writer’s conference where this introvert will be in a crowd of new people learning about the craft and industry of writing.  My husband has a conference of his own at which he will be presenting.  The kids?  Oh, we’re putting some extra food out in the dog bowl for them.  Just kidding.  Thank God for grandparents who pitch in. Needless to say the stress level has been high around here for the past few days.  Yesterday I woke up in a mild panic about going to my first ever writer’s conference.  I felt totally unprepared and instantly came up with a list a mile long of things I needed to do in order to get ready.  The good news and bad news was I had to teach yoga classes all morning long.  At first I was frustrated at what I perceived to be a delay in getting things done in my day.

Then I realized that stopping to breathe and get my bearings might be the best thing I could do at the front end of a busy few days.

Yoga for me is not so much about exercise as it is a chance to slow down and connect with myself and The One who gives me breath.  In that way it feels a lot like prayer.  It made me remembered this quote by the great Martin Luther. At first it seems counter-intuitive to loose precious time from productivity by beginning your day with prayer or meditation.  However, beginning my day by praying over all that was to come in the midst of my yoga classes helped me quell the panic and focus on each task at hand.  (Yes, there were still a couple of meltdowns, but hey, I bounced back quick).  There’s actually a lot of pretty cool scientific research on the effects of mediation and prayer on our brains.  If your day is less busy than mine, Google it and check it out 🙂 So I wish you all a great weekend.  And if yours is as busy as ours is, don’t forget to lead off with some prayer.]]>