Stretching

It’s been a full two weeks since the start of Lent, and I find that I’ve settled into a more fluid existence, an ease that at first felt foreign, disconcerting, but is now welcomed and embraced. As many of you know, I’ve given up extraneous social media for Lent – Twitter, Facebook, blog hopping, commenting, stat tracking. And while initially this fast felt stifling, terrifying even, it’s now shifted into a period of liberation, peace and rest. A letting go. And an opening up.

Fresh space widens, allowing me choices I didn’t think I had time to make before. Shall I read a magazine? Watch Scooby Doo and snuggle with the kids on the couch? Glimpse sparrows vie for space at the feeder while the sun rises lavender? Coat a dingy, banged up basement wall clean with vibrant yellow? Bake an extra loaf of banana bread?

A couple of nights ago Brad and I even tried yoga. We’ve been talking about doing this for months; I’d even bought a beginner’s DVD at Target, which sat on top of the player collecting dust for six weeks before I even unsheathed it from its plastic casing.

Let me just say, for the record, that Brad and I could easily take first in the Most Flexibly Challenged Couple Contest. So rather than an exercise in deep breathing, stretching and chi, our yoga routine was punctuated by grunting, wavering, shaky poses, occasional tumbling, labored snorting and sidesplitting laughter. Our hands dangled knee-high as we reached for our toes, one eye on the TV as the instructor placed both hands, palms down, flat on her mat. At one point I looked over at Brad and asked, “Is that seriously a stretch, because honestly it looks like you’re just standing there.”

Yes, this is me...in the unrecognizable triangle pose. Notice how there is absolutely nothing triangular about it.

Suffice to say, it wasn’t a typical yoga experience, but that didn’t matter much. It was something different. And it was time well-spent with my husband.

So it seems yoga might be an apt metaphor after all. Perhaps these six Lenten weeks encourage just that – a stretching of sorts, a limbering and loosening. A letting go. An opening up.

How’s Lent going for you? Are you discovering anything new or unexpected? If you've given up something, is it getting any easier?