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I wear my Lock the Knee necklace a lot.
In the world outside of my Bikram yoga studio, people have questions about this.
What does it say? I don’t get it.
I respond, “Oh, it’s a yoga thing” and they go away. And they think I’m rather odd.
In Bikram, you need to lock out your knee. This means you push your knee all the way back and engage the quad. Locking it protects the knee from injury by taking the pressure off the joint and placing it on the stronger muscles that can handle it.
Locking the knee out is harder than it sounds because it always comes unlocked. I have to be steadfast and do it over and over again. All my hard work can come undone in a second, because sometimes life is like that. I have to embrace the impermanence and start over, yet again.
It’s hard but I’m going to do it anyway.
In locking the knee, I am both protecting myself and becoming even stronger. I’m willing to put all my focus, concentration and energy into something as simple and challenging as keeping my standing leg solid, concrete, one piece, lamp-post, unbroken.
I’m willing to be right here, right now. I’m going to lock it out 500 times in the next 60 seconds. It won’t be easy. It’ll make me sweat. But I’ll come back tomorrow and do it again.
My necklace helps me remember that I am strong and dedicated and not scared of something, just because it hurts like hell for a minute. Either on the mat, or off.
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Where did you get that?! I think a teacher from my studio may have made it!
Really?? I bought it on Etsy from a seller named frommyhandstoyours. Thanks for coming by!!
I love the necklace, too 🙂
That is such a difficult posture. For years I made no progress. Even though I was flexible, I couldn’t get to the point where I could kick the leg out and hold it for longer than a few seconds. I figured it must be a strength thing: I started jogging a few miles a week and bam! I have the leg strength for miracles. WIsh I coulda gotten it with Bikram alone, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.
That’s so good to know. It is a difficult posture but you are right, sometimes you just need a little boost! Thanks so much for stopping by!!
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i made that necklace :)))))) thanks so much for including me in this post. I taught Bikram for over 10 years and am so happy others are also finding their strengths on the mat. Here if you ever need anything… Bikram or otherwise ❤
http://www.frommyhandstoyours.etsy.com
The necklace is not always listed but you can always contact me directly and i would be happy to set up a custom order for your happy smiling face 😀
Yay!! I really do love the necklace! Thanks so much!