stepping into the heart.

As I contemplate planning for what may be the last six weeks of classes I will offer in-person publicly for quite some time, I am called to go a bit deeper into material that I often reserve for more quiet conversations and for students who have spent years diving into the realms of yoga and other embodied traditions. For these last weeks, I dip a toe back into my sincere interest in the chakras or the yogic energy centers that are said to be housed in various placements in our body, primarily in and around the spine from the tailbone to the crown of the head.

I often begin a series of classes with feet and legs because I find the foundation of the physical roots of our being to be a simple and effective starting place for how we are embodied in the world. However this time around, I feel called to begin from another place; right at the center: the heart or Hrdaya chakra.

Our heart chakra is located around the center of the chest where the lung and heart are contained… Physiologically one could argue it is the most important locus of the body, where our blood is oxygenated and sent off to every periphery of our body, and where we have the most intimate and steady contact to the “outer” world, through the breath. Further, it connects out into the shoulders, arms and hands so that we find our most potent and steady physical contact with the world residing here as well. The metaphysical essence of this center is our ability to balance and make space for love, devotion, compassion, and to have healthy relationships to giving and receiving love to ourselves and others on physical, mental, and spiritual planes.

For me, in my own practice, I find the work from the hands to the heart most engaging and revealing. Our hands reach out into the world to hold what we love, what we care about, what we engage with and how we most potently feel the world. They are a direct connection into the heart both biomechanically and metaphysically. When there is a disconnect anywhere from the hand to the shoulder and into the ribcage and physical heart, we may feel a variety of things like pain or immobility, but what we may also feel is an imbalance in our capacity to offer or receive kindness, soft and open compassion, or love.

I am reminded of my own hours of work in my hands, shoulders, ribs… and heart. While I tend to focus on the gross physical body I am not unaware of the impact this has in my energy body. My heart, which like all of us, has been broken, embraced, burst open, and walled off has a history to unravel and expand out of. Resilience comes to mind in this area just like anywhere else. A difficult experience that touches our heart can be a springboard to deep love for self and others if we allow that experience over time to reveal our deeper strength.

There are many practices that tie the physical to the metaphysical. Meditation techniques like compassion (metta or maitri), tonglen (giving and receiving) and deep gratitude help us to drop into our heart in a physical and spiritual way. We are left open with our own tenderness without being anyone’s punching bag. We can reveal instead the fortitude and magic of a soft beating heart.

When we work with our hands, when we embrace another human, pet an animal, knead dough to bake bread for loved ones, or hold hands with our child we are connecting into the heart. Asanas or poses like plank, handstand (adho mukha vrksasana) or downdog (adho mukha svanasana), we potentially open the pathway to our heart, most especially when these acts are done with the intention of kindness and curiosity with self.

Gentle bodily journeys like exploring hand, shoulder, wrist, ribcage and upper back movement allow the subtler channels of our energy body to expand and open. To unravel and uncoil. We become lighter and more easeful in ourselves.

Deep breaths, whether in stillness or coupled with movement are balms for our heart and spirit. They can ease anxiety, drop us into the basic physical sense of ourselves and expand our capacity to hold big emotions or big challenges.

I am not sure what is more important in this life than tending to the heart so that we can experience and inhabit our lives more fully without fear of being hurt. I am not sure what is more important than cultivating a trust in the basic goodness of our own being so that we can see that in others. Even when we disagree with them. Even if they have hurt us deeply. Even if the world feels heavy and full of evil. When we tap into the nature of our heart, we are left with the pulsating energy of love, untethered and pure. If we can tap into this source even in small moments over time, the trust we develop in ourselves and others pours fourth from the spring.

I feel a deep intuitive sense that starting from the heart this next six weeks will be of utmost importance. As I face, with my family, a great transition that involves both letting go and letting in… I am reminded of how powerful tending to my own heart will be, and that through this experience channeling this brilliant power to my students can be transformational.