compassion for others, as Chodron says, is to “realize kinship with all beings.” It is a seed of harmony and peace in the world.
A beautiful interface between yoga philosophy (right living) and theology (God knowledge) is that compassionate service encourages gladness. Following the way of Jesus you will see this idea lived out. As western yogis we use asana to get to the place of stillness within, the place where we dwell in God’s presence and allow gladness to bubble up. Asana is not, however, always available to us. Eastern yogis have other ways to practice inner examination. One is familiar, breath, but with an intention to not holding the breath, practicing a releasing exhale, releasing any blocks to experiencing gladness. Another technique is to practice relaxing the tension around the jaw with an open mouth, slow exhale or a sigh. Whatever practices you choose, the mutual experience of compassion and gladness is a healing experience of God’s presence for us and for the sake of the world God loves.
