Heart Awareness
To me, September is about new beginnings, shifting energy and beautiful sunsets!
The heart is the centre of our truth, Self, and unconditional love. As I shift through this life, my judgmental mind has an opinion on most things... but the heart is where I return to, to feel that sense of ease from my busy background thoughts (chitta vrittis). It's where I find my worth. I know that no matter how "bad" or "good" I did in life - I am made of & from love.
As most of you know, I got married this summer. I don't think I've ever been as connected to my heart centre as I am now. It's an incredible, but also vulnerable feeling at the same time to have your heart wide open to someone - and something - a new beginning. Freeing up energy blockages of the heart space requires dedication and hard work, and that work takes a lot of courage. We have to allow ourselves to feel vulnerable in order to deal with our "stuff". The tools of yoga allows me to hold myself in that space, feeling held and supported.
I've done a lot of work towards balancing my Heart Chakra (Anahata Chakra), and something that changed my perspective on how I "judge and analyse" my practice was when I learned that the heart develops before the mind does and that we are, in a sense, "growing from our hearts". A beautiful insight, right?
As an embryo, the heart is the first organ to develop, and already without a brain - we are worthy, loved, aware and deeply treasured for who we are. Before we have judgmental thoughts, we have a heart that is capable of, and holds, unconditional love. My dearest Yoga Teacher Elle Daniel taught me this, and it has really shifted my perspective!
The knowledge that we take from our head (our "base mind") and our thoughts is conditioned knowledge. From a yogic perspective, we say that this can be illusional knowledge (Avidya), which colours our mind. It's how we know the world through our heads and our ego. However, when we tap into our heart awareness - our knowledge from the heart, we access a deeper universal knowledge - our truth! We connect with the Self (with a capital S).
Essentially, yoga is a journey through the self to the Self, and all of our wisdom lies there, within the soul.
Hridaya is the sanskrit word for "The Spiritual Heart". The ancient Upanishads refers to it many times. It's not the heart as a physical organ or emotional heart, but the heart as the central seat of our consciousness - beyond body and mind. It is where Atman (the soul) resides.
The 5 elements of nature are known in Sanskrit as the Pancha Bhutas.
They are the building blocks of the universe. Every person, animal, plant and thing is composed of combinations of the Pancha Bhutas, and the Element associated with the heart space / Heart Chakra is Air. The heart & lungs are deeply connected with our respiratory system, and the more we strengthen our lung capacity, the more freely the heart energy + qualities of the heart can flow. Some of the qualities of the Heart Chakra are; courage, love, connection, compassion, loving kindness, and joy. Breath-work / Pranayama plays an essential part in my practice when I wish to allow more free flow of heart energy!
One of my favourites is "Breath of Joy. You may have done it in one of my classes already? If not, stay connected as I will be posting a practice of this soon!
How do you show yourself love?
It’s a practice!
Self-care and self-love is too often neglected. I'm speaking to myself, as well as you. It's a practice.
Here's a few of the things I do/say to practice self-love:
1: I allow myself to try and to “fail”, if I do. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't. I forgive myself for stumbling and remind myself - it's growth!
2: I treat myself like I AM LOVE.
3: I spend time with people I love, and send loving thoughts to the people who need it. *P.S. the people I send love to is often people I have a strained relationship with.
4: I put on my "Songs For My Soul" playlist to feed my soul.
5: I meditate.
6: I remind myself that I was loved and worthy before my brain started giving me illusions of unworthiness.
When we show love towards ourselves, we become better capable of loving others. What do you do to show yourself LOVE?
(feel free to share with me in the comments)
