Happy February! The theme this month in our yoga classes has been “heart opening.” I know it’s kind of cliché – it being February and all. But I believe there is something valuable about drawing inspiration from what’s around us; I believe there is something valuable about moving through the world with an open heart when we can; I believe there is something valuable about strengthening our back body which not only physically supports us and helps us move through space, but also allows us to open our chests – our hearts. So much of the way we do life has our arms out in front (think typing, think driving, think reading and writing), which can create a more rounded position through our backs and a collapsed position through our chests and fronts of shoulders. One could say it closes us off from the world.

So physically, we’ve been working on various backbends – mostly ones that invite us to use the strength of our spinal muscles, the muscles on the backs of our shoulders and our gluteal muscles to create the shape.

And we’ve been considering the question: how do we each grow and expand our hearts? This question and the following quote come from Thich Nhat Hanh’s essay, "Heart Like a River."

“...when our hearts expand, we have a lot of understanding and compassion and can embrace others. So the big question is: how do we help our hearts to grow?"

One idea that I’ve been coming back to, again inspired by the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh, is making sure I feel nourished – not just by food, but in all aspects of myself. You’ve heard the term hangry – that cranky, grumpy, rigid feeling you get when you are hungry. When you’re in that hangry state it’s hard to find patience, compassion, kindness, until you feed yourself – then you re-regulate yourself. Well, what if we extended that concept to nourishing yourself with the right amount of sleep, and nourishing yourself with the right amount of movement, and nourishing yourself with the right amount of time alone to do the things you love, and nourishing yourself with the right amount of time with the people and animals you love.? You feed yourself all the things that bring you joy in the right amounts. When we nourish ourselves like this, we nourish our happiness and therefore we nourish and strengthen our ability to open our hearts towards each other – to live and love more open-heartedly.

Consider for yourself:

• What nourishes you?
• What brings you happiness?
• How can these things help your heart to grow?

Please shoot me an email and let me know!! Let's support each other in growing our hearts!

Check out this heart opening practice - enjoy!

Check out my schedule of classes and videos for more movement practices!