Hello CF Yogis! Heather here, one of your friendly yoga instructors for the month of October. I can’t believe it is already October. The days are shorter, the wind is colder, and all of the celebrations of the season are upon us. Halloween being the first of these celebrations on the list. As with most holidays, Halloween has been modernized over the centuries and has taken on many traditions that weren’t part of the original celebration. What we think of now as traditional such as trick or treating, scary movies, cobwebs, and witchcraft have all been additions since the first celebration. If we go back to the origin of Halloween, it was a celebration of the fall harvest and a time when it was believed the barrier between the spirit world and the physical world was thin. It gave people a chance to feel connected to their ancestors and celebrate life and death together.
In my search for inspiration for this month’s class, I happened upon many different articles about how it can be “ok” to celebrate Halloween from a biblical perspective. What I came to learn is that many people think of spirituality and religion as being one in the same. I personally believe these concepts to be completely different! Someone who is atheist for example can be a spiritual person, they just have a different sense of what it means to be spiritual and may not even call it spiritual. It can manifest simply as being a true sense of self, or a sense of morality. Maybe there is a better word out there for what I am describing, but I haven’t found one yet.
You may wonder what on earth the celebration of Halloween has to do with yoga. Absolutely nothing haha! But, if you embody the idea of connectedness to all things living and dead, it sounds a lot like a yogic practice to me. Far from a religious practice, this is meant to be a spiritual one. Whether you feel connected to a higher power, entity, or the universe, it is completely up to you.
In my practice I will be sharing with you this month, I intend to focus on this spirituality- whatever that may be for you. The connectedness we feel with the universe when everything else quiets down. In yoga, we are the embodiment of the universe, so in connecting with ourselves we are also connecting with something greater than ourselves. It is this connection that helps us maintain perspective when interacting with the world. Maybe it can even be seen as a source for morality. Whatever your perspective is, you do not need to be religious in any way to experience a spiritual connection. I hope you are able to join me in practice this month to foster some of that connection.
WEDNESDAY PM CLASS: October Spirit with Heather
OCT 2-30, 4pm Pacific/ 7pm Eastern
Spirituality can be defined as the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things. In yoga practice, we are the embodiment of the universe. In connecting with ourselves, we are also connecting with something greater and bigger than ourselves. Whether that be a higher power, entity, energy, or some other universal oneness- is up to you. Join me (Heather) this month for an opportunity to connect with yourself and your own spirituality, in whatever way you choose to define it.
Join us this month on the mat to explore and connect with your spirituality! If you’re already registered for CF Yogi, log in to the Member Portal to sign up for this months’ classes. If you haven’t joined us previously, complete a one-time signup here. It’s all FREE to the Cystic Fibrosis Community thanks to the support of the Boomer Esiason Foundation!