If you’ve ever heard the term “heart opening” in the yoga context and wondered what that was, or maybe rolled your eyes thinking about those ridiculous yogis getting cheesy I’d love to change your thinking about the concept.
We often think about the heart as the emotional center, where our feelings are housed, and our desire for love and connection dwell. This is true in a sense-when we say our heart is full, or our heart is breaking if we actually go into the sensation of the emotion we may feel sensation around the actual heart organ. However, in our culture it can be so felt as so much more. I used to say my heart and my head never got along. Now it’s more like the mind gets in the way of the heart if I’m not mindful to let the heart lead. When we make choices with the heart and let that be our guide (usually your first natural instinct if you have been doing any sort of self reflection and soul diving), we are always met with the proper course of action. How many times have you reflected on the lament “if only I went with my heart!”after making a big decision?
The heart houses part of the true self, the you that you want to be deep down inside, and the place we retreat to when considering major life choices. Starting to seperate the “voices” of both mind and the heart are a way to tap into the heart space.
When we get stuck in the rut of listening too much of what society and others may think of us, it brings us further from the “heart focused” life. I mean ideally, don’t we all want to be our best selves coming from a place of love and compassion? If life is feeling uninspired or you feel disconnected – more in tune with material things then the deeper levels of life maybe it’s time to explore some heart opening to reconnect with your deeper Self. I can almost feel some of those eye rolls that are coming! BUT, there is a reason that for thousands of years people keep coming back to wellness practices, to yoga, to massage, to arts, to music…they are all places where the heart energy lives. The real stuff. The true you. The things that replenish us that resonate deeply – that move us. I’m telling you it’s not stuff or things or status or money that fuel true joy. We all have the ability to tap into this fountain of joy and love that is in within each of us. If it’s a struggle or you don’t know how, it’s worth exploring these heart opening practices to change your quality of life. Quality of life is it – all we really have and all we really have any influence over. If you can’t change your life, change your filter – perception is half of it. I heard recently the idea of “maybe everything is actually okay”, even when it does not seem so. Finding contentment in each moment no matter your opinion of it is “negative or positive” is a way to practice heart centering.
Physically, due to our culture and technology we hold our bodies in ways that often closedown the heart space. This includes factors from the material world like computer stations, cars, gym equipment and smart phones. Emotional factors play a role, we often cave in around the heart at times of grief or sorrow to protect the heart. It also includes cultural influences such as body image acceptance versus shame, based on what is considered desirable – for example developing young women that may hunchover to diminish their chest, and other cases that may cause one to take on a closed down front body shape. These below freezing Rochester winters also contribute to the shut down heart space pattern. External physical factors are real and can cause us to shut down around the heart, but also give the unwanted side effect of shut down IN the heart. Ever wonder why us up state New Yorkers are so “hard” compared to west coast and tropical people???
The closing down of the heart space comes from these patterns of posture (also known of as “casts” where the body takes on the shape of the technology or material such as high heels or bras), and unintentional emotional protective guarding. When we hurt, we physically shut down the heart space to protect ourselves. We also reinforce these patterns by overdevelopment of abdomen and chest muscles at the gym. Combined, we have a perfect storm for physical and emotional upset around the heart.
So when you hear about heart opening in yoga or the massage relm we are addressing the physical tissue around the heart and chest- the pectoralis major, the front neck, the upper abdomen, the diaphragm. These are the places that become closed down to circulation of both physical and energetic movement. These also happen to be the the places we associate with housing our true Self, or the “metaphysical heart”. By addressing the muscle and soft tissuetissue of the body in “heart opening practices” we are indirectly addressing the metaphysical heart too. Hopefully, we are able to receive opening in both physical and emotional worlds and can learn and grow from our own heart space teachers within us.
Even if you are not ready to go there emotionally, the heart opening physical practices are extremely beneficial, these are areas that when hold in constant tension cause a whole myriad of uncomfortable problems, including neck, shoulder and back pain, digestive and reproductive issues, lung and other organ issues, all of which directly influence your experience. It’s difficult to find joy when you are in pain.
The idea of heart opening can be intimidating for many, and with good cause. Sometimes we have been so far away from our true Self so long that it’s like a foreigner is in our body as emotions and feelings can arise that we never remembered holding onto, from events that occured recently or long ago. Our bodies are down to a cellular level a living story of all of our experiences and waiting within us to be accessed. Unfortunately we often are trained to push them aside so they become buried even deeper. Our bodies and minds do so well at protecting us, using this method as a survival mechanism, but there comes a time when it only can benefits us to face what lies within, if things in our current life are not where we want them to be. We have to face the music to hear the joy.
It can be liberating from both physical and emotional pain to do so. Part of bodywork with massage and yoga can be allowing these things to come to the surface, becoming aware of them, and then simply observing. We can choose to recall that emotions are transient, like a rain cloud they don’t stay forever, and they are not you. We can choose to observe the thoughts and memories that arise, welcome any sensation or output the body gives (tears, anger, laughter, etc.), sit with whatever comes up but with the outlook of an interested observer, rather than chronically engaging with and owning the emotion or sensation. At first this internal work can seem like we are trying to short circuit what makes us human, but if you stick with just meeting all the things in the heart space instead of owning them, you may be surprised that you become more in touch with the true you as you sort through what is you, and what is not. As a side note, while exploring these spaces it’s strongly advised by both modern and ancient health care approaches to never repress the body output of things like crying, yelling, or laughing as this can be part of our “cleaning out”.
So! As your massage therapist, yoga teacher and co-human I encourage you to find some heart opening this month, and fall in love with your Self!
Love All Ways,
Julie