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See the attached PDF chart for this chakra.
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Introduction
Welcome back to week four of our seven-week chakra course. So this week we literally get to the heart of the matter. The heart of the chakra system between the seven chakras, the one right in the middle, is the fourth chakra. So moving out of the tangible, it's meant to be the lower half, kind of a higher half symbolizing spirit and matter, but not lower and higher nature. But this material world and the elements of earth, water, fire, are particularly tangible. And then we begin to move towards the intangible, or to the more subtle spiritual realms. But we have to move through this gateway of the heart, which is an intersection for everything to meet. And that's our fourth chakra. It's the element of air. So again, it's mysterious. We can't touch it. We know it's there. We need it to breathe. Oxygen is where prana exists. But it becomes less and less tangible and subtle as we move up the chakra system. So in Sanskrit, the fourth chakra is called anahata. And that means unstruck. So it relates to this unstruck sound of harmony that we don't have to create it. It's already there. And it has to do with the interconnectedness of spirit and matter. And not only between kind of the self and the divine, because usually it's everything segregated, us with others. But when it all begins to meet, so even I love the image of the embodied cross, or in its symbolism is even the Star of David creating two triangles. So one is representative of the earth rising up towards heaven. And then the other triangle is heaven intersecting earth and coming down. And again, the cross, right, that you see all of these sacred symbols that originally expressed this anahata and our union with the divine and others. So right here at this gateway. So it cultivates the qualities like compassion and forgiveness and balance between this mysterious word and superpower called love, right? We hear it so much. And again, it's intangible, but can only become seen or manifest through our relationships with others and with ourselves. So we use the world of relationship to begin to cultivate this quality that unites us with other and moves us from obsession with self. And again, we're thinking about the more manifest material aspects of who we are to concern and compassion for other. And this balance about this unconditional acceptance and love for ourselves that we don't abandon, especially through that third chakra, as we begin to explore the healing, forgiveness, compassion that yokes us and unites us with others. So the practices, again, that we want to cultivate are using people in our lives to practice these qualities. We can't necessarily do them only on our own, but the opportunities that every day gives us for compassion training, unconditional love training, forgiveness training. And then also these heart centers practices like mantras, so the devotional practices that we can begin to take on. So mantras are really powerful. They begin to tap into the heart a little bit as we drop out of the mind more into the heart. Pranayama, since it's of course the heart but also the lungs, so the breath, our prana that begins to connect us to all sentient beings as well as backbends. So again, just a gesture of opening up our hearts a little bit. We first need to cultivate that courage. Why do we need courage? So that we can be more vulnerable, so that our hearts can be soft and open and it takes a lot of courage for that to happen. So that's why a lot of us are shielded and guarded. So doing even the subtlest of backbends or opening ourselves to others is powerful. So we're going to move through some backbending practices today as well as some breath and maybe even end with a mantra. So let's go ahead and start with a mudra. You're going to interlace yourPractice
fingers and simply place them on your heart. So as the shoulders draw back, this is called the mudra of unshakable trust. To be unshakable love, unshakable acceptance, unconditional love. Your chin moves in towards your heart. Just begin to breathe a little bit deeper and it just begins to express our interconnectedness with one another. And even here you can think about someone you love. As we move out of even the gifts of the practice only being for ourselves and we get to dedicate them towards a higher purpose. It's perhaps being able to be of service to others. This transformative energy that we call love. Just place them in the heart. Say a prayer or wish for them and that person can absolutely be yourself too. Let's take a big breath in here together right up into the heart and into this warmth. These qualities exist. I can benefit the world so much. That sound of harmony, our union, the sound of Aum. Release your hands down. You can move your padding out to the side if you had it. We are going to use it because we're going to be coming onto our knees quite a bit so keep it handy and out to the side and then as we've been starting this altar pose. So we begin to lift up all of these powerful qualities and put them on the altar of our bodies especially the heart as it begins to rise up and then again let the head drop back for lion's breath. Just a big letting go to release your hips down and come forward onto your hands and your knees. You can walk your knees underneath your hips, your hands right underneath your shoulders, drop your bellies as you breathe in to look up and then you're even gonna walk your knees back just a little bit more so that we even come into Anahatasana. So your elbows can come to the ground, blocks underneath your forearms if you need it, your forehead can come towards the earth and so you're just giving the heart a little bit of a stretch as it releases towards the ground. The tailbone still moves in, the navel still engaged as you move into the back of the shoulders and the heart a little bit and then if it's comfortable you can allow the hands to come behind the head and then kind of pulse the chest a little bit more towards the ground moving into the armpits, triceps. Take a breath in and then release the hands down, walk the palms underneath the shoulders, roll the shoulders away from the ears, drop the belly, breathe in, inhale, look up and then exhale into downward facing dog. Right away your heart is elevated over your head, you can begin to let the heart wash the brain out, brainwash the fresh supply of blood as it begins to guide more than the head. Move a little bit from side to side, the self-acceptance we begin to cultivate through our personal sadhana and then roll forward into a plank pose. For sure you're going to feel that strength in the legs, the lift up through the belly but then see if your heart can soften at the same time and the face can soften so that you're cultivating both of these qualities in the breath like the great water moving through you so that all of these energies can be balanced. Take one more inhale and then release your knees to the ground, bend the elbow so that your heart literally kisses the space between your thumbs, take your tailbones high, roll the shoulders away from the ears and then come on to your bellies, release the forehead to the ground so the back of your neck is long and then you're going to open up your arms into a big T or like a big cross, big embodied cross and then I'm going to bend my left elbow like I would do a little baby cobra by my chest, hand on either side on the left side of my ribcage and then I'm going to roll on to my right hip. You can start by stacking the feet on top of each other and begin to breathe a little bit more inside of the chest, the heart and the lungs where anahata exists and then you can even begin to step that left foot behind you. Use your left fingertips to dig into anywhere that needs some opening in the shoulders. It can be pretty intense but again breathing into it, any blockages and then take it over to the other side. Lengthen the left leg, tent the right hand, stack the feet on top of each other first so you check out the difference between both shoulders. Press into that right hand and then maybe it's that right foot that comes behind. You can lean into your left shoulder and then come on through center and into a sphinx pose. It looks pretty subtle because it's just the upper part of the chest but it's usually the thoracic spine is where there's most tension. Our low backs and our necks are pretty flexible so we want stability in those areas so that we can begin to move some openness right behind the heart, right behind the shoulders. So it's almost like you're dragging your chest forward as the elbows come underneath the shoulders, roll the shoulders back, this great lion heart like a sphinx, chin in towards the throat. You can tuck your toes under so that you're really extending and being stretched reaching back through the heels and forward through the chest. And then from here we're gonna explore coming up into a forearm plank with as much openness in the chest so that the belly lifts up and then play with some of those same movements. So you're gonna come onto the outer edge of the right foot, see if you can stack your feet and then your left hand can come right in line with your right elbow. So first you want to get into the inside of the shoulder, twist open through the chest, lift up through that inner right hip and then you can begin to open up into the back of the heart a little bit. Big breath in and release down. You can rock your shoulders a little bit from side to side and then prepare for the other side. So again come into your sphinx, reach back through the heels, forward through the chest, shoulders back and then see if you can lift up so that we're balancing this connection to others without the abandoning of ourselves. Which again is in that third chakra. Stack your feet, it's a little bit of a twist and then take your right hand in line with your left elbow. Start by twisting open through the chest so first you're supporting the shoulder that can sometimes be vulnerable and then if you're ready for it. Opening up the wings of the heart, big breath in and then come on back down. You're in sphinx as you breathe in and then lower down, point your toes, rise up for cobra and then hands and knees and into a child's pose just for a moment. You're gonna rise up onto your heels and then take that same mudra behind your heart. So we're gonna play a little bit with this opening up of the chest and keeping the back of the neck steady as the heart opens and then exhaling round. So taking this breathing practice, one of the functions of the heart is called Viyana Vayu and that's that moving from the heart and expanding the energy outward, imagining as you exhale draw towards the belly and then inhale expand out, balance yourself and other. Take one more big breath out. This time as you rise up open up the arms wide. As you exhale it's a big old compassionate hug. Roll all the way in and then again inhale and open up. I'm gonna do just a couple more like that so it's breathing out and then opening up, giving and receiving, balancing that out. Big breath in and a big breath out. This time as you rise up you can hook your thumbs to reach forward up and backwards. So you're taking a little bit of a back bend and then step your right foot right out and in front of you. Allow the pelvis to drop down, interlace your hands back behind your head so the chin moves in towards the throat and you really have an opportunity to wrap the shoulder blades around the upper spine, drop the tailbone. Still allow the navel to move in so that you're lifting the ribs up as the pelvis drops down. Look up and then maybe press your palms back up keeping the chin in line with the throat. Frame your right foot, tuck your back toes under, lift your knee and take it right into a twist. So allowing the chest to open and again the heart to widen. From here as you release your right hand down you can take your left hand center and then maybe step the right foot right behind you. It's an early rock star but we've prepared as you open up through the chest and then flip it around for your downward facing dog. Inhale, roll forward for plank pose, child's pose. Rise back up onto your heels, interlace your hands behind your head. Just a few more of these. Inhale and exhale. Inhale, open up and exhale, round in. One more time like that, a breath in, a breath out and then adding the arms. Open up through the chest, exhale, dive. And again the arms can open up in any direction you'd like.Like oxygen, like trees are meant to be. Our lungs are the forest of our bodies, the great trees that suck up all the toxins and give out life. So expand through the heart, deep breaths and then the next time you rise up, hook the thumbs, reach forward up and back, tailbone drops and then step the left foot forward. Allow the pelvis to drop as you lift the chest, hands behind the head again to really dig into the back of the heart. Breathing into it, allowing it to be a little freed up and then press the palms up. Open your hands, twisting. Come onto the outer edge of the right foot and then you can step right back as you arch back. All the way towards a plank pose. This time as you bend your elbows you can lower down in one piece to the earth, like heaven and earth intersecting, rising up. Downward facing dog. Take a big inhale, a big exhale moving a little bit from side to side and then take a slow walk forward step by step. It's like walking up to an altar. We take these vows every day with those we love, how we want to show up and with ourselves and our practice. Big breath, exhale to fold. So inhale, lift your chest up, the soft bend in your knees and then exhale fold in half. Again this intersection. From here you're going to hook your thumbs, soften your knees so that you can reach all the way forward, arch backwards, the pelvis comes forward and then find your hands back at your heart. Be in that mudra, unshakable trust as your heels sink down. Breathing into the heart and this awareness, this energy called love. A great peace and harmony that's already inside us and all of our actions begin to express it. From here you're going to hook your thumbs and again reach forward, up and back as we do a few heart salutes. As you come through center you're going to carve the backs of your hands together so that the palms actually come forward in a gesture of offering and then dive forward and find that same mudra behind your back so it's like your best friend or someone you love. It's interesting, befriending of ourselves and our practice and then you're going to bend your knees, lift and open the chest so that there's a pretty deep arch in the spine but you still want to lift up through the low belly and then draw the right knee in towards the chest, glide the right leg behind you, slide your hands down the inside of the right thigh so that your chest can lift up and then reach your arms up and above you. This mudra is called Venus locks so the thumbs and index fingers come together but the three last fingers are interlaced, slowly lower down and arch back. Frame your left foot with your hands and then inhale your left leg up to the sky. Then you're going to keep your leg lifted as you travel forward through a three-legged plank. As you bend your elbows you can take the right knee down. I like to do it this way and then take a little bit of a dip of your heart to the ground. Take both feet down, point your toes to prepare for cobra, roll the shoulders back, chin in towards the chest so that the heart expands and then you're in downward dog as you breathe out. Inhale your right leg up to the sky, breathe in. As you exhale, step forward between your hands. You're going to rise up through that high lunge again, interlace your hands behind you, let the chest open as you breathe in. Then you do have to bend through this left knee a little bit to get some momentum and using the power of the breath, step forward and drop your head. A bend of the knees to swing the arms up, hook the thumbs, reach up and back, hands towards your heart. Hook your thumbs, reach forward, up and back. Come through center with a big spilling over of your heart's energy and drop your head, interlace your hands behind you. Bend your knees deeply, pick up the chest but then left knee to the nose a little bit or towards your chest so that the navel's engaged and then glide the leg back. Hands down your inner left thigh, take your arms above you, reach up and then lightly soften your back knee and arch back. Three-legged dog with the right leg high and let's check out, call it baby grasshopper as you come forward. Keep the leg as high as you can up towards the heavens. Drop your left knee and then take a dip. Both feet down, point your toes, lift the heart, breathe in. Downward dog so the head's the last thing to drop in towards your beautiful heart. Inhale your left leg high, step forward between your hands, inhale the arms forward, let them circle behind you, slide your hands down the inner thigh, a little momentum through the bending of the right knee, drop your head into your heart, hook your thumbs and reach forward, up and back. Take your hands to your hearts and then hook your thumbs, reach forward, up back one more time. Same way come forward, interlace your hands. This time you're going to rise up on katasana, keeping your hands behind you. This is hard to do. So you want the chest to open but then at the same time draw the ribs in, draw the navel in and back, the tailbone drops down so we don't lose all the other chakras even as our heart opens. See if you can keep all that the same and then reach your arms up and then dive forward and over your legs. You shift the weight into your hands, you can step into a plank pose and lower or put a little bend in the knees and hop back. Cobras are upward dogs and downward dog as you breathe out. We're going to inhale the right leg to the sky and then step forward between your hands. If your knees are sensitive you want to make sure that you have this blanket nearby. So I'm going to use it today. So we're going to start out in Anjanae and again this is reversing our patterns as we create new ones. So allow the chest to open up as you arch backwards and then interlace your hands. You're going to see if you can tuck your toes under and reverse it. So you're going to start by lifting your knee, seal the back, heel down with the chest open and then it's coming into a devotional warrior. Your head in towards the heart and then right from here from inside out you're going to rise up into a peaceful warrior. Right away you can find a half-bind so that you're checking in the back of the heart which is the unconscious what you can't see and maybe the right hand's ready. We did quite a bit of shoulder opening. You can take a hold of your t-shirt and pull it but just that little bit of a friction can peel the chest open. Stay here and breathe for a moment and then straighten the right leg. Extend halfway and then unravel into your triangle. You put a little bend in the right knee, your fingertips can come to the ground or to your shin, explore it a little bit. So you sink down and here we have those intersecting triangles of the earth towards heaven and then this intersecting of spirit and matter. Take a couple of breaths here, rooting down and reaching up and then you'll shape-shift into your extended side angle so you can bend through your front knee, climb your forearm to your thigh and then one more time there's a circling back towards your half-bind. If you're ready for a full bind again we already got pretty deep into the shoulders. You can reach for your hands, twist open through the shoulders and the chest or it's a half bind and then we're going to move on towards our artachandrasana. Reaching for a block if you need it underneath your hands and then pick up the left leg in your right arm to the sky. Again the great symbol of the half moon that includes our shadow and our light. You can begin to embrace in ourselves and others to be whole people and conditional and then if you'd like to move on to the back bend or chapasana full moon you'll begin to bend through the left knee again and then see if you can reach back for the top of the foot sliding your heel towards your left sitting bone, twist the chest open and then maybe press your foot but you have to move the heart forward as you move your left leg away. To release out of it you're going to drop your left foot behind the right and then wing the arms behind you. That's when we call OMG sometimes and then take your feet together, hook your thumbs, reach forward up and back, dive back in finding the mudra behind you, bend your knees, pick up the chest halfway and then free the arms up in a prayer. Come forward and through you can step back, you can walk back, you can jump back. Cobras are upward dogs and downward facing dog. Check out the left leg, reach it on up to the sky and step through. Anjanae as you drop the right knee towards the earth, again tailbones under this awareness. To reach forward up and back, interlace your hands behind you, lift your chest, tuck your back toes under. To prepare for devotional you'll seal your back heel, spin the left hip towards the inner right heel and then drop your head and bow in towards your heart. Free up the hands, circle the right arm forward up and back as the left arm continues to rise up right into your peaceful and slide your right hand behind your heart, the left hand can begin to join it as you bend a little deeper into your left knee and then straighten through the left leg. Roll both shoulders back as you unfurl the arms from behind the body with your left hand to your ankle or the shin. A little bend in the knee always to keep the legs nice and aware of the material world even as you expand upward. Breathing in and breathing out. Moving towards your extended angle, bend through your left knee, circle the right arm up and over your head and again from the tailbone moving forward, it's almost like a birthing of the heart that comes from those relationships that we cultivate.
And then keep circling it behind. Twist the chest open, maybe reaching for both hands. You can take your left fingertips forward, right hand to your right hip as you walk the right foot forward a little bit. Find a nice broad and stable base with your left hand and left foot as you begin to peel your body open. Again, heaven and earth, halfway. Begin to bend through the right knee this time, you can reach for your heel. Lower the knee down so that it really is just about halfway. Peel your chest open and maybe press your foot back. When you're ready to let it go, offer it up. Take your feet together, reach your arms up and then come all the way forward and down. So from here you're gonna take your feet just about halfway and then put a bend into the left knee. Take your left hand center and your right arm up to the sky. So it's this balance between the legs. We've been in a lot and then our arms and shoulders at the same time. See if you can snake your hand behind you to twist open the chest a little bit more. Then keeping your heart open, roll the shoulders down and bend through both knees. This is an interesting transition up into shiva nataraj so that you can take the top of your left foot with your left hand, but draw the knees in towards each other. I have your forearm here behind your back, my back, so that I can really fill up the low back waist with the navel to keep the chest open. Then you can begin to reach for your left foot with both hands. Then slowly begin to shift the weight forward, extending your chest forward, expand open through the lungs, flex through your foot. Everything's moving in opposite directions again and then you're going to let it go into a warrior 3. Chest can expand, navel stays lifted and then make your way towards a warrior 1. So you can extend your leg behind you as your arms come up to the sky. Draw the right hip back, extend through the left leg, then straighten up to the right leg. You're going to take your hands behind you in a reversed prayer. So if that's too much on the wrist or the hands, you'll reach through your elbows. You can walk the right foot back and I think you can remove your blanket. So your hands will come back behind you or your elbows. The stance is a little narrower and the hips are a little wider so the pelvis can come forward. Roll open through the chest and breathe in. And then move your hips back to begin to spill the chest forward for Parsvottanasana. Keeping the chest open, the legs nice and steady. I'm going to take your right hand to your right hip, draw it back, your left hand out and in front of you in line with the right foot. You can explore. We're going to come into revolve triangles so the hand can be on the inside or the outside and then begin to free up the chest. So the heart stays open really in every situation, even the most challenging ones with our loved ones. You can see if the heart center can expand. Circle the right hand down, swing the right leg up to the sky and then you're going to fly it through a fallen triangle. So allow the back heel to come towards the earth as you lift and open through the chest. And then step forward between your hands and release your back knee to the ground again. So from here you're going to take the right arm up to the sky one more time and then see if you can reach back for the top of your left foot one more time to roll open through the chest. Tail bones again remember, carve forward towards the pubis so that the heart rolls open. You can begin to release back towards a sphinx arm as your right hip draws back to peel open through your chest right here. Release your leg down, your hand down, take your right leg back up to the sky and then this time traveling forward. You can drop the left knee down that we've been doing or you can begin to bend your elbows to let the chest melt. Cobras are upward dogs and then downward dog as you breathe out. Take a moment here to breathe in, again breathe out, reconnecting to your breath. Then look forward, bend your knees, step step, hop or walk. Breathing in to lift your chest and then exhale to fold forward again creating that wider stance. This time with your right hand center, your left arm up. You can twist open through the chest to begin and then drop both shoulders down so you can take a hold of your right heel and come on up so that you can draw the ribs and the navel in even as you keep the chest open. Feeling into the back body and you can reach for your foot with both hands and begin to extend the chest forward. Lift the right leg as you begin to fly. Arms can come forward this time and open up wide. Land in your warrior one.
Lengthen the left leg with your hands behind you in that shortened stance. The pelvis can really move in. Roll the shoulders back, lift the chest, move your hips behind you as you spill the chest forward again. All of these angles intersecting a spirit with matter. From here your left hand to your left hip and your right fingertips to the ground. It can be a little adjustment for the pelvis so that you're really drawing the left hip into the right heel stabilizing the back foot rooting down into the right hand so that you can begin to pick up the left arm. Circle your left hand down, left leg up to the sky as you press through the hands. Slide it out into your fallen triangle. Step forward, put the right knee down, your left arm up one more time. You can reach back for your heel, the pelvis soften towards the earth as the chest opens. Explore going a little bit deeper. Breathing into the top of your right thigh. And the openness in your heart as you let go one last three-legged dog with your hands down, left leg up. And again traveling down, either the right knee softens as you lower. This time if you'd like to explore this full Ganda Varadasana. I like the elbows underneath my ribs. I don't know, maybe the legs all that. You can lift up towards a cobra. This time knees to the ground. You come back into that Anahatasana. It's like between a child's pose and downward dog but breathing a little deeper into the heart, the back of the heart. Lock your hands back underneath your shoulders. Slide your shins forward. Then we're going to prepare for a pose. We put all of that together so that our sequencing specifically takes us somewhere. And for this one the pose is called Grasshopper or in Sanskrit it's called Vrishchaka. I love how this biggest backbend that you can imagine that you see is the biggest heart opener. Because it's so challenging and again scorpion we can think about these shadowy aspects of our nature of others and that opening up the heart means being able to embrace ourselves as a full human being. Not only the parts that we like, not only the parts that we find are loving and joyful, nobody is all the time. So the true expression of the heart is all accepting, unconditional towards ourselves and then again towards others so that we can be accepting of both sides. So we're going to set it up and take it step by step. We've already done quite a bit of opening up through the chest but we're going to start tucking the toes under and slide your heels towards the wall. So definitely move towards the wall if you're not there already. You can slide your heels towards the wall and then one more time take the right elbow and then the left elbow towards the ground. So we're going to set it up allowing the chest to open and then coming into a pretty deep kind of sphinx situation with the knees bent so that you're really going into the back of the chest and out of the low back in the neck which are already nice and flexible and then you'll play with taking the right foot up and the left foot up. So although this looks like the easier variation it's actually quite intense. You still want to draw the low belly in towards the back, chin in towards the chest so that you're really pulsing into the back of the heart. When you're ready to come down slowly come down. Come up to sit on your heels. You'll feel a lot of warmth, a lot of energy, a lot of breath, the right more prana through the lungs, through the heart as we open up. Then we're going to set up our camel pose and then they're going to get married and make a scorpion. So that was the peacock pose and again the peacock is an expression of the heart. It's so beautiful like a mating dance when the peacock lifts its tail, inviting all those beautiful qualities and then the other side of course is the scorpion. So we're honoring both. So I like to do this at the wall too so that I make sure that there's integrity to the pose and I'm not just flying out into places that are open and shying away from any area of the heart that wants to remain closed and protected. We all want to keep our hearts protected from hurt. So your hands are going to come to the inside of your ankles and your arm bones externally rotate.
My arms are a little bit overly extended and then again the ribs, the front of the body meets the back. With the back of the body the shadow or unconscious meets the front and then from here the way I like to come up is really through the tail bones. So I'm going to press my shoulders in, draw the tailbone under so I'm moving from the first to the second to the third. Finally to the heart but I can keep the back of my neck nice and long so my head's not dropping down and then I can lean my head towards the wall so it's supported. Take a few breaths wide into the lungs, set your heart free and then reverse the movement by drawing the chin in, upper back, middle back, and lower back. Yes we're gonna do that one more time maybe it'll just be with the breath a little bit more. I'm gonna draw the tailbone underneath me again and just see if it can come out from inside out and then right back and in. Okay so we're gonna put those two together and check out our scorpion. So it is gonna call on exploring forearms down up the wall the other way. If you know this isn't in your practice you can lie down on your back or you can play with it a couple times. Alright so all of these ways to be able to express this unconditional acceptance love towards ourself through the process. The chest is gonna move forward as you breathe in you'll tuck your toes see if you can again bend your knees so you're moving into the back of the heart. Start with the right leg lifting bend the left knee take a breath in we're using the breath out to hop up maybe it's once or twice so both legs lengthen see if you can do the inner work we've been doing with the ribs the tail and then you're gonna play with bending the knees so it's one and then the other. I want to avoid splaying my knees out and then I can begin to lift my head towards my feet and press the feet actively into the wall so it's supported. Whenever you're ready to come down you'll come down and then rise right up so that you can feel the energy that's awakened. It can be so so energetic these backbends because so much of our energy is trapped. Okay last big pose on this one of course you can also imagine like one of the biggest expressions is a full wheel this full backbend open to the world so we're gonna play with coming up into a little mini one or a little mini drop back and then there's two ways you can come up into your wheel or half wheel depending on where your practice is today so one way is that you're gonna I'll demonstrate the first little mini back bend like we've been doing reaching the arms forward and up but with the feet hip width apart and really the awareness of this low back being nice and supported as well as the back of the neck. So my hands come to my heart you want to make sure you're about an arms distance away from the wall and then you'll bend your knees hook your thumbs to reach forward up and back and then you can drop to the wall rooted in your feet pressing the wall away and then coming back up and that can be the whole world you can say I'm good then you can slide down the wall onto your back I'll actually demonstrate it it's kind of fun just so that the lower back doesn't get too cramped you're there and then you can low down all the way to your back and maybe take a half wheel or a full wheel from there if you're walking all the way down this is what it'll look like again measuring so you're about an arm distance away little bend through the knees pelvis forward so you can drop back this great trust remember that game we used to play and then maybe you'll walk your feet forward bend your knees every step of the way see if you can straighten the arms bend your knees come down a little bit more maybe your feet will walk forward almost there and then maybe you'll make your way all the way there reach your chest towards the wall and then lower down again with this feeling of bringing this vastness into the earth so it's been a lot of back bending just gently let your knees sway from side to side and cease to draw the knees in right away but first release all of those nerves and then draw the knees in towards your chest allow them to move over towards the left and then allow the chest to open another weight of the body to root into the earth as well as feeling this freedom as this love isn't about attachment sometimes we can fuse or control but I love based on freedom we'll come on through center twist over to the other side and then for a moment you'll come all the way on your right side so that you can rise on up to sit a blink it may be nice to have near you for these forward bends and twists that we're going to take final so Marichyasana 3 so you'll bend the right knee and it can just come towards the inside of your right hip with your right hand to the ground extend the left arm up even keeping the low back is neutral as you can begin to twist and keeping the heart center open you extend the arm up you have the wall there a little closer and then as you come through center you can explore the same top of the quadricep opening in our forward bend for Triyanga Mukhaikapada Pachimottanasana another very long Sanskrit name but the heel comes in towards a half Virasana so that's why a blanket is nice you can place it underneath your left hip to create some balance between both sides and then you can tent the fingertips to move the chest forward and then begin to walk your hands towards your left foot forearms can come down as you bow into your left leg you know those qualities inside of your heart you can to walk your hands back and then bend through your left knee so that the chest can open up a little bit more this is where a blanket you may even fold it over a little bit more if you need to that there's no pain in the knee allow your heart to lift up as you root down and then you can keep the knee bend you can begin to reach for your left foot extending it lean back to start that you can take a counter twist over to the left root down through the sitting bones lift your chest up then you can circle the left hand towards the inside of the left foot as you take one more bow in towards your left leg hair in this pose bend your left knee place your foot to the ground hands behind you and then you can just free up that right leg to the sky twirl it around release your sitting bones back down lengthen the right leg then the left knee for your Maurici Asana take your left fingertips to the ground so you tent them and root up reach your right arm up and twist over to the left arm can come towards the ground seeing how wide the chest can be in the twist come through center maybe centering the blanket underneath the right hip a little more as you take your left heel to the outer edge of your left hip reach your chest forward and slowly walk down so that your hips are still rooting back you can come over your right leg hearing this unstruct sound within your heart and to walk your hands back bend through the right knee lift the chest center the blanket if you need a little more so that you're pressing through both sitting bones as you extend the right leg up and really lift the heart by pressing down through the sitting bones and circle the right hand behind you breathing in and then all the way back around I like to cross through the wrists as you take deep that plant your right foot down shift the weight into the right foot lift up through the hips and free the left leg around twirl through the ankles and then release your hips to prepare for Shavasana so to support the low back you can roll your blanket underneath your knees lengthen your legs out long so you can take one more forward bend on your way down feel free to stay here for a few breaths and then when you're ready roll yourself down for Shavasana take a couple moments to allow the weight of the body to dissolve you can squeeze everything tight and then I can't let it go to the breath element of air mysterious you can let that go be breathed slowly begin to bring your awareness back to your breath the source of interconnection every living being place your hands on your heart and you can bend your knees and give a hug of your knees in towards your chest rock a little bit from side to side and then to reach down into the ground as you rise back up to sit with your heart nice and wide and open as you make our way back into the world you can place your hands on top of your heart again beautiful mudra join your hands at your heart in a prayer we symbolizing this drawing together and we're gonna end with a mantra really is a love song to all beings balance that we create with ourselves in our practice we do all of these practices so that we can be a service in some way to others so the mantra and Sanskrit is loca samasta suki no bhavantu it simply means may all beings everywhere be happy and free but it's not only a mental prayer he goes on to say or mean and may the actions the words the thoughts the deeds of my very own life help to contribute in some way and so I'll start chanting it you can join in lo ka samasta suki no bhavantu om shanti shanti shanti bowing down and honoring one another namaste let's talk about love so the
Talk
fourth chakra as we explored through our practice really has to do with being this open open in our hearts open in our chest open towards the world and really the courage that it takes to be this vulnerable and open probably because of past hurts a lot of us are constricted in our chest and keep ourselves shielded from fear of further hurt so it's very brave to take this step and to be open to take this time on our mats and through exploration of our relationships and our feelings how we can begin to be in this state of love so the fourth chakra in Sanskrit is anahata that means unstruck and so usually sound or unstruck sound nada is sound anahata nada usually sound is created by two things striking so whether it's your vocal cords or any type of instrument it comes from two things striking that we have to make it so this concept of unstruck sound or anahata nada is that it's already there it's this music of harmony that exists within us that we can begin to connect with and then have our actions really reflect that connectedness to others so I think it's a really beautiful concept to begin to live by and to understand and to yoke ourselves into a little bit more as we begin to move through some of the qualities of anahata of course existing as we experience in the heart in the chest in the lungs and in our whole circulation right so from the heartbeat to our breath and how everything moves oxygen throughout our entire body it's really reliant on this quality of our heart center the color that's represented by it is green and again I love that because the lungs are meant to be the great forests of our body and trees were so interdependent with the world around us we don't even know we can exist without prana or oxygen that the trees begin to that the trees are constantly sending out into the universe cleansing the atmosphere and again pumping us with this vital life force so I love that it's the color green that represents the heart the sense that's associated with the heart chakra is touch and again our skin is the largest respiration organ we breathe through our skin we're taking everything in through our skin and then the power of our hands so even right from our hearts through our lungs it extends out our hands or our hearts and space so touch we begin to radiate this great energy of the heart and through touch and being touched that can be either physically or how we can move and touch one another through our relationships and contact the gland associated with the heart is the thymus gland and that is representative of our immunity and again a nice strong immune system that keeps us from getting sick of course when intruders come in it can begin to fight it but then the other side of the thymus that when it's out of balance is representative of a lot of autoimmune diseases and that's when the body mistakes these foreign objects it mistakes everything that's good inside of our body for foreign objects and starts to eat away and decay so things like cancer is meant to be directly associated with the thymus and again its association with the heart so some of the physical we're moving right into some of the physical imbalances that come along with an imbalanced heart chakra can be asthma related to our breathing constriction of the breath heart disease like I said some autoimmune diseases so lung disease grief is held inside of our hearts which is the shadow of the heart so lung disease is associated with the high blood pressure is associated with a weakened anahata chakra and just along with shallow breathing right when we're not really breathing in deep just very very shallow breathing when our diaphragms are contracted and our posture is poor and we're caved in we can't breathe or take in life so again expanding open through our heart and breathing freely and deeper helps to purify the body as well as invite in so much of this goodness through our relationship to others in the world around us so what it looks like when it's imbalanced as far as our emotional and our mental qualities when it's deficient you can see people that hold themselves back from love who really isolate a sense of depression is a part of it not being able to connect with others trusting others trust is a big one even depression when we isolate and we stay alone for too long is related to a deficient heart and of course heartbreak and intense grief all of these from a deficient heart or when we close down our heart center when it's excessive or too much our it can show up in the form of again generally qualities that we can mistake for intense love sometimes we think this passionate love and it's about excessive attachment and jealousy and being controlling and these big wild out there's all the great dramatic qualities of love can be excessive along with I don't know maybe you know some of these personalities I know I do people who were just always in love and I love you so much always loving over the top over dramatic lovers right so that can be again when it's excessive that everyone is always in this state that it's balanced but feeling like always I love I love I love I love everything in everyone feeling like we have to love everything in everyone which just can't be true all the time so let's talk about a balanced heart chakra so that really is about balance and it's this balance of love of self and we've heard this so many times we can't truly love others until we can truly accept and love ourselves so balance of this appreciation and acceptance of ourselves and again the shadow elements of who we are because unconditional love this powerful love isn't dependent it's not the second chakra love or sexuality this is based on freedom when we're talking about the wings of the heart and liberation and again this all accepting of ourselves of our shadow parts as well as our lighter parts so this love again is about cultivating compassion and compassion meaning from its Latin roots to suffer with that means we consider the suffering of others as our own it's about kindness it's about forgiveness where we're willing to let things go because resentment is meant to be one of the main killers of the heart that keeps us trapped and you know once we let somebody else go we're freeing ourselves freeing ourselves from holding on to anything so a balanced heart chakra can forgive maybe we don't have to forget but we can forgive so that we don't suffer quite as much when it's in balance we're at ease with ourselves we can be with ourselves a little bit more we can take ourselves on a date it's not dependent on having to have somebody there but it's all enduring so being in this state means we're at ease with ourselves we can be at ease with others not having to put on a show just being who we are and allowing them the space to be themselves we're able to be vulnerable and open ourselves up without too much fear of rejection and again allowing that for others in the same way and then the last one which I think I've mentioned so many times is this unconditional love unconditional love that is again the different it's the spiritual quality of the heart that we cultivate we can think about the great saints or this higher level of love that maybe happens when we're in a committed relationship when we choose to be married and that means that I don't know all of those traditional vows of in sickness and in health richer or poorer it's not conditioned by anything other than to love someone as they are so this week as you're doing that heart opening sequence it's pretty intense it's really really opening up through the heart maybe in ways that you haven't before and breathing into the heart can release so much held energy because we're so used to things being compressed that to open it up I don't know sometimes I start laughing sometimes I start crying so be open to experiencing all sorts of feelings that come up through this practice as you slow down and really get deep into opening up the front of the body but one of the things that backbends do is that it strengthens the whole back body so we're strengthening the muscles of the back we're strengthening all of the muscles in the whole back of the body our gluteus maximus everything to support this openness in our hearts so take your time going through these practices and dig deep and then begin to create your alters so a few things you can begin to add on of course as pictures of loved ones and that's anything or anyone that you love sometimes our hearts become so hardened especially during times of pain or if we've had a lot of grief with a lot of death in our life or going through a big heartache it's hard to find that again and so we just begin to start with what we naturally love it can be our child it can be our beloved for sure it can be you know Chogyam Trungpa the great meditation master said everybody loves something even if it's tortilla chips so whatever it is that you can say I love this you place it on your altar so that it begins to spark the heart so photos of anyone anything that invokes the spirit of love for you the kind of stone that's representative of the heart chakra is a rose quartz along with the smell is rose that opens up the heart is one of the scents that allows the heart center to open so maybe something made out of rose quartz maybe some rose incense and then actual roses the flower roses to place on your altar like we think about Valentine's Day and only our beloved giving us roses but those symbols of self-love that we can give ourselves our practice becoming one of self-love of self-adoration that we come to the mat no matter how we're feeling if we're in a bad mood or in a good mood we show up anyway so I think roses for me are really good reminder for that on my altar it that I'm love no matter what no matter what mood I'm in no matter what my hair looks like if I practice in the morning all of those things so roses themselves are beautiful and then green so if mantras are new for you can maybe if a mala mala beads call on you it can just be a symbol of this devotional practice where we begin to allow our thoughts or our minds to begin to be embraced through a positive message so that can be your mantra but maybe a green mala or green beads something to that effect a green notebook maybe to write your messages and I love peacock feathers so I have peacock feathers and roses on my altar you can get the picture it's very dramatic but peacock feathers again it's light it's like air and again the symbol of offering these beautiful qualities that we have to the world this is also whereHomework
you'll begin to perhaps contemplate these questions in your journaling so the questions I'd like for you to contemplate this week and the little homework perhaps one or two practices you can begin to invite into your life the first one being the first question being do you respond right away to others from your mind or from your heart this can be a little bit tricky because sometimes we're so much in our minds that we can't really feel to how do I feel about this not how I think about it but usually our minds and our hearts move in two different directions so the point is to bridge it to bring consciousness or our minds into our hearts even in Sanskrit chitta represents the heart and the mind bodhicitta is awakened heart and mind at the same time so imagine you have a heart in your brain and a brain in your heart so really thinking how do I feel about this without judgment or how do I feel about this person and sitting with yourself to really articulate how something made you feel so you're just not over rationalizing saying I don't care or compartmentalizing it but really tapping into the true feelings that's the first question I'd like for you to contemplate the second question has to do about how connected we really feel to others so I think right now especially with so much time on social media and feeling connected that way that we're less and less connected to people in our lives or just even in the world I see people just on their phone all the time on the buses and not looking out at one another just in the street or walking down the street so consumed with their phones that we've lost real connection with others so can you put your phone down this week a little bit more maybe if you're in the bus or a restaurant or somewhere in line and maybe smile at someone we say hi these maybe seem really really old fashion but so important to feel this human connectedness with one another if you smile at somebody they'll smile back and we get to feel reconnected to other humans so that's a real practice right this kindness to begin to integrate back into our lives and connection with people maybe even make a real date to meet someone for lunch or tea and then the third question has to do with getting honest with yourself about how hard you are on yourself remember reading something where the Dalai Lama was like what are you talking about some Western psychologists we're talking about people struggling and suffering from self-hatred and the Dalai Lama just couldn't even understand the concept he's like how could they hate themselves I guess it's a foreign concept in Tibet but so many people suffer from being overly harsh and judgmental on themselves not accepting themselves you can take some time to really contemplate how hard are you on yourself and can you begin to turn that around a little bit and celebrate some of your most positive qualities and bring them to light again to begin to cultivate this honest truthful and unconditional acceptance and love for yourself so that you can offer yourselves like this into the world into the people around you it becomes an important practice so again we're remembering that balancing our heart chakra this anahata has to do with both shadow and light and honoring all sides of our nature and others so being able to notice when maybe some of your less divine qualities let's call them begin to surface how do you respond to those is it with compassion or is it with more aggression we turn it around to be more compassionate and kind forgiving instead of more self-condemning and then the other one has to do with you always put on a good face that has this this is also maybe the representative of somebody who's always happy and always in a good mood is this how you kind of go around the world and with your relationships do you always say I'm great I'm fine I'm happy everything's good with you always put on this good face thinking that's the only way you'll be liked or loved you know try to take some moments and again if you're really honest with yourself you can be a little bit more honest with others and remembering that not everyone is always in a happy mood and that you're not the people who are in our lives and who love us accept our who we are as not just one-dimensional they know that we have darkness and we have light and accept us for who we are no matter what mood if we can begin to articulate it a little bit more and then the other one the last one has to do again about compassion so how compassionate do you think you are and these are hard questions to ask ourselves because I think especially as we begin to come more into our spiritual practices we talk about these concepts without really really feeling them so what does compassion mean to you how compassionate are you really do you judge yourself do you judge others that can be a big question and so one of the ways that I think begin to turn things around is through selfless service to where we can really show up for others and begin to move out of just obsession with ourselves and to begin to see how we can begin to be of service to other and again through awakening and cultivating these qualities such as compassion and love and kindness so enjoy this week developing and empowering yourself really through a superpower of love it's so mysterious but it really really is so incredibly empowering when we can embrace this energy within our lives and use every relationship that we have to begin to grow so do the practice at least a few times this week create your altar let it become fragrant and really really beautiful and enjoyable and of course begin to cultivate a couple of those practices throughout your week write your comments in the comment section I'd love to hear about them and I will see you next week namasteChakra Course
Mention
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Jasmine (Teacher) |
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Theresa F |
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Vijaya S |
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Ali |
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Laura-Maria S |
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Emily S |
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Kate M |
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Jenny S |
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