Heart chakra and the beginning of the spiritual journey

When I teach yoga, shavasana is always the special moment when I try to release myself completely and to allow the higher, divine suggestions to flow through me. At this point there is no plan in my head as to what to do, there is only one remaining aspiration: to get into a meditative mood as much as possible so that something wise can be articulated through me to the participants. What is essential is that I could contribute to the positive energies of the room with my own introspection and to let the miracle of the day manifest.

And the miracle has always happened so far. Every time, I am also rather surprised over how creatively relaxation is induced. I continue to say something different for each class, and in that moment I can be sure that some interesting thought will come to "help me out in my complete unpreparedness". The other day, I guided them through their body parts and then we stopped at the heart. All of a sudden the flow started and the thought presented itself, "Tell them about self-love". I asked my students to listen to their heartbeats, and to feel the spread of love to all corners of their bodies. And then, as if it wasn't me, it sounded "Just love yourself a little".

Funnily enough, on the way home sitting on the tram reading Caroline Myss's 'Anatomy of the Soul', I arrived to a chapter where she talks about the Anahata, the heart chakra, and how important it is to learn to love yourself. This is the stepping stone towards all spiritual development. Only if you learn to love and accept yourself, then you will be able to become the source of love towards others. Although this is rather difficult since none of us was born with the inherited capacity of self-love. On the other hand, our own non-acceptance and  emotional self-ignorance will produce toxins in our body and soul, and will poison all our relationships towards our fellow human beings. We have a natural need to feel love and compassion, peace and harmony and if all these are missing, our physical condition and health will suffer. Hm, interesting thought, and how pertinent for a yoga class.

Because many come to yoga for health prevention reasons, and it is crucial to introduce them, as soon as at begginner's level, to this essential truth of yoga that our body, mind and soul are reciprocally influential. According to yoga a healthy mind leads to a healthy body and vice versa. If you start by working your body and make it strong and focussed. simultaneously your mental strength will automatically grow. Yoga exercises incredibly increase concentration too. Common sense is enough to realise that our body needs to be worked with love, otherwise we go towards self-destruction. Therefore, it is an essential point in yoga practice that all the stretches should be done with love and care. Of course, it is not an encouragement to baby yourself, but to work within the limits of due cautiousness. Effort should be there, but in the same time respect and love yourself, so act in a balance of this duality. 

This approach, however, might not be evident in our present world of expectations. In most of the situations, we simply cannot limitlessly do what is good for us, we always have to consider someone else, the interests of the company, the colleagues, the schoolmates or even those of the family. To a certain extent this is all fine, but I have the impression that there is only a few who truly understands what self-love really is. This is not about that if you're feeling blue you stuff yourself, or as a women you satisfy your shopping obsession to cheer you up. It is not about this or about being selfish and arrogant ignoring others' needs. It is about being ready to express that I accept and love myself. Even if in the present circumstances there is no one considering me loveable. As a human being, by virtue of birth, I have the right to be happy, healthy and live in balance in life. You shall never forget this, for if you let yourself to be moved out of this universal thruth then you will have to encounter with its mental and physical consequences.

With all this in mind, I prepared my next class with a focus on exercises working on the heart and the chest, to try to help first physically my students to find liberation. We did quite a few chest openers and backbends, among others anahatasana, setu bandhasana, cobra, urdhva mukha svanasana, purvottanasana and as the pose of the day, chakrasana, the Wheel (interesting, chakra-->anahata chakra-->chakrasana). This asana is a strong chest opener and beyond its physical effects it is known as being beneficial for releasing negative emotions, particularly fear. Backbends are generally good for facing fears, moreover in this pose the powerful opening of the chest and the accelerated breathing helps to let go of emotions as it promotes a natural sigh. Another favourite of my poses  is anahatasana, where you can literally pour your heart and all its sorrows out, the chest is hanging down towards the earth, the back stretches out nicely and in this inverted posture the heart can get a little rest.

The shavasana was again beautiful at the end of the class. The very wise voice whispered now, "Your ribcage and your chest is a Temple... the temple of your Soul", and then it let the resting people to only focus on this idea. Meanwhile I opened my eyes in a couple of minutes and peeped at them as they were lying calmly in the orange reddish light of the ambiance lighting and I felt that the energies of love are completely filling the space and everyone present.