HALLELUYAH MOMENTS

THE SECRET OF THE HIND DEER

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Think God wants you to walk sure-footed in this world?

Think he desires that you walk above where the air is pure and the view pristine?

You bet He does!

That’s why in His Word to us, His Bible, He refers to His children as having Hind’s feet.

A hind is a female red deer. Leaping from rock to rock in mountain terrain without ever lose their footing, the hind deer steps precisely in the same spot where its front feet have been. Amazingly, every motion of the Hind is followed through with razor-sharp consistency. This makes it the most sure footed animal of all mountain animals.

This also suggests that we too as God’s children already possess hind legs.

 We are already equipped for the rough terrain ahead in our lives.

We can overcome.

We are empowered.

We can have a better life.

We just have to put on our hind legs.

We simply need to let God be our front legs.

Then each step we take in our lives will be with precision and sure-footed-ness.

 

He makes my feet like the Hind’s feet, And sets me upon high places.

Psalm 18:33, Habbakkuk 3:19

Can’t you see that magnificent mountain top?

You know the secret.

It’s a “Halleluyah Moment” and You already have everything you need.

So, what are you waiting for!

Halleluyah!

 

JESUS AND THE BRIDGE POSE

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Bridge Pose or Setu Bandasana. Setu in Sanskrit means ‘bridge,” sarva means “all” and anga means “limb.”

All bridges are important tools for connecting. The Yoga Bridge Pose is no exception. It is one of the best back-bending poses for beginners. Both dynamic and versatile, it helps to open your body up and build strength at the same time. It tones your upper body and legs, lengthens your hip flexors, opens your chest muscles and improves breathing, circulation, digestion, and thyroid functions. It calms the brain and eases anxiety, thus promoting overall relaxation. Bridge Pose does not disappoint. You will reap the benefits from building a strong bridge. All your limbs will be working in Bridge Pose to construct a bridge with your body, while also connecting your practice to other poses.

As you lift your body into a bridge, remember the most famous bridge of all, Jesus! When Jesus stretched out His hands upon the cross to die for mankind, He was the greatest bridge ever created: the one and only bridge that God constructed that connects us to God and leads us to Heaven. We simply need to believe in Jesus as our bridge. When we do, we have crossed over from death in our sins to eternal life with God, forever!

For there is One God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 2: 5-6.

Bridge Pose

Lay flat on your mat. Bend your knees and bring your heels closer to your sitting bones. Place your arms by your sides, palms down. Lift your hips from the mat by pressing your feet and arms firmly to your mat. Your knees should stay in line with your hips. You should only lift your hips as high as what is comfortable for you. Hang out here for a few deep breaths.

As you progress in Bridge Pose, you will want to bring the backs of your arms closer together and interlace your fingers. Keep your upper arms pressed firmly into the mat. This will allow your hips to lift a little higher. Hang out here for a few more deep breaths, maintaining the pressing of your arms and legs into your mat. Hold this pose between 1 and 2 minutes.

You may want to continue to build strength in your legs and back. If so, hold your ankles while inhaling, lift your hips while exhaling, then lower your hips for a few counts. Try to do this 10 times and progress up to 30-50 hip lifts.

When you are ready, lower your hips and lay flat. Relax here. Soften and let long held tensions unravel in God’s deep love for you!

Halleluyah!

Peace and Joy

 

THE BOAT POSE AND PETER

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Navasana, or Boat Pose. Nava is the Sanskrit word for “boat” and asana is the Sanskrit word for “pose”.

A full Boat Pose can be a difficult pose to master, but well worth your efforts. Your entire body will need to kick in to help you hold a Boat Pose, which is why it proves beneficial to any yoga practice. It’s a deep core strengthener. As it engages the abdominal area, it strengthens your abs, pelvic muscles, and lower back. Your hip flexors and spine benefit too. It increases lung capacity by opening the chest area and works the psoas muscle  – this will improve your balance and posture over time. Your thyroid, intestines, kidneys, and prostrate gland will also be stimulated.

Thankfully, yoga is not about mastering body positions. It’s more about learning about yourself through the avenue of your body. The yoga positions are simply the tools that bring you there. So, whatever effort that you make in any pose will physically benefit your body. What you learn about yourself while holding any pose is what you take away and, hopefully, try to learn from. Your first reaction to getting into a pose often mirrors your reaction to life situations. It reminds me of the story of the apostle Peter and the boat and the day Peter left the boat and walked on water. It’s one of my favorite Bible stories I might add… and not just a story, but a real event that took place in history, recorded for us from Almighty God. We know this about Scripture because God said the Bible was breathed into men and women like us, by God himself. This, all to help lowly man live a better and more fulfilling and adventurous life.

As the story unfolds, we find Peter in the boat with his fellow disciples. A raging storm breaks out and all the disciples are fearful for their lives.

When the disciples saw Him walking on the water, they were terrified, and said, It is a ghost and they cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid. “Lord, if it is you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord save me!”

Matthew 14:26-29

One has to appreciate Peter’s response to his life situation. He responded by relying on his faith in Jesus. Even though he lost focus midway, Peter walked on water – in a raging storm too! Peter is the one and only person in human history ever to walk on water! And don’t forget the disciples in the boat, they had a life situation in need of a response.  They did respond too – by doing nothing.

 

Boat Pose

Sit with your legs directly out in front of you. Place your hands on the floor for support slightly behind your hips. Bend your knees. Lean back onto your sitting bones. Lift your legs. Try to balance on the tripod of your sitting bones and tailbone. Hold Boat Pose up to 30 seconds, although a few seconds will be just fine if you can’t hold it for the full 30. You may have a rocky boat at first. But, with consistent practice, your boat will keep afloat and you’ll be happily sailing.

For an easier version, keep your knees bent. You may also raise just one leg if necessary. Keep the other leg bent with your foot flat on the mat. The most important thing is to try. Your body will benefit from every effort that you make.

Happy sailing!

Halleluyah!

MOUNTAIN POSE AND MUSTARD SEED FAITH

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Tadasana is Mountain Pose – Tada means “mountain” and asana means “pose”. Though Tadasana is a very basic pose, it physically challenges us to stand firm and strong, enabling us to establish a steady foundation from which many Yoga poses transition naturally. Tadasana improves posture, establishes good alignment, makes one aware of one’s body and develops feet, ankles, legs, back and core strength.

Striking a Mountain Pose reminds us that mountains are quite tall. In fact, Mount Everest, which is the tallest mountain in the world, stands at 29,029 feet. Get inspired because Almighty God encourages us that we can actually move a mountain!

In Matthew 17:20, Jesus states,

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

So, what is the size of a mustard seed? Wikipedia says it is usually 1-2 millimeters in diameter. There are 1,000 millimeters in a meter. We are talking miniscule. Teensy weensy! A mustard seed in comparison to a mountain is microscopic! Nevertheless, Jesus says the amount of faith needed to do great things, like move a mountain, is small!

As you stand in Praying Mountain Pose, think about what mountains that you need to move in your life. Then pray and have faith the size of a mustard seed that God will move them for you!

Directions For Tadasana:

Stand tall. Place your feet no wider than hip width. Let your toes and the bottoms of your feet be fully extended on your mat. Pull in your stomach. Roll your shoulders back and let your chest lift. Feel as if your torso is rising up through your waist, each vertebre gently falling into place. Squeeze your buttocks and try to pull them under your tailbone. Drop your shoulders. Lengthen your neck. Relax your face muscles. Place your hands in Prayer position and breathe deeply while you reflect upon the Bible verse. Feel tall, firm, and immoveable, with faith like the grain of a mustard seed!

Relax your body. Always remember the little mustard seed and what it can do!

Halleluyah!

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made!

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The Psalmist sums it up beautifully in Psalms, 139, 14-16, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”

Go ahead, take a moment. Notice your body. It was divinely created. We are all wearing a reflection of God’s wonderful works!

Mathew Henry’s commentary on this verse of Scripture states that,”…the wonderfulness of the human mechanism is so great that, if realized, it produces a sensation of fear. It has also been said that, if we could see one-half of what is going on inside us, we should not dare to move!

It has been said that nothing in nature compares to our bodies. Scientists have tried, but cannot duplicate the human body. What amazes me is not what we can do for our bodies but what our bodies are doing for us. At this very moment they are working around the clock for us: breathing, cleansing, pumping blood, regenerating,  flushing out toxins, and a whole lot more! The wisdom God bestowed upon our bodies to automatically keep us going is staggering. With over 600 muscles, 206 bones, and 7 miles of nerve fibers, our bodies continually work for us even as we sleep. As you are reading this, our hearts are pumping blood to our blood vessels. By the end of today, our hearts will have pumped over 19,000 miles. That is four times the distance across the US from coast to coast. Did you know that each of our ears has over 24,000 tissues so we can hear? Our eyes have 100 million receptors so we can see the world. In our brains live more than 100 billion cells. Approximately, each one of us has more brain cells in our brains than the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Fortunately for us, our lungs were designed to breath for us.

Did you notice? Our bodies are also striving to be fit. They know how. We are a totally self cleansing, self healing and self maintaining masterpiece!

HALLELUYAH!

 

 

WHY NOT YOGA?

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Why yoga, you might ask? The real question we all should be asking is: why not yoga?

There are 20 million people practicing various forms of yoga in the U.S. today. There is a growing number of case studies, polls, and the entire medical community talking about yoga’s potential to help, prevent, heal, or alleviate specific conditions. Yoga is also beneficial as a technique for relieving stress and coping with chronic conditions or disabilities. Most studies publish results that yoga is not only a form of exercise, but can act as a treatment and as a preventative form of medicine and healthcare.

Yoga is already a commonly used mind-body intervention for depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety and post traumatic stress. It’s used as a therapy for asthma and arthritis. It’s proving to be effective in cognitive problems and fatigue in cancer survivors. It’s proving that yoga can be an effective strategy in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and cardiac function and also COPD , migraines, metabolic syndrome, restless leg syndrome and weight management.  It can be a management for hypertension, menopause, GERD, and chronic heart failure, stress management and fatigue. It can also aid in chronic pain such as back and neck pain. It improves sleep and helps with all stages of pregnancy. Seniors get stronger, flexible and balanced, as does anyone practicing this form of exercise.

As you can see the benefits of yoga are phenomenal and growing. Anyone can do yoga and reap it’s rewards. You don’t need to be fit or flexible either. If you can breathe, you can do it! What do you need to know to get started? Inhale. Exhale. Repeat. Don’t let anyone fool you. It’s not much harder than that. Let go and let God show you how good you can truly feel from the inside out!