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JESUS AND THE BRIDGE POSE

Posted on by pennyjoliver

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

 

FLEX AND STRETCH

Posted on by pennyjoliver

Time on your mat invites you to stretch not only your body, but your emotional, mental, and spiritual self as well. Let yoga serve as an exploration, so that God can use to move you ever closer to that lovely state of balance where you feel alive and awakened, energized yet relaxed, refreshed and rejoicing, peaceful and loved… all in the same moment!

Being physically flexible is not just about being able to get into into pretzel like positions as in yoga. Actually, flexibility is the ability to move muscles and joints through their complete range of motion. Increasing flexibility improves and stretches your range of motion, thus enhancing daily life in a multitude of ways. Flexing and stretching improves circulation by increasing blood flow and nourishing muscle tissue. Frequent flexing and stretching helps reduce tightness in muscles and allows you to maintain better posture. Flexing and stretching also relieves tension, enhances coordination and balance, increases energy levels, aids in pain relief and improves your sense of well being. Flexing and stretching can also be an attitude that invests and transforms the mind. Flexible minded persons are able to take advantage of opportunities, flourishing and growing in the process. It challenges us to leave our comfort zones and offers us new ways of experiencing God, ourselves, and the world.

Researchers at the University of California, at Berkley, introduced an amoeba into a perfect, stress free environment (the amoeba is a single-celled organism that lives in marine environments). The temperature, moisture level and food supply were all perfect for the amoebas survival. The amoeba needed to make no adjustments to improve its life. One would think that the amoeba simply lived the good life, right? Unfortunately for the amoeba, it died. The saying “you’re either green and growing or ripe and rotting” is quite true here. The amoeba needed challenge in order to multiply and grow. Without challenge in life, it could not survive.

In the Bible, God used example after example of men and women who left their comfort zones and were able to accomplish amazing things. Moses, David, Joshua, Ruth, Debra, Paul, Mary and Jesus are just a few! Think about their lives and the way they allowed themselves to be flexible before God.

Some people say the moment you leave your comfort zone is when life really begins. I don’t know about you, but I call that faith!

 

 

…” I came that you may have life and live it more abundantly”-

John 10:10

HALLELUYAH!