Freedom, Gratitude, Rebellion, and Yoga

This week in yoga our teacher has been playing Imagine by the Beatles at the beginning of class and talking about freedom and gratitude for the freedoms we have and connecting it to the freedom of movement in our bodies and freedom to choose different options in poses and listening to our bodies as we do yoga. She is doing this in conjunction with the 4th of July, obviously, and has told some interesting stories about other countries.

It connected with me from something that happened on the 4th of July with someone on Khris's Facebook who always challenges him on any posts he shares about racial injustice. I don't think the guy necessarily has ill intentions, but he told Khris he should put away racism for one day and be grateful for the freedoms that he does have.

When I heard my yoga teacher talking about gratitude for the freedoms we have today in class, it struck me funny for a second, but it was different coming from her.

It was different in a few ways. First of all, she was including herself. She wasn't telling us to be grateful as if she was more important than us and as if we should just shut up and not bother her.

She was kind. She was helping us to be kind to ourselves. She wasn't telling us to suck it up; she was telling us to be compassionate and she was compassionate.

And the thing that struck me the hardest was when she said this: what will be your freedom today? How will you express your freedom? How will you be grateful for your freedom? What will be your rebellion?

She included rebellion as freedom! We are free to rebel.

Today I am grateful for my body and the freedom I have to move it. How moving helps me rebel against my pain. I rebel against the slide toward negativity and misunderstanding. Toward living in the past or the future. I am grateful for the now. I am grateful for the lessons the universe presents to me if I pay attention.

P.S. I came across this article on a yoga/buddhist Twitter page this evening that goes well with this post. It talks about freedom and the song Imagine.