Is it ok for Christians to do Yoga and Meditation?

There are some MAJOR misconceptions in Christianity about practicing Yoga and in this episode, we're going to address them all.

Far too many Christians are being held back from being as physically fit as God would have them to be and our hope is to set as many free as possible!

We're going also explore ways you can actually strengthen your faith in God, through strengthening your body for God.


Sherrell is a holistic Wellness Educator and the Founder of MindBody FAITH (MBF).  A Christ-centered wellness ministry that offers health and wellness education and an online community where believers are supported in cultivating wellness practices that promote good stewardship of the Body, Soul, and Spirit.

Connect w/ Sherrell

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sherrellmooretucker/
YouTube:  www.youtube.com/@UC0-eqDUlMAy8LW4zQ6SWrzw
Website:  https://www.sherrellmooretucker.com/

In this conversation, Treveal C.W. Lynch interviews Sherrell Moore-Tucker, a holistic wellness educator and founder of Body Faith, a Christ-centered wellness ministry. 

They discuss the concept of utilizing the body to get closer to God and the benefits of incorporating spirituality into fitness and wellness practices. 

Sherrell emphasizes the importance of stewardship of the body and how movement and holistic practices can be used to honor God. They also address the topic of Christians practicing yoga and the misconceptions surrounding it. 

In this conversation, Sherrell discusses the different types of yoga and how it can be beneficial for healing and finding connection in the mind and body. She addresses the misconceptions and fears surrounding yoga in the Christian community, emphasizing that yoga is a movement practice that can be customized and used for God's glory. 

Sherrell also highlights the importance of stillness and silence in our lives, allowing us to slow down, reflect, and connect with God. She encourages listeners to let Jesus be Lord over every area of their lives, including their health and wellness.

Takeaways

Utilizing the body can be a way to get closer to God and deepen one's relationship with Him.

Stewardship of the body is important and involves taking care of it physically, mentally, and spiritually.

The practice of yoga can be beneficial for physical health and can be incorporated into a Christian's wellness journey.

There are misconceptions and misunderstandings about Christians practicing yoga, but it can be approached in a way that aligns with one's faith.

The power of the Holy Spirit can help individuals make positive changes in their health and wellness journey. Yoga can be beneficial for healing and finding connection in the mind and body.

There are different types of yoga that cater to various needs and goals.

Misconceptions and fears surrounding yoga in the Christian community can be addressed by understanding that yoga is a movement practice that can be customized and used for God's glory.

Stillness and silence are important for reflection, healing, and connecting with God.

Letting Jesus be Lord over every area of our lives, including our health and wellness, is essential.

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Transcript

Treveal C.W. Lynch (00:01.212)
Guys, what is going on? What is good? What is happening? You know what time it is. You know where you is. yes, yes. It is that time, it is that place. Once again, welcome into the I Am The Possible podcast experience. Yes, this is the place where

possibilities become perspective. Guys, welcome once again into the I Am The Possible universe. Welcome once again into the I Am The Possible podcast experience. Thank you so, so much for rocking with me once again. We are in season seven, guys, and I am so, so excited as I always am. But this season, we got some heavy hitters. This season,

I don't want to disrespect past guests, but there's something special about this season, okay? This season is an eye -opener. This one's gonna hit you hard. This one's gonna open some eyes. This season is gonna introduce some people and some ideas that are gonna challenge, and that's what I'm all about right now, challenging the norm, challenging the customs, challenging the traditions, challenging...

all of the things that we just buy into and just subscribe to without a lot of research, without a lot of awareness. So listen, I don't want to take up a whole bunch of time talking about what we're going to do this season. What I will say this season is I had the pleasure and the honor of interviewing some amazing individuals.

that are on some amazing missions, doing some amazing work in the world. And I am so honored and privileged to introduce them to you. Maybe you've already heard of them, maybe you already know about them, but it's my opportunity to highlight them and to showcase them and to spotlight them. And I am so, blessed by this ability to do so. Guys, today I want to introduce you to someone

Treveal C.W. Lynch (02:25.126)
who I found on YouTube and her story just absolutely captivated me. One video just, it grabbed me, it pulled me in and it met me where I was. And so I won't let the cat out the bag, so to speak. But I just want you to know that sometimes, you know, when we're putting things out into the world, you just never know who's gonna come across it, when they're gonna come across it.

and how it's gonna speak to them, how it's gonna move them, motivate them, inspire them. So if you are a creative, if you are someone who's putting out a service, a product, content, if you're someone who's putting something out for public consumption and you're doing it in the honor of God, in the love of God, for the glory of God, I wanna encourage you to continue to do so because it's going to hit home at the right time.

with the right people. Guys, I didn't, I didn't as I always like to do. I didn't start off by telling you how much I appreciate you. So before I go into her bio and segue into her episode, let me pause for the calls. Let me say thank you. Thank you so much for every email, for every text message, for every download, for every share, for every like, for every interaction. Thank you so much. Thank you for every subscription for those of you who are watching.

on the tube and you should be watching on the tube. If you're not already subscribed to my YouTube channel, please go there and subscribe there as well. But I just want to, you know, express my gratitude and my thanksgiving for you because you're the reason I do what I do. The hope that I might share something or someone that might inspire the improvement of your life, that might spark something within you. It is that hope that continues to be my fuel and my food.

for this journey. So thank you so much for just being who you are. So let's get into this. I'm gonna put my glasses on so I can read this bio. my goodness, what a wonderful individual she is and a powerful story and a powerful ministry. She is Sherelle Moore Tucker. Sherelle is a holistic wellness educator and the founder of Mind.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (04:50.202)
Body Faith, a Christian or I should say a Christ -centered wellness ministry that offers health and wellness education and an online community where believers are supported in cultivating wellness practices that promote good stewardship of the body, soul, and the spirit. As always guys, all of her contact information is down below in the

in the description field if you're watching on YouTube or in the show notes. If you're just listening via some podcast platform, she is an amazing person. I had a wonderful time speaking with her. You guys know I don't do interviews. I have conversations. I had a wonderful conversation with her and I can't wait for you to lean into that conversation, to draw from that conversation and grow in your awareness.

and your ability to be everything that God has called you to be. Enjoy this episode. God bless you.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (00:01.534)
All right, well, let's just jump right into it. Let's just jump right into you. First of all, thank you so, so much for blessing this platform with your presence, who you are, what you are, what you're doing. I've been looking forward to this episode so, so much because I believe that you have so much to offer and so much grace and love and compassion to provide people. And I just know that this world and my listeners, the audience,

really needs so much more of that. We can never have enough of that. So let's just get into you, who you are, where you're from, what you're up to in the world, and then we can flow. We can flow from there.

Sherrell (00:45.09)
Wow, how do I follow that up? Such a beautiful introduction and kind words. I really do appreciate it. I don't take things like that lightly. So I guess a little bit about me. I am originally from Georgia. I'm officially, I guess, a Washingtonian now. And...

I've been in the wellness space, oh gosh, for maybe almost 15 years or so. But when I think about my journey here, it all makes, it is starting to make a lot more sense. So I've always been a person drawn to movement, music, things where you use your body and your senses. I went to a performing arts school. I practiced ballet for a number of years, ran track. And just, that really is,

the foundation of my life and I really enjoy it. And I'm also a believer. I believe in Jesus Christ and I've been able to work in the wellness space and not just focus on the body but also focus on helping people to have a better connection with their mind and their spirit and how different types of holistic practices can be used to help people

Sherrell (02:01.276)
and themselves. So I guess that's a little bit about me the short version.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (02:05.598)
Yeah, that is awesome. I love meeting people and having conversations about things. I have like little to no idea or concept because I get to discover something. I get to help others even as I'm being helped to unpack something that hasn't been unpacked. And so I'm excited about hearing first off, cause I got a few questions. I don't normally prepare a lot of questions,

Your story and what you do is so interesting. I had to get a couple of questions because I didn't want to forget certain things that I did want to ask. But can we kick it off by explaining, you talked about the body and spirituality, the body and connecting to God. I've never used, at least to my knowledge, my body to get closer to God, or even understood how that even works together. For me, it's always been

We pray, we talk, we think, we meditate. But can you open that up for us? Can you break that down a little bit for us in terms of what does it mean to utilize our body to get closer to God, and maybe what are some of those benefits?

Sherrell (03:23.526)
It's a topic that many people may not talk about directly, but it's maybe more indirect and you know some of the different holistic practices and what not, but as a believer I think there's a very direct and clear connection when it comes to deepening your roots in Christ and your relationship and using your body. And I'll use the first umbrella stewardship. You know God has given us

Treveal C.W. Lynch (03:47.479)
Yeah.

Sherrell (03:52.88)
to take care of our body with good stewardship. That doesn't only include eating, which fitness and wellness can focus a lot on, feeding our bodies in a way that is glorifying and honoring of God, but also in the way that we move, the way that we work, the way that we use our hands. But we can also use our body as a prayer, using our body to kneel. Different movements can be used as showing humility

mission to God. You can see that through various forms of movement modalities, including different exercise practices. It's more so about the intention. So if your intention is just to lose weight or to get fit, you may not directly see those connections. But if you have a desire to include God in all that you do, you will be able to better see those connections in the way that

Treveal C.W. Lynch (04:47.351)
Yeah.

Sherrell (04:52.88)
man you work as honoring God no matter how bad your boss is. And when you move, when you're doing you know even something as simple as maybe jumping jacks or planks all of that can be honoring to God and we are able to reap the benefit in the physical sense by becoming stronger, more flexible, gaining more endurance. All of those things that are crucial to us being able to walk

Treveal C.W. Lynch (04:58.019)
Right.

Sherrell (05:22.7)
reason. It's great to be in these spiritual places but we are spirit but we also have a body that we have to take care of. And so that's the way that I look at movement and drawing closer to God and being able to honor God through proper care of our body.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (05:26.403)
Yeah.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (05:43.23)
Yeah, I've never, that is so, it's so interesting, but yet it's so, it makes sense. Like it makes sense to not leave the body out. And I don't know, and maybe that's just a question. Do you find that a lot of people, or people that you work with, people that you minister to, people that watch you on YouTube, maybe comments or questions, do you find that people,

struggle with the concept of utilizing their body truly as a temple and truly to submit their body sort of in a world of, you know, and this is very typical stuff, fast food or Starbucks or I eat what I want to eat. I drink what I want to drink. I want to party. I want to do like, do people express a struggle with that or like once you break it down, once you minister it, it's like, oh, got it. Makes sense. My body is the temple. Let's go. What's been your experience with that?

Sherrell (06:44.829)
I think that on a conscious level, all of us as believers understand that our body is a temple. I think we understand that, but it doesn't...

Treveal C.W. Lynch (06:51.303)
Yep.

Sherrell (06:54.858)
really seek down into the subconscious. And so, you know, there's a scripture that says, be not conformed to this world. And so when it comes to fitness and wellness, what I find is that even with well intentions, believers will, you know, find a well qualified fitness or wellness professional to help them lose weight, eat better, maybe deal with chronic pain and other ailments where that person may not necessarily,

be to incorporate the spiritual aspect which holistic practitioners tend to deal with the body the soul and the spirit so I think that we all know it but to allow stewardship and really understanding the body and all that is designed to do that's not just self-serving not for us to be in a size six and to have a certain dress size

Treveal C.W. Lynch (07:51.443)
Mm-hmm.

Sherrell (07:54.712)
or to look a certain way. But I think that it takes a mind shift. So it's great to start kind of on the surface of I wanna feel better, I wanna look better. But you can notice that what I said was I, I. And like I said, it goes back to the self-serving. So I think that overall, you know, sometimes the fitness and wellness industry, it really just deals with what's directly in front of them

Treveal C.W. Lynch (08:11.507)
Wow.

Sherrell (08:24.672)
heart. And so what I try to do when I share movement meditation practices is always bring it back to the Word of God so that it supersedes people's initial goals of I want to look great, I don't want to deal with chronic pain, I want to get more flexible. All those things are great but the end result can't be I just want it just to want it or to flex or to just look great.

God wants us to be healthy. God wants us to be mobile. God wants us to be able to move and breathe with more ease so that we will be a usable vessel to walk out the purpose and the assignments that he has for us. That's the reason. And I love this term that I actually heard my pastor mention was, you know, whatever your natural weight is. I know that everyone has certain weight goals, but I believe he was so right in saying this.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (09:07.682)
I love that.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (09:11.598)
Whoo!

Sherrell (09:24.532)
has a natural weight and sometimes when it comes to focusing on one particular thing like nutrition and food or cardio or weightlifting we can leave out other things that has spiritual connotations to them. Let me give you an example. So when people think about losing weight they automatically think about more exercise, better food choices which are great but also consider this

Treveal C.W. Lynch (09:43.511)
Alright.

Sherrell (09:54.352)
spiritual weight burdens Being able to have a good sleep routine Being able to declutter your house those spiritual connotations that also add to your weight The emotional components related to that so losing weight is not just physical Losing weight is also spiritual and they both

They both are intertwined within each other. That's the way that God created us. I can't really explain it all because, you know, his thoughts are higher than my thoughts, the way that he created us. But many times what we do in the physical has an impact on the emotional, the psychological, the spiritual, and the spiritual in turn has an effect on how you move, how you think. They both are intertwined. So when you leave out one, it's not really whole health or true health.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (10:24.012)
Mm-hmm.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (10:28.822)
Yeah.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (10:34.946)
Yes.

Sherrell (10:49.2)
health.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (10:52.662)
I've never heard it broken down so, I mean, it was elegant. It was almost poetic. I mean, the way that he just laid that out through you. I mean, because yeah, his thoughts are higher than ours. Wow, I've never, yeah. I mean, even because, okay, I'm being honest with you. I'm being a little convicted right now because

Sherrell (11:20.594)
Okay, I am too even though I'm sharing it

Treveal C.W. Lynch (11:21.81)
I'm a, yeah, cause like, I've got knowledge, right? I'm a two-time certified personal trainer. So I've gone through the certification twice over. I've got additional certifications. And in my younger years, right? I was, I mean, I was on it, but I was on it to the points that you were making earlier. Six pack abs, wanted to look good for my wife, big chest, big arms.

flexing in the mirror, taking pictures of myself, sending it to my wife. You know, it was all me, man. It was all vanity. It was. But I would justify it with, you know, again, like, yo, man, my body is the temple of the Lord. I wanna be healthy. And I would always go to, I wanna live as long as the Lord would have me to. Like, I don't wanna cut my life short because of my own foolishness. So that was my justification. But underneath it, it was vanity. Fast forward.

Sherrell (12:06.818)
Right.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (12:16.034)
The reason I'm convicted is listening to you is that now at 46, I've taken on an excuse of well, my body doesn't bounce back as fast. So that's why I'm carrying this extra whatever, 20 pounds, 30 pounds, right? Because right now, current, like real time, I'm not at the weight that I want to be or probably should be. But I started to take on that idea of well.

Sherrell (12:41.666)
Mm-hmm.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (12:46.654)
The things I used to do in the gym aren't helping me to bounce back as fast. So maybe I shouldn't worry about the temple as much. Maybe I shouldn't worry about it all that much because hey, after all, I fought it for as long as I could. I fought brothers. Brothers would tell me, man, when you hit 40, boy, when you hit 40. And I was like, man, I ain't trying to hear that. I've seen 75 year olds run marathons. I said, man, I ain't never slowing down. And now I've gotten to that point where at 46.

Sherrell (12:55.394)
Hmm

Treveal C.W. Lynch (13:15.846)
I know, and I have to be honest with myself after listening to you, I've made that excuse of, well, maybe I don't need to take care of my body as much because things aren't bouncing back as fast, I'm not dropping the weight as fast, I'm not able to eat whatever I want to eat and just hit the gym hard for a couple of days and I can see my abs again. And so now listening to what you're saying is like, there has to be a level.

and you let me know what you think of this, that there still has to be a level of, and I love that word that you used, stewardship, that I abide in and I uphold and I respect as it relates to my body. Even as I get older, maybe I won't have a six pack ab again, but I think I'm supposed to do something more than what I'm doing. What do you think about that?

Sherrell (14:04.766)
Yeah. Right.

Yeah, I think that the standards of society don't allow for health to progress as we get older. And so I use this term, it's actually a term that I use in my mentoring coaching program called True Health. And I think that God's word provides us with the truth and provides us with so many health elements that we can take from birth to the day that we leave this earth.

health in just society, it has a certain look and a certain feel. Almost as if you want to dissuade people from getting older, but that is part of our life. That's part of human nature. And so getting older doesn't necessarily mean that you're not healthy. You mentioned that, you know, you may never have six-pack abs again, and that could very well be possible. But when it comes to true health, it's about taking care of what you have in the season that

is giving you and you can do that all the way to your deathbed. I don't want to be morbid but I've seen people begin to transition and leave the physical body with what I call true health because as the physical body begins to fade and God is calling you home that spiritual health is what is able to lead you to a clean death meaning that there is peace there is

regret there is a sense of assurity that I know I'm going home now

Sherrell (15:46.642)
And so I watched this, I also volunteer for hospice and we get so much good training about the process of death and how the spirit is in those final stages, the journey to leave the body and go home. So trying to force someone to eat and all these different things to keep the body alive is not suggested. Allow the body to, allow the spirit to leave the body. And that is all part, in my view,

of true health because it's the way that God designed us. After the fall, death was introduced. And so we have a birthday and we have a death day. But health can

can be a part of your entire journey. I think that the physical part of ourselves, we can keep healthy and strong as we get older, doing it a different way, but also not being in a position where you don't pay attention to your spirit man. How sad it is for someone to be so physically fit, good heart, great lungs, look the part and be miserable on their deathbed

Treveal C.W. Lynch (16:39.501)
Yeah.

Sherrell (17:01.17)
is not healthy because they have no assurity of what their life's journey even meant. That all is a part of health.

And that's just something that we talk about in different segments, but we don't put it all together. Like we go to the fitness people to deal with the physical, then we go to church and we get the spiritual, then we may go to a therapist or a psychologist for the emotional and the mental, but sometimes all these pieces are floating around, but we don't understand how it all comes together under the umbrella of stewardship and health. And that's what I'm a proponent of.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (17:14.79)
Mm-hmm. No.

Yep.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (17:26.795)
Yeah.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (17:40.066)
Wow. That's, you know, that you're taking stewardship just to such a greater level and depth. I guess you can go high and low at the same time, but level of, yeah, because, you know, I came up in the church, the only time that we spoke about stewardship was finances.

Sherrell (18:00.95)
My nape says, yeah, that's typical, yeah.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (18:03.154)
Stewardship is money. Stewardship is what do you do with your time, talent, and treasures, as we like to say, our three little T's, but stewardship doesn't always reflect the physical body. I know that there was a point in time where, you know, I was guilty of, you know, judging a lot of the pastors that I would see, I mean, even being a pastor, but.

maybe I would go to like a conference or something like that, and I would see the size of a lot of the ministers. And I would say to myself, man, y'all just got these big bellies and y'all just kind of letting yourself go. You know, when it's time to go out to dinner, no one's health conscious. It's just like, we going out to wherever, or when it's time to do like a church function, we're eating the worst things possible. And so I'm just sharing those things as a reality to say that I don't think that there's enough awareness.

Sherrell (18:36.574)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Sherrell (18:41.55)
Mm-hmm.

Sherrell (18:53.111)
Yeah.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (18:59.558)
around holistic stewardship. I mean, listening to what you're saying, you're introducing me at least, and I know to the listeners, a whole new world and just a whole new paradigm, a whole new perspective even on our faith and how that could be a missing component. Do you find that many people, when you begin to work with them and share these things, do you see a lot of aha moments? Do you see a lot of light bulbs coming on? Do you see a lot of, man, I never thought about that.

Or do people tend to, I guess my biggest question is, do people embrace it and lean in? Or do people give you resistance when you start to share these things?

Sherrell (19:43.958)
A little bit of both because for some people it can seem very foreign and it depends on your bin or your lean. So let's say I am 48. I'll just put my age out there. So I'll say early on maybe in my 20s had someone come to me sharing what I'm sharing with you, I wouldn't have gotten it. I wasn't ready. Remember God gives knowledge and understanding when we're ready sometimes. And I wasn't ready. I was very vain.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (19:54.686)
Okay.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (20:02.294)
Yeah. Oh.

Sherrell (20:13.712)
20s so it was all about physical the way I looked. My definition of being healthy was the outer appearance and with age for some not all comes wisdom and so as I grew in my faith and also a better understanding of health it's taken me all these years to get to this point to better understand the connections between the physical and the immaterial the things that you don't see

Treveal C.W. Lynch (20:21.419)
Yeah.

Sherrell (20:43.492)
how they both impact each other and that that's the way that God designed it. And when you miss one component, it doesn't mean that you're not necessarily healthy. It just means that God has so much more. And I think for us as believers, you know, and I'll just speak, you know, from my own experience when we talk about God, His Spirit living within us, the Holy Spirit, we think about Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit in...

circumstances in life, maybe it's issues with your work or your family and prayers, but do we also remember that Holy Spirit has the power to change our palette, to help us to be motivated as we're trying to make better health decisions? I'll give you a prime example. It's probably been maybe more than maybe eight, nine years that I really wanted to kind of stop drinking milk. I was

Treveal C.W. Lynch (21:43.574)
Okay.

Sherrell (21:44.232)
just straight up whole milk. And I ended up seeing a documentary about humans are the only mammals that drink another mammal's milk. And it did something to me. And I think the Holy Spirit, I didn't even have to wing myself off of it. And you talked to a lot of people in the faith that say that they had some type of stronghold or thing in their life they wanted to let go. And all of a sudden, God just, Holy Spirit just came in and boom, it was over.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (21:54.21)
Yes.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (22:03.99)
Hmm.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (22:10.05)
Yeah.

Sherrell (22:13.292)
day, the taste was gone. I think sometimes we underestimate the power of Holy Spirit in our health journey.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (22:14.094)
Yep. Gone.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (22:21.676)
Yep.

Sherrell (22:22.47)
invite Holy Spirit in. I pray all the time, Lord give me your desires even when it comes to food, even when it comes to places. Change my desires, change my palette, change the things I desire and taste for and that plays a part even in your health and Holy Spirit has the power to do it and it shows up in different ways for different people. Now I'm not telling everybody just pray to the Holy Spirit, make me strong. You got to do your

Treveal C.W. Lynch (22:24.493)
Mm.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (22:36.04)
Mmm.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (22:44.982)
Yes.

Yeah, yeah. Right, right.

Sherrell (22:52.344)
too. Boom, you got to do your part. But include God in every part of your life, even when you are sick, even when you are struggling with something. Holy Spirit can, has the power to change things, even that we are struggling with physically.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (22:53.238)
Right, right, right. Ha ha ha.

Hehehe

Treveal C.W. Lynch (23:13.654)
That is so true. It's like we lean in on him for all types of stuff, deliverance from addictions and life threatening behaviors and emergencies obviously. But yeah, like change my palette. I've never heard that before. Just like...

Sherrell (23:31.298)
Yeah, change my, you know, if you are strolling on social media and entertainment and social media is taking up your time where you could be working out or stretching. Lord, give me the desires that support stewardship of my body. Remove the lust of entertainment from my heart. Remove it. Take it out. And I tell you, it's amazing when Holy Spirit works in your life and you see it for yourself because you don't know how it happened. All of a sudden that taste, that desire is gone.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (23:57.645)
Yes.

Sherrell (24:01.772)
It's just gone and your willpower didn't do it. Your willpower didn't do it. Holy Spirit did it. So invite Holy Spirit into those, even those daily struggles with sugar, with carbs, with whatever is not bringing life to your body.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (24:06.267)
No.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (24:09.784)
Yes.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (24:19.658)
Yes, my goodness, yes, yes. If you are listening, this is one of the moments I just kind of take a moment. If you're listening, if you're watching, invite Holy Spirit. I mean, that's, you know, I was having a conversation just yesterday about getting back to the simplicity of Christianity, the simplicity of our salvation. We can't forget the power that is available to us.

Sherrell (24:23.115)
I'm gonna go.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (24:46.518)
Like it's readily available, it's accessible. The Spirit of God is accessible at any moment, in any situation, pertaining to any aspect of our lives, including our physical health. And so I just wanted to pause for a moment and to just speak directly at the camera, those who are watching, those who are listening, you can be empowered by a power that is available called the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. And He wants to help us.

and we can start to take advantage in new ways to really elevate our just overall life experience. So just wanted to encourage you guys in that. One of the things that I cannot let too much time go by without getting into, because this is what drew me to you. This is how I discovered you and how I found you.

Sherrell (25:43.946)
Yes.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (25:44.106)
and you're already unpacking some barriers, some things you start messing with, you start poking at areas of like, we'll go to church and we might preach on a topic and yep, I'm in alignment, let's get it. Yep, I hear that, amen, amen. But then you get on someone's area, that sensitive spot, and it's like, oh no, let's not talk about health, because I wanna reserve that for whatever I wanna do is my body, I'ma do it.

So we're already starting to kind of tap on some of those areas that may be uncomfortable. And I know again, I'm convicted. So I'm going back to my prayer closet after this episode with some, with some, with some new found clarity and awareness and a new ask, because I know that there's areas in my life where I have not been in control physically. And you've reminded me, I got a spirit that is right there.

that is able to take certain things away and able to help me to overcome certain things that may not be so apparent, that may be keeping me from the life experience that I desire and that he desires for me. So with that in mind, I discovered you and found you on a, and I wrote it down so I would not forget it because I wanted to quote it. Why I stopped.

practicing yoga. We haven't talked about yoga specifically yet, but I do definitely wanna get into that because I ain't gonna lie, selfishly, as I get older, the body ain't. Now, I do like two or three certain stretches every day, and when I was starting to get into yoga, I watched a bunch of videos, and so I just remember like five or six specific stretches that I just do anyway.

So I'm real good at those, but if you take my body and say, well, let's bend it this way, or let's do this one, your boy ain't there yet. So I got certain ones down pat, just because I've been doing them forever, but then certain ones I can't really do. So I do definitely wanna just get into the overall benefit of yoga and just have you share more about just the benefits of yoga in general. But the video, why I stopped practicing yoga, and it just drew me in.

Sherrell (27:44.47)
Thank you.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (28:10.354)
it drew me in because a part of my work and a part of my ministry is to help us as Christians break through some of these dogmatic, some of these, I don't know, just over-judgmental, over-critical, over-religious, rigid, rugged barriers in life or as it pertains to our faith. And so I won't go into...

a lot of what I saw, but rather have you just share, because it's such an interesting title. And I do recommend that if any of you guys are listening and watching to please go to YouTube and look up Sherelle Moore Tucker. And the video again is why I stopped practicing yoga. You will absolutely love it. She was so transparent, so human, so down to earth. And really that's what just drew me into the video. So.

Can you just share your experience, your journey, your takeaways of this whole idea of Christians and the world or the practice of yoga and what it means to you today?

Sherrell (29:25.618)
Oh, that's such a loaded question. So I would like to first say that for those that have taken up the practice of yoga, whether it was at an ashram or a traditional studio, and I'm talking to people specifically in the United States, because it's different country to country. But for those people that took up the practice and may have found themselves

Sherrell (29:56.232)
I'm here to say that I'm sorry that happened to you and I know that is a true story for a lot of people that have been drawn away from the faith through a physical practice which has philosophy attached to it in a belief system. And some people end up going down this rabbit hole not knowing that they're going to the rabbit hole and finding themselves very far from God. So I just want to acknowledge that first and foremost. And then the video that you

Sherrell (30:26.232)
It was kind of my way of being sarcastic. I remember when I recorded the video I really was just being sarcastic thinking that no one's gonna watch this, but I just wanted to kind of get it off of my chest so my story of how I began practicing yoga specifically the physical stretching postures was because I served in the United States Army and upon my Discharge I was dealing with a lot of chronic pain

one being osteoarthritis and at the time where I was stationed they had free yoga classes on base and my doctor actually recommended it and I said well isn't that like kind of slow you know I'm trying to trying to get back to running and doing you know my high impact stuff and he said well there's a benefit to like the stretching and the breathing so you know definitely you know check it out it was free I checked it out and to be honest I just didn't

set then and so I tried a few classes and I didn't feel like it was helping me to get back to where I wanted to be. I wanted to go back in time instead of moving forward. So fast forward about three, four years after that I was still dealing with a lot of pain. Had gone through this typical protocols that the doctor tells you to go to physical therapy, maybe try injections in

Treveal C.W. Lynch (31:49.506)
Yeah.

Sherrell (31:55.692)
nudged me in my spirit now that I was in a new city try it maybe sign up for yoga class maybe something gentle and see if that's going to help with these flare-ups and this chronic pain that you're dealing with

And I tell you after dealing with pain for so many years and you really don't have no resolution I was open to trying it so my mindset was a little bit different plus I was closer to 30 and I tried it I tried the yoga class. It was a black-owned yoga studio where I felt very welcomed And I fell in love with it and that was probably in 2007 or 2008 by 2010 I took my first yoga teacher training

and began sharing some of the stretches and routines that I was learning with people that I was going to church with. I was in a dance ministry at the time and so they would allow me to do cool down and warm up stretches. And people may say, you know, well isn't, you know, yoga and stretching can be different. They can be different and they can be one and the same. The difference is with my understanding of yoga going through various trainings is

Sherrell (33:08.204)
breath.

that's incorporated with the movement. And I know for myself, someone that's done a lot of running and high impact exercises and weightlifting, that sometimes you breathe, but that you don't understand the power of the breath. See, when God gives us his daily gift of the breath, it is powerful in a spiritual and a physical sense. And so that's really what drew me to the yoga practice. And so I've been practicing and teaching ever since then.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (33:17.719)
Yeah.

Sherrell (33:39.732)
other modalities. So I mentioned to you that I danced growing up. I was involved in track and running, very active in the military. I used to teach Zumba. I teach, I also have a Pilates certification now. So movement, for those that

are very dogmatic and just believe, you know, yoga is a worship of the hundred Hindu gods. What I'm here to tell you is that after teaching and being certified in various modalities, there's only certain ways your body can move.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (34:11.319)
Yeah.

Sherrell (34:13.982)
And guess what? Zumba and some of these other modalities, they have the exact same movements in them that yoga has. It's just called something different. So your upward facing dog in yoga is called Swan in Pilates. You know, so it's, for me,

Treveal C.W. Lynch (34:28.782)
Thanks for watching!

Sherrell (34:38.162)
because the philosophy is never something I was drawn to. I have my faith, so I don't necessarily engage in the eight limb path that yoga teaches, which is a particular belief system, but I'm more so drawn to the way that the body moves and the mind-body principles associated with modern yoga. So many of the people don't understand that, of course, when something comes to the United States, we commodify it and we make money off of it.

That's how it is here in the United States. Everything becomes commercialized. And the same thing happened to yoga. So a lot of the spiritual context and maybe what it was meant to do has been remixed and reshaped. And now you have chair yoga. You have yoga that's offered in senior citizen centers. You have yoga that's offered in gyms and workplaces. And I can tell you, as someone that has been in the space for a number of years,

to teach yoga to a law office or to a group of teachers. Guess what? You can't talk about no yoga philosophy. Ha ha.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (35:47.324)
Exactly!

Sherrell (35:47.466)
They want you in the United States. They, people are drawn to yoga for the physical stretches. And so people say, well, why can't you just change the name of what you teach? Because people recognize the name yoga and what the benefits are. So why would I try to change the name and make it with something that people are already familiar with? But here's the thing, every teacher teaches yoga a different way.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (35:50.952)
Right.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (36:13.315)
Alright.

Sherrell (36:17.2)
You may have some that were taught by a guru and is very much infused with a lot of philosophy, maybe talking about deities along with the practices. I make yoga very simple. It's just very straightforward, plain language and the different stretches and how it can aid with your health and healing in your body. That's it. That's all. The great debate with yoga is because every teacher teaches it so different and people have bad experiences.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (36:36.939)
Yes.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (36:43.587)
Yeah.

Sherrell (36:47.18)
they felt like the teacher led them down this new age path or rabbit hole. It was a bad connotation on yoga for Christians. So Christians are typically advised, do not do that new age practice. But let me tell you, my mom goes to take yoga two, three times a week at the senior citizen place for free.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (36:56.682)
I see.

Sherrell (37:07.21)
And when I talked to her about her class, guess what? They doing stretches in the chair. They're trying to get more neck mobility. People having knee issues just want to bring more movement to the knee joints. They just want to know that when they get down, they can get back up again. So I wish sometimes some of these people, instead of playing into the sensationalism of, you know, yoga's demonic, Christians shouldn't do it, try going to a place that offers yoga, not the typical yoga studio.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (37:07.264)
I'm sorry.

right

Treveal C.W. Lynch (37:14.69)
Yeah.

Right.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (37:22.67)
Mm-hmm.

Sherrell (37:38.925)
Try going to the hospital where they're offering yoga for different patients. Try going to a community center.

Most times those corporate places or community places, they have guidelines on, we just want the stretches and the postures. Leave your belief at the door. And for me, that even includes, you know, talking about God or, you know, all the things that we're talking about. So it becomes really just a straight physical class, an exercise class. Can yoga just be an exercise class? Yes, I believe it can, because I've gone to just purely

Treveal C.W. Lynch (38:05.91)
Yeah.

Sherrell (38:17.616)
exercise-focused yoga classes. They're doing reps in there, they're doing stretches. It feels almost like cardio sometimes.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (38:26.613)
Right?

Sherrell (38:28.51)
And people have no connection to a particular belief system, but I've gone to some classes where there is an infusion of, you know, you have a spirit, you have a body, find connection within. That's not so much just physical, do it, get on the mat, lift your leg, do this. It all really just depends on the teacher. It really does.

And there's so many different types of yoga, power yoga, vinyasa yoga, yin yoga, trauma-informed yoga, which is a type of yoga that I teach too, mindfulness resilience, which I teach to veterans like myself and others, disabled veterans that are dealing with PTSD. Yoga's been very beneficial in helping people not to heal them because yoga is not a magic bullet, it's not a pill, only God can heal, but it helps people to find connection

in their body again, whether someone has suffered from some type of sexual or physical trauma or some type of brain trauma. It helps people to bring that connection back into their mind and body with coordination of their arms, their limbs. There is a physical science to it, and even 10 years ago, yoga has advanced so much that there's a lot of scientific research and papers that suggest that yoga does promote health and healing, especially for people

and different injuries that you can see and the invisible injuries that we have within.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (40:01.654)
You know, that does help so much because I think a part of our, and keeping it in line with Christianity and some of our.

trying to find the right word for it, our standing off of it or kind of like not maybe embracing it or not exploring it, not accepting it, has to do with a lot of the ignorance. It's a lot of, and you made a great point about.

how we commercialize things in the context of, you know, the Western worldview and just, you know, America, how we do take everything and it becomes a money grab or it becomes something that can be commodified, to become some form of commodity rather than it just being the pure thing that it was, you know, created to be.

Sherrell (40:46.434)
Yeah.

Sherrell (40:53.358)
Thanks.

Sherrell (40:59.714)
The wellness business is a billion dollar business. A billion dollar business right now. At least I know here in the United States. Everyone is seeking something. They're seeking God, it's that emptiness within. So you can have the right body shape, the right.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (41:16.891)
Huh.

Sherrell (41:21.21)
But the mind and the soul is still empty and still yearning for something and people are going back to themselves to let me find the God within, let me find the power within, and it's not filling because it's a lie.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (41:31.682)
Mmm.

Sherrell (41:36.642)
You can't find peace within yourself. God offers you that peace.

Sherrell (41:43.714)
That's why such a billion dollar business, everyone's looking for something. Yeah, everyone's looking for something in this wellness space. And it goes beyond just weight loss. I see people from all walks of life and they're searching for something.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (41:46.955)
And that's just you, S.

Sherrell (42:02.018)
through retreats, conferences, silent retreats, meditation retreats, all those things are great. And sometimes we do need to unplug. But I'm talking about at the core of it, when they've done all the things, there's still no satisfaction.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (42:14.586)
Mm-hmm.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (42:20.214)
That is so true. That is so, so true. My goodness. Can you share? Yeah, cause that'll take us down so many. Whoo, so many.

Sherrell (42:34.227)
It will definitely take us down the rabbit hole. But yeah, you were asking me about yoga. And I also want to say even about yoga, you know.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (42:36.631)
Yeah, my oh my goodness

Sherrell (42:41.762)
having a yoga, Pilates background, like I said, people get real tripped up on the postures and the stretches and I'm telling you, check out your next cycle, your spin class or some other kind of class and you will see the same stretches used in all those classes but for some reason that same stretch in yoga is demonic. But you're doing child's pose after your spin class, you're doing swan pose in Pilates,

Treveal C.W. Lynch (42:54.292)
Okay.

Sherrell (43:11.876)
bridge pose and in Pilates is still bridge pose and yoga so it's just like you can't really get so caught up in the names when your body God designed our body to only move a number of ways and so a lot of these movements really look the same in all modalities it's just repeats with different names

Treveal C.W. Lynch (43:33.742)
That's interesting. Yeah. Right.

Sherrell (43:33.794)
And I can speak from that because some people don't come from a movement background. I come from a movement background. A lot of the things that we did in ballet, modern dance, the Turgical Dance, even Zumba, all the movements are connected and look the same. That's why I guess I don't have such a hard stance on this pose is honoring a deity. If it was honoring a deity in yoga, then it was honoring a deity when I was doing it in ballet.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (43:44.258)
Yeah. Ha ha ha.

Sherrell (44:03.568)
Okay.

Sherrell (44:10.29)
Yeah, so some people that don't come from that movement background, they're just being introduced to this. People that are maybe amateur professional athletes or people that have done a variety of activities, they see the thread between all of them. Nothing is new in movement. That's why I tell people if you come from a movement background, you probably have some body awareness and you'll probably be fine in yoga and Pilates because you understand coordination and movement and the shapes that your body makes. You're already familiar with it.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (44:15.074)
Yeah.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (44:24.108)
Uh-huh.

Sherrell (44:39.884)
You just did it in running or you did it in track or something. Now you just translate it onto the mat and I find that most people that do have a movement background they pick it up just like that because they're used to being connected to their body. People that may not have that background, it can be very scary just coming to a practice and people saying, this, when you stand in mountain pose you're worshiping the mountain god or you're worshiping a sun god.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (45:09.046)
Yeah.

Sherrell (45:10.124)
they get it. It's a movement. It's a movement that's expressed in so many other forms of dance, activities, and movement practices.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (45:12.556)
Hmm

Treveal C.W. Lynch (45:24.35)
I mean, it makes so much sense when you break it down that way. You know, it's like these conversations open up, open up so much clarity and, and it provides so much clarity. And I really hope that this reaches those that may be struggling in this area, because it, it does translate into other areas of life. And it does, it is applicable to other areas in life, because I think, and you can tell me, I think that a lot of it is, or at least what I'm interpreting is.

Let's say for example, if I'm Christian, you know, Joe, and I see yoga and I say, oh no, we shouldn't be doing that because that's worshiping so-and-so. The way I'm interpreting what you're saying is I've not done much research or I don't know in a sense.

what I'm talking about, I'm just assuming or I've heard or it's been passed down to me that these things aren't for us to do. In your experience, what has been the justification of anyone that's told you, hey, you shouldn't be doing that in a sense of you are thoroughly, and let me just take a moment and say thank you for being as thorough and as professional and as excellent.

Sherrell (46:25.614)
That's her.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (46:49.726)
in what you do as you are. I so appreciate that. God must be so proud of you because you're using everything that He's given you and you're executing on such a high level. But when people come to you and say, oh, you shouldn't be doing that, that's worshiping this or that's worshiping that. Where do you find their source of conviction? Like, where are they getting it from?

Sherrell (47:12.595)
Mm-hmm.

Sherrell (47:19.058)
Yeah, I mean most people are just being told this. So their church leaders tell them, you know, don't go to a yoga class, don't do this, don't do these certain things because they typically fall under some type of new age practice. And like I said at the beginning when we started, I have a heart and I understand people that have gotten caught up in these things and have gone down the rabbit hole and found themselves far from God. That can happen, but here's the thing, that can happen with anything that's good, right? That can happen with anything that's good.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (47:41.911)
Yeah.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (47:46.216)
That's right.

Sherrell (47:49.012)
you can go down the rabbit hole and find yourself far from God. So it's not just yoga. But people that used to tell me that years ago, I would try to debate and argue and now I've settled with it really is someone's personal conviction. So when people want to talk to me about the history of yoga, I get it. I get the history. I understand the history. But what I'm focused on right now is I live here in the United States and the yoga that was birthed through

Hinduism and through a particular religion and belief system is not the yoga that is being practiced at the community center down the street from me. It has evolved and changed and so with that is not enough for some people and that's fine because here's the thing if you've had anything in your life where you have a certain been or hurt to it maybe you've been drawn away from God with a similar practice like this where you're not able to properly

discern, then I tell people practice a Pilates or go to a spin class to exercise to move your body. But here's the thing, you can't be my Holy Spirit. I am not convicted in the way that I move. I practice various movement modalities and they are all God-honoring and part of my stewardship, part of the way that

Sherrell (49:18.972)
for benefits that are health related, but also for his purpose. So I'm very strong and sturdy in that, but I understand people that may have a history of some type of hurt or have a lean or a hurt or a bend that may make them more susceptible to go down the rabbit hole with some, you know, crazy guru or something. I get that happens, but that is not my personal conviction and that's not my story.

different modalities because I have a history of taking physical movement for what it is and that I have the power to place the intention on it. Some dancers, they dance for their own glory, satisfaction. Guess what? You got some dancers that are dancing for the glory of God. Can you see it? Maybe not, but maybe if you watch them both side by side, you can feel a different presence emitting from each of them.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (50:08.818)
Right.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (50:17.123)
Mm-hmm.

Sherrell (50:19.032)
One that's more self-serving clap for me Give me all the honor and the person that is truly doing it for God's glory God has given me this talent and I'm dancing for him It may not be readily you're not you may not necessarily be able to see it But you do have intentions and you can do move your body in a way with a certain Intention that makes it a little different from just being self-serving

Treveal C.W. Lynch (50:31.972)
Yes.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (50:46.396)
That's right.

Sherrell (50:47.71)
I want to look good, I want to move, I want people to compliment me, I want all the things, all the things, versus someone that is doing the exact same thing, but is to honor God. It's the same thing with movement.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (50:53.769)
Right?

Treveal C.W. Lynch (51:04.363)
Mm.

Sherrell (51:05.15)
And I've also realized that I'm not here to convince anyone. I'm not here to argue. I'm here to just give the information. But as for me, I am able to incorporate movements from a yoga practice, movements from a Pilates practice, movements from a weight-bearing practice, movements that are focused on strength and mobility and flexibility, all under these different umbrellas. That's why more so I'm kind of taking away the titles

Treveal C.W. Lynch (51:08.386)
Yeah.

Sherrell (51:35.364)
I'm really about movement. God wants us to move and sometimes movement has to be customized based on where your body is. You may need some Pilates movements for more core. You may need some yoga stretches to open up your hips and gain more flexibility and strength so that you're not always tired when you're trying to go and serve or God is calling you to have to get on the plane and fly somewhere and you're having issues with circulation in your legs. Like it takes these different types of things

Treveal C.W. Lynch (51:37.102)
I'm gonna go.

Sherrell (52:04.944)
God created all movement and all movement is good. It can, it's only when we change the intention of it. I want to do this movement for me. I want my body to look a certain way. Instead of saying, God, I'm giving all this to you. And God says, I'm a benefit. I'm gonna give you the benefits, daughter or son. Gonna allow your legs to be more stronger. I'm gonna, you know, these benefits, you're going to see them come out plentiful in your life. When you dedicate it to me,

you in health benefits, in a more clear mind when you offer it to him.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (52:43.721)
My goodness. It's not.

Sherrell (52:44.118)
So that it's not just superficial. You know, superficial things just, they just, they fade away.

When you're doing everything based on willpower, or I just have a strong mind, I have a strong will, when that will fails, what do you have? But when you're relying on God and Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit never fails. So you can walk past that doughnut five times and Holy Spirit got you and you good, versus you falling off the wagon and, oh, I ain't got no willpower today. No, rely on Holy Spirit to help you. Willpower is great, but let Holy Spirit also come in there and help you.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (52:55.163)
Oh my goodness. Right.

hahahaha

Treveal C.W. Lynch (53:05.973)
Ugh.

Yeah.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (53:14.289)
Mm-hmm.

Sherrell (53:21.33)
upkeep your temple in a way that works for you as you are 40 years old, 50 years old, 60 years old. You're 60, you're not trying to get a 30 year old body.

You are content and happy at the 60 years that God has blessed you with. And now this is where your body is. You're staying strong, you're alert, you're mindful, you're rotating, moving your body, keeping your muscles moving, your joints lubricated. Those are the traits of true health, not looking a certain way.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (53:37.314)
Yes, Lord.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (53:55.894)
That's interesting. I've always, and I don't know if this applies, it just comes to mind as I listen to you because I resonate so much with that and align so much with everything that you're sharing. And again, I don't know if this is applicable or not, but you know how when someone says, oh, you're getting old, let's say for example, if you're 50 or something, oh, you're getting old, but you feel.

and I'm just throwing a number to it, but I feel like 25. One thing I've always felt, even as I was telling you earlier, I know I'm carrying more weight than maybe I should because of my eating habits, but there is this internal, my energy, my internal, I guess you wanna say, my internal self or my internal feeling.

Sherrell (54:29.022)
Right, yeah.

Sherrell (54:51.234)
Mm-hmm.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (54:53.214)
I don't feel old like at all. Like, yeah, I don't know how to say it.

Sherrell (54:56.19)
And that's great. That's a sign of true health. Because if the measuring stick is going to be on the physical, then what about your soul, your mind, will, and your emotions? What about your spirit? What is the gauge for that? So it can't just be the physical body. The physical body is temporal. I know that as believers, we hate to talk about it. But this body will help.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (55:25.503)
Hehehehe, yes it will.

Sherrell (55:26.45)
You can be vegan, you can be vegetarian, and maybe God is gonna bless you to live into 105. That's great, but you're not gonna live forever. And so stewardship is about overseeing what God has given you.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (55:33.098)
Yeah. No.

Sherrell (55:42.002)
here on this earth until the day you die. Still do the right things. If you are bedridden and you're not able to walk, still store yourself by keeping your mind sharp. Maybe you pray in your heart. Maybe you're able to sit up, but you can't get up. You do what you can. You stored it to the body until you leave the body. You stored it until you leave the body.

in a righteous and honorable way that God, you gave me this body and look at how far it's brought me. And now I'm getting ready to see you where I will get a new body, a body that will never fail. And that's the part that we have to remember. This body is temporal. You can't be 70 trying to still look 25 and feel 25. It's fine to store it to be healthy,

Treveal C.W. Lynch (56:22.048)
Come on.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (56:26.444)
Yes.

Sherrell (56:38.472)
that God has given you and as the body begins to change, the body begins to change because you're getting ready to go home.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (56:42.275)
Yes.

Hmm. Yeah. My goodness. Have you?

Sherrell (56:49.378)
We just not are gonna live forever. We're not gonna live forever. And I think that it doesn't say that you just don't take care of, well, I'm getting ready to go to heaven, so I'm not gonna take care of my body. No, you do both things. You continue to physically stourge your body, pour into your body your spirit, reading God's word, feeling your spirit, man, keeping your mind focused on the things of God, asking God to give you a clean heart daily and a right spirit. All of those things are part of true health in your wellness journey.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (56:58.754)
Alright.

Sherrell (57:19.632)
but it's not just the physical, but it incorporates good eating habits, making good choices, eating food that fuels your body and brings life to it, and moving your body, not just sitting around all day talking about the Lord. The Lord wants you to move because you got a purpose. So you gotta have the energy to move. You can't just buy osmosis. Lord, I wanna go to church and help the children. You gotta move, you gotta get there. It's all the things. It's all the things, it's not just one.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (57:37.984)
Right.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (57:43.542)
Yes.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (57:49.198)
Absolutely, absolutely. My goodness. No, no, please. No, no, absolutely, no, I don't have an agenda. No, it's really just to listen and to provide you that space and to provide you that platform to share. The only thing I was thinking was as I'm listening to you, because you're such a great speaker and you're able to articulate so well, I was just gonna ask you, I mean, I...

Sherrell (57:51.794)
I could talk about this all day, but I'm sure you want to move on.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (58:17.502)
I know that you're teaching the physical movement and things such as that, but are you currently in some sort of teaching capacity? This is just curiosity, just like are you somehow somewhere doing lectures or teaching at church or preaching? Like, are you speaking somewhere on a regular basis? Because what you're saying,

Sherrell (58:22.382)
Thank you.

Sherrell (58:30.1)
Oh, okay.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (58:44.238)
is extremely powerful and extremely articulate and just, it make like you're connecting dots that makes a whole lot of sense.

Sherrell (58:55.162)
Well, hopefully you're speaking into existence as of right now. No, I'm not speaking specifically about this. I do, you know, health, education and wellness as it relates to mindfulness in the workplace, you know, just with different businesses and whatnot. But from a Christian standpoint, I haven't.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (58:59.631)
Okay.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (59:07.348)
Okay.

Sherrell (59:18.754)
But I hope to. You have encouraged me in what you said that maybe churches, I'll be able to reach out to churches, they reach out to me and we can collaborate and bring more education, not just around nutrition and eating and cooking, but also those components that also play a part of our health and wellbeing. I think that here's the thing, and I don't discount those things because sometimes Holy Spirit will say, for this season, you need to focus

eating right and you just dive into the world of eating but that's for a season.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (59:54.602)
Mm-hmm.

Sherrell (59:54.718)
So sometimes when it comes to true health, you can't do all the things at once. Maybe you'll do two here and then in another season, you will focus on movement and the mind-body connection with the movement so that maybe you can heal some past hurts and traumas. And here's the thing, the movement isn't necessarily the healing. The movement and connecting the meditation and the breath provides the space for you to slow down, get quiet,

Treveal C.W. Lynch (59:58.99)
Yeah.

Sherrell (01:00:24.592)
speak and bring back those things to your remembrance that are hurt that God has healed. We don't realize sometimes how fast we're moving. These mind-body practices are so effective for people because most people here in the United States don't take time to slow down and when they slow down they have an opportunity to think about those things those past hurts those pains they rise to the surface and you're able to finally deal with them and heal from

Sherrell (01:00:54.512)
cardio, spin, and other types of modalities. Pilates, yoga, Tai Chi, and other mind-body modalities, it really is a slow practice that helps you to connect and helps you to reflect.

on things that you probably have long forgotten about and also a space for God to come in and say, daughter, I got you. That thing that happened five years ago, let me heal it. I see people sit in class and cry. I see people grieve in class. They say it's the first time since my mom has passed that I'm thinking about I didn't have a chance to grieve and now it's all hitting me now that I'm slowing down. This can very well happen with meeting a psychologist

counselor you would think that some of these happen but for some people Movement is part of their therapy movement is part of healing so when they're moving and now they're able to kind of think and slow down the emotions come The emotions come the thoughts come

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:01:39.576)
Mm-hmm.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:01:46.775)
Yes.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:01:52.077)
Right.

Sherrell (01:01:56.722)
So that's why you sometimes, I've seen those, people have those experiences in a movement class. Now in a cardio class, maybe not so much because you're moving so fast. But in yoga, meditation, Pilates is not uncommon for people to have a moment. Because they have not created margin in their lives to have moments in their everyday life. Even sometimes when we pray, we rush through a prayer. We rush through devotion.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:02:12.407)
Hmm.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:02:22.754)
Come on, you know that, yep.

Sherrell (01:02:25.238)
People, one of the things that you can do is when you pray, and my pastor gave this great advice, after you pray, just start allowing 30 seconds of silence after you pray. Just don't say no more. And then 30 seconds to a minute, and then a minute to two minutes. And get yourself accustomed to not always having to speak and begin to lean into the silence. And for some people, that's hard because they don't want.

They don't want the mental chatter. They've pushed down those thoughts that have been hurtful in the past. But let them rise up so that God can heal it. They're still there, so yeah. I know. Stillness, yeah, that's a whole nother.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:02:59.822)
Mm-hmm, yes. Oh my goodness, oh, you going down some roads that I know, man, I love to go down. Oh my goodness, we could record three, four more episodes on just stillness and contemplation. A whole nother thing, yes. And I get the fears and you're tapping on the fears and it's like, I get it, like, yeah. And it's, maybe some of it is,

I don't want to hear those voices and face that inner chatter because I don't have faith that either God's going to heal me or deliver me or I don't have faith that those things are truly over in my life or whatever we come up with. We don't want to face those things because we lack faith or we lack confidence in something, in God, ourselves, the process of prayer, whatever it might be. So like you, I get it. I get why we avoid the silence.

Sherrell (01:03:50.306)
Mm-hmm.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:03:57.93)
And we've been conditioned in our country to avoid silence, avoid stillness. What are you talking about? We gotta grind, baby, we gotta hustle. We gotta go get it. We gotta go get the bag. Everything is get, go. And it's like, man, that's why we're not as happy or content, whatever word you wanna put on it, that's why we're not at peace, because it's the very thing that we're avoiding. So yeah, I mean, that's a whole nother episode. My goodness, I might have to ask you back. We might have to...

Sherrell (01:04:04.202)
Oh yeah. That a good one.

Sherrell (01:04:15.755)
Yeah.

Sherrell (01:04:26.226)
Yeah, we're gonna have to come back and talk about some stuff. I just want to say for people that are avid church boards, I go to church too. I love church. Church alone is not gonna get it y'all.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:04:27.776)
Yeah

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:04:37.774)
say that again. It's not.

Sherrell (01:04:39.63)
Going to church is not just gonna get it, it's not gonna give you a peaceful life and you got work to do. You gotta sit before the feet of God and sometimes just cry it out. You don't even have the words. You just got the groans. That's it. So church is a good first step, but then you gotta do the work on your own and you can't run from it. Yeah.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:05:06.686)
Yeah, my goodness, I'm looking at the... Unfortunately, I have to look at the time. I know we're beyond our time, but no, truly we're not. No, it's gone as it should. And yeah, I can definitely see and I can definitely kind of pre-ask. You don't have to answer me now. Just think on it, pray on it, sleep on it. But...

Sherrell (01:05:12.47)
Yes.

Sherrell (01:05:34.058)
Absolutely.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:05:35.174)
I see a part two here, because I see that we're aligned much more than I had imagined, and you are such a articulate, I mean, my goodness. I mean, not only are you able to share in a way that makes sense, but you're able to unpack things. You're able to, with grace, allow things to unfold through you real time. And I don't know if you've ever seen that in yourself, but...

you're able to unfold things or allow things to unfold real time through you that connect dots, that connect things in ways that at least I've never seen them connected before. So I stand in amazement and I stand so blessed and I know that this audience is going to be blessed and is being blessed even as they're listening to it. I know that we're recording it right now. And so when they listen to it, it's...

you know, beyond today, but as they're listening, as they're watching, I know some things are being laid out before them that may not even be directly connected to yoga or directly connected to movement, but it's so applicable, it crosses over, and it allows for other things to be addressed, you know, through this conversation. So I just.

Sherrell (01:06:43.807)
Yeah.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:07:01.847)
I just thank you for that.

Sherrell (01:07:04.17)
Oh, thank you for having me. And I just, I give all glory and honor to God. It really is Holy Spirit, because I ain't that smart. So, yeah. It's just, it is.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:07:06.507)
Yeah.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:07:12.038)
None of us are. No, but you are brilliant. You know, you are brilliant. You are, you can tell when someone has put the work in. It's evident, it's evident. And, you know, how we say, you know, thank you for your service. I mean, you know, I have forgotten in my notes that you were a part of the military. My son just shipped off to Florida in the Navy. So now I know on a whole different level.

Sherrell (01:07:34.806)
Yes. Oh my gosh. Awesome. Yeah.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:07:42.358)
your sacrifice, your commitment to serve not only our country, but humanity. I understand it now more than ever. Cause seeing, you know, we just flew out to Chicago to visit him and to be a part of his graduation and seeing the change and, you know, listening to him, watching him and being a part of the base, huh?

Sherrell (01:07:44.406)
Okay.

Sherrell (01:08:00.891)
Awesome.

Sherrell (01:08:05.118)
It's life changing. I said it's life changing. It's life changing, yeah. Oh, well kudos to your son and your family. I'll definitely be keeping him in prayers. It's definitely a shift and a change and I just pray that he will be able to.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:08:09.97)
It is, it is. Yeah, so I know you're.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:08:18.87)
Thank you.

Sherrell (01:08:29.034)
be able to lean into it, whether it's a career or just for a season, and that he will receive all that he needs as he serves this country. And protection.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:08:38.126)
Amen. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Well, before we wrap it up, I just want to ask, is there anything, you know, anything else? I mean, there's no rules. There's no anything. But is there anything that you want to leave the audience with? Anything that you want to share? Of course, I'm going to have all of your information in the show notes where they can find you the links and all of that good stuff to be able to link up with you, to find you and to.

Sherrell (01:09:04.608)
Okay.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:09:07.614)
and to watch you, listen to you, work with you, whatever comes of it in that space. But directly from you, is there anything that you wanna leave us with, any thoughts? Just anything that you wanna share. I wanna make sure that you have that opportunity.

Sherrell (01:09:24.522)
Yeah, I think I've said this before, but I would like to end with this. When it comes to, you know, Jesus Christ being Lord and Savior and Lord over our life, I would encourage everyone to let him be Lord over every area of your life, including your health and wellness. Don't edge him out.

Let him be a part of the food choices. Let him be a part of the movement choices. Let him be a part of your mental health and your spiritual health. Because he created it all.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:10:00.91)
Amen. Well again, thank you. Thank you so much. We receive your instructions. We receive your inspiration, your encouragement, your enlightenment, your wisdom, your knowledge, your understanding. Thank you so much for being such a willing vessel to be used by God on that level. Again, it is so evident and it is so apparent.

who you're being and how you're showing up in the world. So thank you with all sincerity. I'm gonna continue to pray even as I've already started to, but I will continue to pray for you, your family, your husband, for your work, your ministry, for everything that you put your hands to do. May it continue to be blessed, may it continue to be effective, may it continue to expand and become

Sherrell (01:10:42.754)
Thank you.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (01:10:58.398)
all that God has envisioned it to be for you and through you. Amen. All right. All right, guys, that is it. Another episode, another experience. I know that you've experienced this mighty woman of God, this mighty instructor, this mighty commander. She is all that and so much more. I don't have enough time to go into it. But this has just been another moment where we have

been exposed to greatness, the very image of God. Sherelle is the image of God. She is the idea of God. She began in the imagination of God, and we've been able to just be a part of her world today, and what an amazing world it truly is. I know that that's what I believe, and I know that you guys believe that as well. I wanna thank you guys once again for.

showing up and rocking with us in the I Am The Possible universe. Thank you so much for all of your prayers, all of your comments, all of your emails, all of your everything. Thank you guys so much for just being who you are. And I just pray and I just believe that what's been shared today will continue to echo in your heart. It will continue to edify you far beyond this moment that you've listened or you've watched. And I just pray.

that you guys lay hold to the truth that's been shared today, and that you would apply it to your life, even as Sherelle articulated earlier. We got work to do, got work to do. So let's put that work in, in and through the leading and the prompting of the Holy Spirit that you might experience the life that God had planned for you and that you might continue to be all that God has made possible.

Love you guys, praying for you guys, and believing in you guys. Until next time, much love.