40 Days of Kindness, Religion & Spirituality

Religion. Spirituality. Yoga. 

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of chit-chat at Soul Stretch and at other yoga events about those three words… religion, spirituality, yoga, and whether you can be right with your religion and still practice yoga, whether spirituality is religious in nature, if all three are different sides of the same triangle. 

Well, lovelies, I’m here to tell you that for this yogi, they are not mutually exclusive practices. They all teach us that there is more to life than we can see looking through the Hubble Telescope. They all teach us that there is more to life than feeding kale smoothies and pizza to our physical bodies. They all teach us that we are on a journey to seek truth and goodness.

It surprises me when I hear people say practicing yoga cannot co-exist with believing in God. I wish they could peek in my windows. I have a half-dozen Italian ceramic crucifixes hanging on the walls, along with mandalas and chakras. I have a Catholic rosary in my purse, a Christian-blessed prayer shawl draped over my sofa, a chunk of rose quartz on my windowsill. And I lean on them all. 

There are times when I need the ritual of religion, letting the scriptures and prayers and hymns wash over me in a shower of inspiration and hope, the words of my pastor deepening my faith. There are times when I need the healing ritual of yoga, when the mudras and the pranayama and the asanas calm my fears and open my heart. And there are moments when I need to be alone to do the self-study that leads me to my spiritual path, my personal connection to my God. 

Think about this for a minute: Spirituality is the essence of both yoga and religion. 

In this episode, Rose and Tina talk about spirituality, religion and ultimately kindness. Remembering our old days of "giving something up for Lent," we are offering up a worksheet to embrace 40 Days of Kindness with 40 acts (actually we're giving you only 20. You come up with the rest!) to spread kindness in the world.