Happy am I.
Holy am I.
I am, I am.
-Guru Singh
Today is day 28 of a 40-day Sadhana that I’m doing at the Redbloom yoga studio in Mount Pleasant. Every day at 8:15 we gather with our teacher Kris Batzner and do a kundalini yoga practice of movement and meditation for about 15 minutes. I’m usually there in person with a few others; about ten more are doing the practice in their homes connected by video; and another ten do the practice on their own. Kris records the session every day for those who miss the live version.
So far I have kept my commitment to myself to do this practice every morning. When I can’t be in the studio at 8:15, I do it another way. The past two Sundays I have done the practice in the sanctuary of UUFCM before the rehearsal for Sunday worship begins. The affirmation above--Healthy am I, Happy am I, Holy am I; I am, I am—is sung at the end of the practice. Singing it aloud in the sanctuary before Sunday worship seems very appropriate. It fills the space with sacred intention.
I have made other commitments throughout my life, some of them for physical or spiritual health. Some I have kept and some I have not. This daily discipline is working well for me, and doing it with the guidance of a teacher and with the companionship of other student yogis is helpful.
As I undertake this spiritual practice in the spiritual community of the Redbloom Center for Community Wellness, I think about the spiritual practices that sustain the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan. Sunday worship is the obvious one, but I wonder what else fits within our congregation. We already have a weekly Buddhist sangha that meets on Tuesdays and a Pagan ritual every seven weeks on the pagan holidays. Some Unitarian Universalist congregations have prayer circles or meditation groups. What activity does your spirit yearn for, and how could we offer that at UUFCM?
A group of UUFCM leaders is going to be meeting on October 30 to brainstorm about what activities the UUFCM community might benefit from. As the COVID pandemic drags on in Michigan, what can we do to connect safely? This might include fun things, intellectual things, interest-based things—and spiritual things.
We could all use a little bit of the good energy I get from the daily practice of yoga and the affirmation that I often end up singing all day long after my 8:15 class: Healthy am I, Happy am I, Holy am I; I am, I am. May each of us find practices that nourish and sustain us.
PRAYER:
Divine Unity that connects us all, may every house of worship and every yoga studio, every prayer mat, every living room prayer circle be blessed. May every human being find connection with their spiritual self in the way that works for them.
May humanity be blessed by healthy connection to spirit.
Blessed be.
Rev. Andrew Frantz
October 21, 2021