Synchronise

Synchronise

“Are you tired? Worn out? Come to me all who are weary. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” [Matthew 11:28]

Lord teach us to learn the unforced rhythms of grace to synchronise our hearts and our minds with your way of thinking and doing things. Prepare yourselves. This devotional is a doozy. 

The word integrity evolved from the Latin adjective integer, meaning ‘the same all the way through’ that is, whole or complete. For this reason, integrity is the inner sense of "wholeness" deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency (or sameness) of character. It is the state of being whole and undivided. For something to have integrity it means, it is the same all the way through. Often times when I am at my most unsettled, irritable and feeling emotionally fraught it is because there is something I have done that it out of sync with what I believe or value. disintegration and disconnectedness has occurred between who I want to be and how I have behaved. Emotional literacy is a hard thing to articulate, let alone have.

For this reason, a friend of mine shared a while back how he has a fist of emotion words at the back of his journal so he can try pin point what resonates and describes how he’s feeling, when he’s feeling it etc. In yoga a similar concept would be the idea of the chakras. ‘Literally what on earth does any of this have to do with integrity and Jesus Ennette?' I hear you asking, well we’re getting to it. A few weekends ago I was attending a wonderful friends hen do - now begins my sob story for context, tying it all together. 

For the whole world 2020 was the year everything changed and life as we once knew it drastically altered. For me this seismic shift happened in 2019. Despite being the year I was married, it was also the year of life altering breakups: the hardest and most brutal I’ve ever experienced. I had a postcard-perfect destination wedding, but I still feel a lot of shame and pain when I think about that time in my life.  The day was all I hoped it would be, but the lead up to it was the opposite. I remember arranging to catch up with a friend, being so excited to see her and give her not only the wedding invite, but an invitation to be my bridesmaid. But when we met, my friend simply set the invite aside it without so much as glancing at it, and said ‘I don’t really think we’re close enough for me to come to your wedding, let alone be a bridesmaid. Our friendship has run its course and its season has come to a natural end.’

Beloved would you believe this was the second friend of mine to say words to this effect to me, in that month. Ouch. Once is maybe a coincidence, but twice? In the same month? What was wrong with me? I genuinely didn’t know if I was a bad friend or if this was just truly terrible timing. More than likely it was a messy mix of both.

I remember waking up on the week of my wedding feeling so utterly bruised and weary slightly incredulous that I’d made it at last to this beautiful milestone. That week, I was beyond grateful for the comfort and deep rest only my Father in heaven who alone knew the depths of my heart ache in those days, could give me. There is an unforced rhythm of grace that carries you through things you didn’t think you could ever get through. There is an unforced rhythm of grace to the receiving of forgiveness and letting go of grievances. Despite what may seem completely crushing, there is an unforced rhythm of grace that roots you and grounds you to your life and your self exactly as you are, where you are; helping you make peace and live more whole. ‘If grace is an ocean we’re all sinking’. Needless to say, I did not have a hen do in the traditional sense as such, but I got married, am starting a yoga business life moves bizarrely, blissfully on. All water under the bridge right? Well, I thought so. Until this weekend past, when I showed up to a hen do that triggered emotions I couldn’t quite place or figure out. All I knew was that I was feeling ‘out of sorts’ anxious, tense, on edge- unsettled in my self.

That Friday night before the hen party on Saturday, I had sent voice note to a lovely friend I’d caught up with earlier that week. I wanted to share with with her why her longer engagement could be a blessing: it meant she could cultivate and really invest in her friendships in the lead up to her wedding in a way that I never really thought to do, and so suffered the consequences of; or even if I did think to do so, I wouldn’t have had the time or capacity.

Remember emotional awareness and those chakras we spoke about right at the beginning? Well, one of the chakras in yoga philosophy is the throat chakra. This is all to do with communication: expressing yourself, telling your truth authentically, speaking up for yourself and others. If this is ‘out of alignment’ you may find yourself feeling like I did, during the lead up to that hen weekend. Wedding planning conversations swirling around my head, feeling things I didn’t quite know how to talk about or with whom. “It is the secrets you tell, not keep, that end up saving you; that end up bringing you the peace and calm and silence you’ve been looking for; that end up saving us all; that lead us to truth and healing and justice and grace”* reading that quote on Friday night, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had not been speaking my truth, in fact I had never spoken about it since it happened in 2019.

My voice was shaking when I sent that voice note to my friend, the shame and vulnerability at having my most intensely private hurt open to someone’s scrutiny left me feeling raw and scared, but I wanted some good to come from that time in my life, I hoped in sharing my secret sorrow, it would bless and help my friend who was facing her own difficult time coming to terms with dreams being deferred. In the end after I pressed send: it was just such sweet soul release. 

You could say my throat chakra had been blocked, you could say I still had more emotional processing to do, all I know is, where I had felt out of sync with myself and unsettled in my body, peace and grace and healing had occurred. I don't think chakras are a real existing physical thing but I do think they are a helpful tool (like all things in yoga) in bringing about more mind body awareness; more clarity and insight into what’s going on internally not just physiologically but emotionally as well. Maybe after reading this you think I’m crazy. Either way, I hope it helps you think about your own inner life, where are you aligned with God’s heart and who He says you are; and where you may have become disconnected from that truth: how can you actively move towards bringing about more synchronicity and integrity into your being. May we move with the unforced rhythms of Gods grace flowing in and leading our lives. As you move and breath on the mat this week Beloved, may His Holy Spirit guide you into even greater alignment with his will and purposes for your life, may your heart beat in tune with His.

breath in

Gods goodness : there is hope and happiness even in the sorrow of our times. It is holy work to hold the tension of both in your heart with grace and empathy. 

breath out

dispassionate lukewarm living. Do not go passively into this world. Instead burn with the faith of a thousand saints who are a cloud of witnesses cheering you on in life’s daily grind against apathy and disconnection from the Divine in you.

Enjoy your practice! (it’s 27mins long)

(Christ-)Mindful Tip:

I thought I would share a little tid bit from my christian yoga philosophy training (so fun!)

“Yoga invites us to be present in the moment while acknowledging our past and our ‘hoped-for’ future without clinging to either of those ideas. One way to practice this concept of presence is through the standing postures of Warrior 1 and 2 (Virabhidrasana 1 and 2). In this posture the back leg represents the past and the front leg: the future. 

The back leg is the anchor or the certainty of the pose whilst the front leg anticipates a forward movement or future shift. To find the essence of the pose, that is balance and hope, we can neither live too far in the past nor lean too far into the future. 

We practice drawing both past and future into the present moment, centring both spatially and temporally between the two legs and ideas. When we build warrior poses in this way, we connect our physical yoga practice to the indwelling sense of hope. This centred expression of hope, when lived out in the community becomes the kind of future God envisions for us.”

 I just thought this was a beautiful way to think about Warrior 1 and 2. On a personal note I still love thinking about the armour of God like I’ve already shared before- but in case you missed it in the Whatsapp group I’ll include here as well. 

In Warrior 1 or 2 postures (also known as Virabhadrasana 1/2), imagine yourself on the mat as you are fully kitted out in the Armour of God. Helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith,  imagine in your hand thats pointing up to the sky in the posture, the sword of The Spirit, the belt of truth around your waist- the whole shebang! Ephesians 6:10 says “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is never against flesh and blood” but is more often than not, against the unseen spiritual forces. Jesus turns to Peter in Matthew 16:23 and says to His FRIEND “get thee behind me satan”. So often without the right perspective we can think our friend, spouse, housemate or colleagues at work are actively against us in a moment of conflict or tension or throwaway hurtful remark but really beyond the physical obvious moment is the other spiritual truth that maybe, its the enemy using their words in that moment to knock your confidence, make you question who you are, make you fearful and insecure and doubt your inherent dignity and divinity. Peter wasn’t evil or possessed, neither are your friends or colleagues or spouse lol but the reality of Ephesians 6 challenges us to step into our authority as Children of God to be aware and present to what may be going on beyond the presenting situation. 

When in these postures be empowered and remember how God has made you MORE than a conquer in all this. “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” lean into that truth as you breathe in and out. Know that difficulties and challenges may come but just as you hold this pose and breathe, God will not give you more than you can hold and as you breathe in his Holy Presence and Power on the mat and off, He will see you through whatever comes your way. 

In Warrior 3/Peaceful Warrior posture (also known as Viparita Virabhadrasana) remind yourself of Psalm 34:14 “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” We are called to be warriors for peace which sounds like an oxymoron. But we are to seek peace and pursue it. Imagine “your feet, fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace”. This is part of your armour, part of what it means to be a warrior of the faith. Fight for peace in your conversations and interactions with people in your life. In heated “discussion” with someone what would it look like if you were instead to fight for peace in that moment? It’s in these small ways that we bring what we do on mat, off it, into our lives. 🧘🏾‍♀️✨