What Passover, Easter & Yoga all Have in Common

This year Easter is happening right in the middle of Passover. Not one to enjoy last minute shopping adventures right before the holidays, I did the grocery shopping this past weekend so we would be all set to go for all the holiday meals!

Image by Fusilli on Flickr 

As I looked in the cart to make sure I had everything before checking out, I couldn’t help a chuckle from escaping as I took in the Easter ham sitting next to the Passover matzoh, with the new Instant Yeast for making hot cross buns nestled under the parsley for the seder plate.

If it just came down to food, it would be easy to think that Passover and Easter have nothing in come…

Enter Yoga

It is often when wading into the waters of the Yogic Wisdom that I stumble upon the best insights.

This morning, as I was pondering what to do in yoga today, I decided it would be fun to do a passover themed yoga class.

For those of you that don’t know, in a nutshell, the Passover story is all about moving from from the narrow place – slavery in Egypt – into a place of freedom and expansion where we are no longer enslaved.

Now, not all yoga classes are easy to design, this one though: cake walk!! What could we think about from a yogic perspective about how we can move from constriction into freedom???

hmmmm:

• from tight muscles to flexible muscles
• from a mind that can’t be controlled to a peaceful mind that you can direct.
• from weakness (where you feel like you can’t do what you want)  to strength (where you have the freedom to move as you like)
• from shallow breathing to expansive breathing

… I could go on

Fast Forward

We had our passover themed yoga practice this morning. It was lovely. As we wrapped up class I told the students  that we would have an Easter themed class next week. I jokingly said we would lay down in savasana for the duration, and then we would get up and leave… get it…

One of the students sweetly shared that for her, Easter – as a spring holiday – is all about rebirth and renewal. Coming out of the winter, the holiday reminds her to take time to enjoy the new green sprouts, and the bird song, and dare I sum that up and say, to enjoy a sense of expansiveness after a time of contraction.