A sacred stretch

I couple of months ago Runners World had an article on yoga stretches for runners. So I tried it and I found that I felt more loose as I went out to run than when I stretched with traditional stretches. I really like the practice of Yoga for what it does in my head as much as what it does for my body.

I started mixing the spiritual practice of Lectio Divina with my stretching and it has been good. Lectio Divina is Latin for “sacred reading”… lectio – a reading or to read and divina – or divine (of God). The practice is where one reads the Scriptures until they “spoken to” and then meditate and pray based on that particular section. The yoga poses really help me to focus on the meditation and prayer portion of Lectio Divina.

Lately my legs have hurt in a couple of places and I think it is because I am not getting enough of a stretch in those muscles. I will have to go back to regular stretching to see if my pain works itself out. I won’t abandon the yoga. I think I will just do some traditional stretching afterwards.