The Key to the Heart is Found in Mysterious Places
When in doubt I start my practice dancing. Whether I’m tired, hyper, full of food, tight, or sore, one of my favorite ways to start doing yoga is by shaking my booty. I recommend dancing as a start to most activities. Dancing is healing and rejuvenating and a great way to check in with your body and spirit. Today, dancing revealed a message from my heart. It wanted attention and it wanted more space.
Asana Practice: My first pose was a gentle back bend from tadasana (standing with arms raised). I think its important to create muscle memory of a key action, early in a class. Since my session would be focused on heart opening, I wanted to incorporate back bending immediately and frequently upon stepping on the mat.
There is an important relationship between heart opening and the lower and middle back. In order to fully open the heart, there must be length and extension throughout the entire spine equally. I’ve noticed that if I don’t adequately open my lower and middle back, then my neck has insufficient extension to maintain a proper neck arch. Specifically, I have to assure that my psoas muscles and hip flexors are not impeding on my spine’s natural flow.
I have very tight psoas muscles and hip flexors from years of running and biking, and in order to get a proper arch of my spine in back bends, I have to warm up and open these stubborn muscles early in my practice. I spent a lot of time in low lunge, focusing specifically on the back bend variation and quad stretch variation. In addition, I did two rounds of the vinyasa sequence that Shiva Rea calls radha krishna. This amazing flow back and forth between a deep hip opener and a back bend/quad stretch changes the body rapidly.
A personal success story for me today, is that I have finally, after months, released my stuck left SI, or sacroiliac, joint.
This allows me to press my sacrum forward, while turning my tailbone under gently, during back bends, and to feel mobility through my spine that I haven’t felt, maybe ever. This subtle shift sent ripples through my practice and allowed me to gain new ground in all my back bends. This was particularly noticeable in camel pose (ustrasana) and ardha chandrasana chapasana.
It is always interesting to me to see what other parts of my body open when I’m focusing on something specific. Today, while focusing on opening my heart, psoas and hip flexors, I found space in my hamstrings, most notably in downward dog (adho muhka svanasana). I was so open and happy in downward dog, that I asked a fellow yoga friend of mine to lay on my back as an adjustment. This lovely fellow happens to also be a massage therapist and he helped me to settle my fascia in to a new pattern, perhaps forever. With my heels grounded and steady I could fully surrender in to the pose. We stayed in this position for well over five minutes. I’m very interested to see whether this openness will remain through tomorrow.
And just for fun…
If you ever have access to a yoga friend, try this pose. The person on top can also lift one leg at a time, and the person on the bottom can lift their arms off the ground. Not only is it fun, but it feels amazing.
Lessons Learned: Opening one’s heart can have unexpected results. I set out for a few well-intentioned back bends and ended up playing with a friend and having the best downward dog of my life.
Additionally, the key to opening up both the emotional heart and the physical body for back bends requires looking to all the places that hold you back. Again this requires looking at both the emotional and physical body. Where are the sticky parts of your spine, and what seemingly unrelated parts of your body must you free in order to find full extension? Similarly, where in your life are you being held back, and how can you fully extend into the radiant being of light that you truly are?
