Lock Your Knee in 2013 (Guest blogger: Natasha Fowler- my sister ;)

“Lock your knee!” I’m repeatedly told to do this in my Bikram Yoga class. It’s not something you’re normally told to do since locking your knee cuts off blood circulation thus causing you to faint. Bikram is anything but normal. For those of you that don’t know it’s a very intense 90 minute yoga session in 105° with 40% humidity. 20 minutes into my 2nd first session (I tried it with my sister once 5 yrs. ago but that doesn’t count) I began to ask, “Why anyone would put themselves through this torture?”.  I then began to plot how I was going to make my getaway. Something kept me in that room. I don’t know if it was pride or will power. And knowing that I would get to spend 90 minutes totally focused on myself kept me going back for more! Over a year later I’m still there and fully grasping the concept of locking your knee.

The first 20 minutes is just the warm up and if you’re new to the practice when you hear “Party Time! That completes the warm up!” you’re thinking “WHAT?! That was just the warm up!” The warm up prepares you for the rest of the class by warming up your lungs, major muscles, bone joints and party time is your only official water break leading you into the balancing series. I don’t know why but this particular part of the class has always been my favorite.

The first posture in the balancing series is the standing head to knee pose. It’s been over a year since I started practicing and I’m just at the point where I’m meditating on God’s word during class instead of begging him to help me through this. It occurs to me one Thursday evening that my knee is the Word of God. The first goal of this posture is to lock your knee and the first rule in my life is that I should lock in the truths that God has given me through his word. Once you have locked your knee you will eventually bring your elbows down past your calf muscles while never taking your eyes off of the knee. I get to this point and I’m thinking “Ok, God! I’m focused on your word. I’m focused on your truths. What is it that you want me to hear?” The last step is to bring your head down where it touches the knee and look at your stomach. Once your knee is locked this proves to be the most difficult part of the posture. I find it hard to stay in b/c I am no longer looking at my knee I’m looking at my stomach and trying to focus on one leg. It is then that I began to hear the Lord say “Trust me, you may have only one leg to stand on but it’s my leg. I’m holding you up. Let go.” I began to breathe knowing that he is fully capable of taking care of me. I can let go because I know the plans he has for me will not harm me, they give me hope and the promise to flourish in ways unimaginable (Jeremiah 29:11). As I come out of the pose I’m asked to stay still and continue to breathe while focusing on me. I hear God say again, “be still, focus on my word, believe what my word says; that you are amazing and wonderfully made!” I wish I could say that every time I do this posture or any other posture I’m this focused and never fall out. But that would be a lie. The truth is in life we fall down and sometimes we don’t know if we can get back up. His word says we can. His word says he will uphold all of those who fall and lift up all who are bowed down (Psalm 145:14). As you go into your new year determined to be better than you were before, remember this, he wants us to trust him and lock “our knee.”

Trusting in the Lord and locking in all of his truths...

richn(God’s)luv -Natasha

We love you and pray that you have a God-centered and God-filled 2013... Lock your knee!!! 

Love,

Dot