In our house, the room we use for occasional prayer services is also the room I use to host my weekly yoga class. I am always telling people how remarkably similar prayer and yoga are, as I feel just as connected to G-d during my yoga class as I do during prayer, sometimes more if we’re being honest.
So this past week, as our yoga teacher eased us into shivasana, she also told us that another name for shivasana is corpe pose, which got me thinking about another similarity between yoga and prayer.
In davening (the Yiddish word for prayer), in the silent Amiddah which is considered a silent supplication between us and G-d, we mention that G-d is “Mechaye Maseem” – or translated – He revives the dead.
Each night, as Jews, we believe that our soul goes back temporarily to our Creator when we sleep, and each morning, when we awaken, the first words we are to utter are to thank G-d for returning our souls to us that we may experience another day.
In yoga, we acknowledge the same concept through corpse pose. When the yoga practice is over, we rest, almost as if to say we are surrendering our soul to a higher being. But when we come out of it, we know that we are blessed by G-d that every single day, we have the opportunity to begin again. Every action we do during our day is a blessing from G-d. We are here. We are alive. Just breathing is a miracle.
As I think about all the people I’ve known that have died tragically this past year, I am acutely reminded of this fact. I don’t need to do anything other people consider special to be a walking miracle. I am a miracle just by existing, God’s miracle. My rabbinical brother often likes to quote Rebbe Nachman when he says that the day you were born is the day God realized the world couldn’t exist without you in it.
Every day I am here is an affirmation of that fact.
I’m currently watching Season 3 of Ted Lasso, and his speech in the 5th episode is another similar affirmation.
“You know what I want to mess with? The belief that I matter, you know? Regardless what I do or don’t achieve. Or the belief that we all deserve to be loved, whether we’ve been hurt or maybe we’ve been hurt someone else. Or what about the belief of hope? That’s what I wanna mess with. Believing that things can get better. That I can get better. To believe in yourself. To believe in one another. That’s fundamental to being alive. If you can do that, if each of you can truly do that, can’t nobody rip that apart.”
Self-worth isn’t dependent on what others think of us. God wanted us here, as evidenced by the fact that we woke up this morning. We are breathing. God revived us. You, and me, and everyone else walking around today. Treat them like the miracle they are. Treat yourself like the miracle you are. And never forget it.