Religion,
or my perceived lack of, has been a recurring theme of late. As a
yoga teacher my faith has been questioned for years and my soul has
been lovingly worried over by family and friends who harbor a strong
Christology. So, this is a coming out of sorts: I teach yoga, I love
and honor all religions, but my DNA is Christian. I'm even a card
carrying member of the Methodist Church these days. Granted, it's a
very liberal group of Christians that I hang with who are comfortable
enough with their own faith to embrace my Buddhist leaning ways.
However,
I do not feel that my religion of birth is the only path to
salvation, I have too many non-Christian friends for that kind of arrogance. I embrace
and revere all religions. I have become teary-eyed at the beauty of a
Diwali ceremony, at the reading of the Torah, sitting and meditating
in front of a towering Buddha, or reciting The Lord's Prayer.
My faith is rooted deep and the study and appreciation of other
traditions is, in my opinion, only strengthening my commitment to
Christian values.
Through
the study of yoga and its philosophy I'm much more intent on
cultivating the values of peaceful humility and compassion as taught
by Christ these days then I ever was before and I'm pretty
confident that if I ran into Jesus at a coffee shop and struck up a
conversation (I'm wont to do that) that he would approve of how I'm
living my life. So my religion is something I practice daily, not
just the three times a year I show up at church. I think Ziggy Marley said it best "love is my religion" and I think Jesus would be ok with that.
