In Shul in the other day I started thinking how Shivasana (the final pose in each yoga session) is so similar to Shabbat. I believe the concept of Shabbat was created first...but that's beside the point...
In many of my yoga classes the teachers explain that Shivasana is the most important pose in all of yoga. In order for your body to synthesize all of the work it has done, all the energy expended (and moved around to different places in your body), all the glands that were stimulated and all the thoughts that may have come up during the yoga session, you must allow yourself the time to lay still. All thoughts that arise now you must let fly away, as if they were in a bubble floating in the summer air. You try and let your body melt into the ground as your muscles take a much-needed break from the work you have imposed upon them. Without this rest your body cannot recover and strengthen as a result of your hard work.
This has so many parallels to the Sabbath, in my mind. And while I am not Shomer-Shabbat at this point in my life, I appreciate the potential lessons within this weekly experience. Over the years I have met people who chose to keep the Sabbath and reported that it provided a welcome break from the fast pace of life. It was not experienced as a burden, or a denial, but rather a time to collect oneself. To remember what life is about, why we work, what we are working for.
Of course, we can't be so spiritually aloft each week. However, the routine break that is built into our week was not put there for random reasons. Last week's Torah portion talks about remembering how God created the earth in 7 days, or that we were once slaves in Egypt and now we are free (to not work). However, I think that the concept of the Sabbath, a day of real rest, has a larger purpose for the human psyche. As life gets faster and more complicated (which is inevitable for us, I think) we need an imposed break. If we don't fight it, and instead we appreciate it, we may come to a real place of weekly peace. Or at least I'd like to think this is possible.
