Brooke Boon - Holy Yoga: Exercise for the Christian Body and Soul

Neither this exercise program nor any other exercise program should be followed without first consulting a health-care professional. If you have any special conditions requiring attention, you should consult with your health-care professional regularly regarding possible modification of the program contained in this book.

Copyright 2007 by Holy Yoga Living, LLC

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Illustrations by Greg Hansen.

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are taken from the HOLY BIBLE:NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scriptures noted The Message are taken from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scriptures noted TEV are taken from TODAYS ENGLISH VERSION. Copyright American Bible Society 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

FaithWords

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.

The FaithWords name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group.

First eBook Edition: June 2009

ISBN: 978-0-446-56218-8

To my heavenly Father:

I dedicate this work, along with the rest of my life, to You.

To my beloved family:

Jarrettmy husband, best friend, and God-given angel.

Thank you for loving me and for giving me the gift
of an earthly forever.

And to my children, Jory, Jace, and Brynn:

You are my ultimate blessings and my greatest rewards.

May God bless you all with passion for Him
as the center of your lives

And grant you His peace while in pursuit.

I love you all.

W ith utmost respect and admiration I thank Rachelle Gardner, without whom this project would have never seen the light of day. Thank you for capturing Holy Yoga with such perfection. You are a joy and His gift of you to this project is immeasurable.

Thank you to Steve Laube for believing in and supporting this project at every turn.

Thank you to Greg Hansen for capturing the beauty and simplicity of Holy Yoga in your illustrations.

To all of my students: thank you for inspiring me every day through your passion for Holy Yoga and your peace while in the presence of the Lord. And my deepest gratitude to the first Holy Yoga teachers for your fire and dedication to spreading the love of worshiping the Lord through this ministry.

Thank you to Pastor Bob Rognlien for his wisdom and teachings on loving God with heart, soul, mind, and strength in his book, Experiential Worship. Special thanks to Larry Payne for his knowledge and insight on yogas many physical benefits.

Finally, thank you to Holly Halverson and the amazing team at FaithWords who embraced Holy Yoga for all that it will do in bringing people in to authentic connection with Christ.

To all my friends, new and oldmy heartfelt thanks. Not to us, but to God be the glory.

Welcome to Holy Yoga

H oly Yoga. Just the name tends to draw quizzical looks, raised eyebrows, and more than a few outright rejections. How can yoga be considered holyin the Christian sense?

For something to be holy, it must be dedicated or devoted to the service or worship of God, the church, or religion. And thats exactly what this style of yoga is. Its not just any old yoga. Its not the yoga offered at your neighborhood studio or gym. Its not the yoga that relies on Hindu spirituality or teaches some form of oneness with the universe. This is Holy Yoga, and its specifically for Christians and those who are seeking a relationship with Christ. The yoga Im going to teach you is a profound physical worship of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through prayer, breath work, and movement.

Im honored to have you with me. The Lord has given me a love and a passion for this practice of Holy Yoga that is almost hard for me to contain! He has inspired me to build a worldwide ministry that includes classes, teacher training, and audiovisual resources, and He has blessed the ministry with this book to help me share His glory with Christians and seekers everywhere.

Let me back up just a little bit and tell you how this all got started. I began practicing yoga in 1999 and have been teaching it since 2000. Back then, I was living life in and of the world and had not yet become a believer. But in the year 2001, everything changed. I was born again in our Lord Jesus Christ, and nothing has been the same since! One of the first things that changed for me was my practice of yoga. I immediately felt convicted to use my knowledge of yoga to worship and glorify the Lord. He began teaching me, step by step, how this was possible.

I started weaving the Word into my personal yoga practice. I found that as I set my intention to praise and glorify God, my yoga practice changed, taking on a new form that surpassed my previous experience and brought new levels of intensity. By inviting God to be part of this practice I was able to open myself to Him completely: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I found my closeness to God, my ability to pray, and my understanding of my relationship with Him was deeply enhanced. When I shared this practice with others, it became collective worship, a prayer with the benefits of the physical principles of yoga.

I am not a theologian, a pastor, an elder, or even a seminary student. I have been re-created in the Lord and have a deep love and appreciation for His mercy and His grace. I believe that I am nurtured, restored, and replenished when I dedicate myself and my yoga practice to my Creator. I am speaking to you as a believer and a fellow pilgrim. Im still learningabout Christ as well as about yoga. I hope we can be on this learning journey together.

The Holy Yoga experience is a time of worship, praise, and connection to Christ, practiced to contemporary Christian music. It teaches us to take time to love, nurture, accept, heal, and grow in His Word and in His Spirit.

Yoga is a physical exercise with the benefit of strengthening and improving flexibility of the muscles. But it is so much more. It is a practice designed to increase spiritual growth. Although yoga has become increasingly popular over the last few decades, few Christians know that it is also a unique way to worship God through the ancient practices and disciplines of body prayer. Chris-tians can utilize the practice of yoga as a springboard to deeper levels of surrender and to focus their surrender in the presence of God. As a Christian and as a yoga practitioner, I founded Holy Yoga to create a place where the physical expression of yoga can be Christian worship.

Holy Yogaor any form of Christian yogais not a religion. Rather, it is a practice of bodily alignment, mindful breathing, and purposeful reliance on God. Holy Yoga is dedicated to facilitating the worship and celebration of God through movement and meditation.

When led using Scripture, Holy Yoga is a practice that encour-ages patience and cultivates an understanding of what God can manifest in our bodies and emotions. When we distance ourselves from the daily grind and find peace in worshiping with the entirety of our beings, we find ourselves in the flow of His magnificence and in the midst of His grace.