It’s a fresh new year, full of potential, full of promise.

For at least a decade, “more yoga” appeared on my new year’s list – but this was a fib, as it should have read, “any yoga.” A truly un-bendy body and flashbacks of mean girls from junior high made this entry more of an aspiration than a plan.

Finally, a wise teacher encouraged me to think of yoga not as a test but as a breathing exercise. Start with a single breath, she advised, no bending required. That single breath gives the space to begin.

I do love the fresh-notebook, clean-field-of-snow feeling that the new year brings, and the temptation is strong to fill all the pages, to cut a new path. In a time where some of our options are narrowed, this pull to action is even more powerful than usual.

Friends, this is indeed a time for action. It’s a time for progress and productivity and focus.

It’s also a time for healing and kindness and prayer.

Here, on the edge of the new year, blank notebook and open field before us, let’s pause before plunging in. We don’t have to skip straight to advanced backbends.

Let’s stretch our arms to the sky.

Take a breath.

Exhale.