Welcome to this time of gentle movement, prayer, and readings of many Biblical scriptures to encourage you and help you overcome feelings of rejection or disappointment.

You can choose whether to experience this slow and gentle Christ-centered yoga practice from a chair or on your mat. Let these words wash over you as you work your muscles and breathe deeply and slowly. By the end of this 25-minute practice, you will feel better and assured of God's great love for you!

Begin with this prayer: Dear Lord, hear my prayer. Send your healing touch to me now. Help me feel your loving presence, and leave this practice today feeling assured that you are in control and have a better plan for me than I know. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Begin in Child's Pose or Seated Child's Pose. Listen to these words from 2 Corinthians 1, 3-4:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Experience this Breath Prayer: Deeply inhale this truth from God - God of all comfort. Exhale - take away my affliction.

As you move your spine through Cat and Cow Pose (from all fours or in your chair), listen to these words from Psalm 139:1-4:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

From Chair Pose or Seated Chair Pose, begin some dynamic "swooping" movements with your arms, moving them down, forward and up, and then returning to Chair Pose. Come to stillness and hold the pose as long as you are able as you listen to 1 John 4:7-10:

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.

Take a short break, then revolve to the right in Revolved Chair Pose and listen to Romans 8: 35, 37:

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?

No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

After another short break, go to Revolved Chair Pose to the left. Continue listening to Romans 8: verses 38 - 39:

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Next, move to Warrior 11 or Seated Warrior 11 for a few breaths, then straighten your front leg as you hinge from the waist and move into Triangle or Seated Triangle Pose. After a few breaths, rise back up and move to Warrior 11 or Seated Warrior 11 facing the other direction. You begin to feel more like a strong warrior as you listen to Romans 8:1 5 - 17:

You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to lead you back again into fear, but you received a Spirit that shows you are adopted as his children. With this Spirit, we cry, “Abba, Father.” The same Spirit agrees with our spirit, that we are God’s children. But if we are children, we are also heirs. We are God’s heirs and fellow heirs with Christ, if we really suffer with him so that we can also be glorified with him.

After moving to Triangle Pose and holding it a few breaths, transition to Half Pigeon Pose or Seated Pigeon Pose with your right ankle in front on the mat or over your left knee if seated. Breathe deeply and listen to 1 Corinthians 3: 16:

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

Change legs in Half Pigeon Pose or Seated Pigeon Pose. Listen to John 15: 11-15:

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Now we begin a relaxing cool-down. From your back on the mat, do some slow hip circles in one direction and then the other. From the chair, return both feet to the floor and do slow circles from the waist. Then return to stillness and move into the Final Relaxation Pose (Savasana), lying flat on the mat or seated comfortably back in your chair.

Here we listen to and ponder our final two scriptures. First, Matthew 11: 28-30:

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

And finally, Jeremiah 29: 11-12:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Let these words from God settle into your heart. You are never rejected by the One who matters most. Seek His approval by following Him, and let the cares of this world go. God loves you!