Thursday, March 29, 2012

Keep The Faith


I come from a background of church-goers. Being of the Catholic faith, every Sunday morning (or sometimes Saturday night, much to my chagrin as a teen) my whole family would go to church. I can’t say that I have fond memories of being in church as a kid (although that one time I farted and it echoed through the whole place was pretty hilarious). I saw it almost as a punishment. A long, drawn-out, boring punishment. As an adult, I swore off church and for a while even felt resentful towards it and mocked those that attended.

Even up until recently, I have had a hard time understanding why people go to church. To subject themselves to something so unpleasant (in my view) seemed ridiculous to me. If you want to praise God and be thankful, why do you have to sit in an uncomfortable pew and listen to a monotone priest read from the Bible? My mom always tells me that going to church makes her feel good. I couldn’t understand how that could be. Until I started to practice yoga.

While driving by the hospital the other day, I noticed a few ladies outside that were holding signs that read “Please pray to end abortion”. Now, I am neither claiming to be Pro-Life or Pro-Choice (that’s a whole other blog post), but it struck me how amazing it was that these women had so much faith in what they believed that they were confident that simply praying would resolve what they saw as injustice in the world. I was jealous. I want to have that much faith in something.

I looked up the definition of faith. It read: "Complete trust or confidence in someone or something”. I’m starting to realize that it is not necessarily the church that my mom and my grandma love so much, but their faith in a higher being. In this case, God.

When I started to practice yoga regularly, I noticed a difference in myself. I felt good. I started to see things more clearly. When I’m practicing yoga, I feel that I can remove myself from any situation and have a good look at it, from a non-judgmental point-of-view. I feel that practicing yoga generates this energy inside of me and that I can use that energy in my life to make positive things happen. Yoga allows me to remember all of my blessings, even at the darkest times, and to know that life is good. Yoga has given me faith. In myself and the Universe. And God.

So, people who go to church must get the same feeling … ? Holy shit Mom, I think I’m praying.








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