Week 5: A Cure for a Sad Heart

Welcome. Today's practice is to balance the energetics of the heart. So when the heart is out of balance, we call it the heart shen, which is the spirit associated with the heart. When it's out of balance, we experience anxiety, maybe some depression, or any mental disturbances. When it's in balance, we experience joy. It's normal for everybody to go through small periods of time of anxiety, depression, etc.

And these are some practices that can help to relieve those feelings. We'll be focusing a lot on back bending, working on back bending in the upper back, and stabilizing through the core. So we'll do some core strengthening and some leg strengthening exercises. You're going to need two blocks, so go ahead and grab the two blocks and meet me back at your mat and we'll get started. So to start, we're going to take one block parallel to the front of your mat, top of your mat, and one perpendicular.

And this is one of my favorite little restorative exercises. It's kind of like an active restorative exercise. This is going to be like a pillow and this will go between your shoulder blades. And you just kind of want to find a place where it's comfortable enough, and you may need to adjust the height of the block. So this can always go lower or potentially higher, but don't start too strong.

We're just getting warmed up here. And when it's in the right place, it shouldn't be digging into your back. And then you can extend the legs straight, let the feet flap open, the palms will be open. Close the eyes and breathe. And just check in with yourself, see how you're feeling today.

Sometimes if we open up the heart when we're feeling kind of vulnerable, it can be a lot. So maybe you need to back off on some of the back bending. Just do them gently. We'll spend a lot of time countering the back bending. Notice if any anxieties, worries, sadness is coming up.

And start to focus on the sound of your breath, which we always do when we enter into our yoga practice, and the physical body, physical sensations. Staying with the sound of the breath and feeling into your body helps you connect to the present moment and helps to quiet the chatter in the mind. Let the breath expand the chest. Let the belly be soft. Soften any tension in the face, the jaw in particular.

And then we'll just hold the tops of our thighs, press our elbows, lean over to your side, press yourself up to seated, move the blocks out of the way. And we'll come onto our bellies. And take your fingertips forward, arms stretch out forward, come onto your fingertips and start to lift your chest up, almost like you're coiling up into a cobra. Finding the opening in the upper chest and at the same time from the outer upper arms in. Spin the inner thighs up to the ceiling and we're going to raise the legs and then raise the arms.

And just take little pulses with the inhale to lift up a little higher, both the legs and the feet. And keep the back of the neck long so you're not causing tension in the back of the neck or the tops of the shoulders. Take a few more pulses. Press down through the pubic bone and the front hip bones. One more deep breath in, go a little higher.

Let's see if we can hold at our highest point for three breaths. And then release. Set the hands down, press your hips back, coming to child's pose. Just for a beat, we're not going to hold too long here. From child's pose, press your hands, curl your toes under, come into downward facing dog.

First one, we'll just pedal out our heels to wake up the backs of the legs, stretch out the hamstrings, the calves. And as you press through the mound of the index finger and thumb, wrap the outer upper arms around to your face and then stretch the hips up and back. Reconnect with your breath. Make it smooth, soft, even. If you're feeling a little racy today, focus a bit more on the exhale.

If you're feeling a little lethargic, focus a little more on the inhale. Look forward and we'll walk our feet to our hands. With inhalation, lengthen. Exhale, fold. And inhale, come all the way up.

Arms reach up overhead. They can stay shoulder distance apart or the hands can come together and you look up at the thumbs. Exhale, return to Samasthiti. Surya Namaskar A. Inhale, arms reach. Exhale, hinge at the hips and fold.

Inhale to lengthen. Exhale, we'll step back, shift forward and lower down. For the first one, you can lower all the way to the floor. Roll the shoulders down the back. Inhale, come to Cobra.

And then exhale, curl the toes under, press back to Downward-Facing Dog. Focusing on deep, full breaths. Let the inhale expand into the side ribs, the lower back ribs, the top of the chest. Exhale, you go a little deeper, push a little more through the hands, lengthen the side bodies. End of your exhale, look forward and walk your feet to your hands.

Inhale to lengthen. Exhale to fold. Inhale to come all the way up. And exhale, arms down alongside the body. Inhale, arms reach.

Exhale and fold. Inhale to lengthen. Exhale, step or jump and lower down. Inhale, Cobra or Up Dog if you're ready. And exhale, Downward-Facing Dog.

Holding and breathing, finding some stillness here. As we go a little deeper into the practice, we get some of the wiggles out. Then we start to just settle into our postures and focus on the breath. Find a place and stop tweaking it. Sometimes we over fidget, keep correcting our alignment, go for perfection.

Just let it be. End of your exhale, look forward, step or jump your feet to your hands. Inhale to lengthen. Exhale to fold. And inhale, come all the way up.

Exhale, arms down alongside the body. Last one, inhale, arms reach. Exhale and fold. Inhale to lengthen. Exhale, step or jump back and lower.

Inhale, Cobra or Up Dog. Exhale, Downward-Facing Dog. Long, smooth breaths. One more deep breath in. Exhale, look forward, walk your feet to your hands.

Inhale to lengthen. Exhale to fold. And inhale, come all the way up. Exhale, arms down alongside the body. Bend your knees, sit your hips back, inhale for Chair Pose.

Again, arms can be shoulder distance apart or bring the palms together. Exhale, we'll fold forward, straightening the legs as we fold. Inhale to lengthen. Exhale, step or jump back and lower to Chaturanga. Inhale, Cobra or Up Dog.

Exhale, Downward-Facing Dog. From Downward Dog, we'll step the right foot forward, pivot the left heel down. From the outer right hip in, left hip forward, straighten your back leg. Press down into your heels as you inhale and come up into Warrior I. Hold an extra breath, wrap the outer upper arms around to the face.

Stretch through your fingertips, maybe bring the palms together. And then exhale, set the hands, step back and lower. Inhale, Cobra or Up Dog. Exhale, Downward-Facing Dog. Left foot forward, right heel down.

From the outer left hip in, straighten your back leg. Press the outer edge of the right foot. Inhale, come up, Warrior I. Again, wrap the outer upper arms around to the face. Reach through the fingertips.

Maybe bring the palms together. Possibly sink a little deeper into the left knee. And then exhale, release. Step back and lower. Inhale, Cobra or Up Dog.

And exhale, Downward-Facing Dog. A little more movement in Sun Salutation B. So chances are your breath, your heart rate is a little faster. Now that you've come to Down Dog, see if you can lengthen out the breaths. Slow everything down.

Complete your exhalation, look forward. Step or jump your feet to your hands. Inhale to lengthen. Exhale to fold. Bend your knees, sit your hips back.

Inhale, Utkatasana. And exhale, stand up tall. One more, bend your knees, inhale, chair. Exhale, fold. Inhale, lengthen.

Exhale, step or jump back and lower. Inhale, Cobra or Up Dog. Exhale, Downward-Facing Dog. Right foot forward, left heel down. Inhale, just one breath up for Warrior I.

And exhale all the way to Chaturanga. Inhale, Cobra or Up Dog. Exhale, Down Dog. Left foot forward, right heel down. Inhale, Warrior I.

Exhale, Downward Dog. Inhale, Cobra or Up Dog. Exhale, Downward-Facing Dog. And breathe. Checking in with your face, your jaw.

Relax. Find the places where you can relax. There's going to be a little effort in the arms to hold this shape, the legs. See if you can relax the breathing, relax the face. And any muscles you don't need to be using right now.

End of the exhale. This time we're going to step or jump to seated. And we're going to go right into some core work. So we'll start with our feet together and our knees apart. And we'll take the arms up.

You have the option to keep the feet on the floor or you can raise them up so you're in like a diamond-shaped Navasana. From there, we'll lower one leg at a time. Right leg down, left leg down. Right and left. That's two, three.

Right, left, four. Right, left, five. Right, left, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. If you can maintain the feet up, we're going to roll ourselves down. Let the feet hover and then inhale up.

That's one, lower down. Inhale up two, lower down. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Release the feet flat on the floor. Stay in your V shape with your upper body.

Take the palms together. Rotate them over to the right and then go down. Inhale up, up, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Switch to the left. Lower down an inch, inhale up.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Bring the hands back to the side. One last one. You can keep your feet on the floor or take Navasana. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Chest lifts, nine, ten. Take the feet back to diamonds. Lower the right leg, left leg. One, two, right leg, left leg, three, right leg, left leg, four, right leg, left leg, five, right leg, left leg, six, right leg, left leg, seven, right leg, left leg, eight, right leg, left leg, nine, right leg, left leg, ten. Lower the feet to the floor, shoulders down.

Inhale up, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Lower the feet to the floor, take the hands together, down an inch, up an inch. That's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Other side to the left, down an inch, up an inch. That's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

We're almost there, Navasana. One, you can always keep the feet on the floor if you need, two, three, you can do it. Few more breaths, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten. Release, cross the ankles, set the hands in front of you, and let's take a downward-facing dog. Settle your breath, and then we'll come to the front of our mat, feet together, bend the knees, and we'll come right into chair pose.

For this one, let's keep the hands and arms shoulder-distance apart. Pulse for ten, one, two, pull the sitting bones together, three, navel in, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. The option to raise one foot, left heel, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Option to raise the right heel, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Either bring both feet flat or you have the option to come on to the roots of the toes and take ten more pulses, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Release, bring the hands to prayer, fold forward, pedal out your feet. And as you raise your right heel, you can sit into your left hip a little bit, then switch, raise the left heel, sit into the right hip. Inhale, take a lengthen, reach the chest forward, exhale, fold. Inhale, come all the way up to the top, and exhale, hands to heart. Open up to the right, we'll do a similar sequence but from goddess pose, the legs are, toes are turned out, and the knees are pretty much over the ankles, so pretty wide apart.

We'll do ten pulses here, and you can always keep your hands on your knees. So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Option to raise the right heel, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Lower the right heel, lift the left. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Keep pressing the knees out, option to raise both heels if you've got it in you. Balance challenge two, so it's one, two, maybe raise the arms as well, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, release them, ten. Good work. Let's just take the hands to the hips, parallel the feet, lift the chest up, exhale, do one forward fold here, hands flat, inhale, lengthen, exhale, fold. Little bonus for working the calves if you raise the heel, inhale, lift the chest, exhale, hands to your waist, and inhale, come all the way up, exhale, step to the front of your mat, so you can probably feel that your heart is racing a bit, that's good.

Inhale will reach the arms up, exhale, fold forward, that'll help burn through some of the anxiety if it's present. Inhale lengthen, exhale, step or jump back and lower. Inhale cobra or up dog, exhale downward facing dog, and breathe, I'm gonna stay with the heat, stay with the fire for a little longer, inhale, come forward, exhale, lower all the way to your belly. We'll take another round of Shalabhasana, this time with the fingers interlaced, inhale, lift the chest, lift the legs, and breathe, opening up the front of the chest, maybe bring the feet together, but it's also okay to keep them apart. See if you can lengthen out the breath to keep your nervous system in check, and then release the hands, set them flat on the floor, take this into your deepest up dog of the day, and exhale down dog.

And we'll come forward onto our knees for Ustrasana. You can, since we have two blocks, you can place them next to your feet, bring the hands to prayer position, roll your shoulders down your back, lift your chest up, keep the hips over top of the knees if possible, coil your back, tip your head back, and maybe bring your hands to blocks or fingertips, you can always lower the height of blocks, if you're not using the blocks, then you'll bring the hands to the feet. And we'll hold here, deep breathing one, two, three, four, and five, inhale, come up, exhale, take a moment, bring your feet together, sit onto your heels, take a few calming, grounding breaths, so when we do yoga or exercise and we get our cardio in, that can be a really helpful way to disperse that heart energy to get rid of anxiety or to come out of depression. And then we'll lift up, come onto our knees again, hands to hips, press the tops of the feet and ankles down, inhale, lift your chest, you have the option to repeat Ustrasana or you can start playing with Laghuva Drasana, the next pose. So if you can reach for your ankles or your heels, you'll grab a hold of them and you'll start to lower down to the point that you can go without everything falling.

If that's not an option for you, then you just bring the hands behind the thighs, you lift your chest up, start to tip the head back and just play with hinging at the knees a bit, holding and coming up. Just find your edge, a lot of work for the legs. When you really work your back bends, your legs get very sore. So inhale, lift the chest up and exhale, find your place. See if once you've hit your edge, you can pause there for a couple breaths, maybe up to five and then we'll inhale, come up and exhale, feet together and sit down on your heels.

And then intentionally not taking us into child's pose, I want to stay with that backbend energy a little longer. Okay, from here, we'll cross the ankles to take the legs out in front of you and lie down on your back. We have the option to start with bridge, let's all take one bridge together and then if you'd like to go into full or Dhanurasana or upward facing bow, you can. We'll take the outer edges of the hands and the arms underneath and start to walk the shoulders underneath you, your chest up, press down through the feet, inner edges of the feet are parallel and as you push down into the heels, start to reach the knees forward and the tailbone towards the knees. Lift the chest up towards your chin and maybe interlace your fingers behind your back.

The hamstring should be engaged here so pull the heels in towards your shoulders as your knees reach forward and then relax the toes and see if you can lift the hips a little higher, lift the chest up to your chin and then breathe. Once you've found your position, just stay in it and breathe. Then release the hands, lower the hips down to the floor. Take your hands to your belly for a moment. You can stay with bridge or if you'd like, bring the hands up by the ears, fingertips pointing to the shoulders.

Remember to lift the hips up, press the hands, press the feet and come up to the crown of your head. From there, squeeze your elbows in, reach your chest through your elbows and maybe start to straighten the arms and breathe. Can always stay on your head, you can always repeat bridge. Keep firming the outer thighs in, the knees forward, the chest back. And then look to the ceiling as you lower down and take a moment and breathe.

We'll take the knees into the chest, wrap the arms around your legs, give yourself a nice squeeze. Roll around on your low back if that feels good to you. And then we'll rock up to seated. Straighten your legs out in front of you, toes to the ceiling. With inhalation, we'll reach the arms up overhead, exhale, hinge forward, grab a hold of your feet.

Inhale to lengthen and exhale to fold, Paschimottanasana. You can always bring the hands right next to the shins as well. We're moving into counter poses, so in these, we really lengthen out the breath. Take your time, maybe don't start with your deepest forward fold, let yourself get there over the next few breaths. We'll be here a little longer than five breaths.

Inhale to look up, exhale, release, we'll just take a little twist, take the right foot across the left knee, interlace the fingers around the right knee, lift the chest up, and then exhale, wrap the left arm around the right knee and start to twist to the right. Come back to center, take the left knee, bend the left knee, take the left foot across the right knee, wrap the arm around the left knee, and start twisting to the left. Keep your right foot flexed, toes to the ceiling, and twist and breathe. And then untwist, look forward, we have the option to take single pigeon or double. If you're taking double, then you stack the shin bones, we'll start with the left leg on top.

If you're taking single, we'll keep the left shin in front of you. As the shin comes more parallel to the top of your mat, it gets a little deeper for the hip, so depending on your range of motion, maybe you bring that foot in and then we fold out over that left leg. I'm going to take double pigeon today. Careful with your knees, you shouldn't have any pain in the knees. In all these counter poses, we can really work on calming the nervous system.

So we revved up our hearts, we went pretty deep, we did some pulses that really got our heart rate going, gave us a bit of cardio, and the purpose is really just to burn off some of that angsty energy. But now we just focus on settling the nervous system, calming down the breath, prepping ourselves for Shavasana eventually. Slowly come up, change sides, and then come back in at your own pace. You may notice a difference from side to side. Rather than forcing the tighter side to be more open, just let the tighter side be tighter.

We spend a little extra time with it, breathing, but back off of it, don't push it. Let's get started. Slowly come up, and we're going to come to a comfortable seated position. Do a little bit of breathing. So when we're in an anxious state or we're feeling on overdrive, it's really helpful to focus on more of the exhales as opposed to the inhale.

If you need to sit up on a blanket or a block, please do so. We'll just bring the hands to the knees, the shoulders down the back. Close the eyes. Again, soften the face, the jaw, the eyebrows. And in a moment, I'm going to count out the breath, and we're going to do four counts for an inhale and then eight counts for an exhale.

If that feels too long for you, then you can always shorten it, especially if it's causing you to like hyperventilate. The purpose is really to calm everything down. It's just a really good tool to have in your toolbox for anxious moments. So take a deep breath in and out on your own, and we're going to inhale for one, two, three, four. Exhale for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Inhale for one, two, three, four. Exhale for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Inhale for one, two, three, four. Exhale for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Inhale for one, two, three, four.

Exhale for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Last one. Inhale for one, two, three, four. Exhale for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Take a couple breaths here, and you can choose to stay in a meditation seated upright, or you can lie down on your backs for Shavasana.

So if you're lying down on your back, you'll have the palms open to the ceiling, arms alongside the body, the legs turned out, feet flopped open. Just let the belly rise with inhale, fall with exhale. In Shavasana, the breath gets really soft, really light. Inhale for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 78, 79, 80, 91, 92, 92. Then slowly start to stretch through the fingers and the toes.

Maybe reach your arms up overhead, take a nice stretch if you're in Shavasana. Bend the knees, roll over to your right side. press yourself up to seated. We'll take the hands to prayer position. Thank you for joining me today. Namaste and be sure to check out the PDF for this week so you can get some more journaling prompts and meditation practices and learn a little more about the heart spirit. Thank you.