Find a comfortable seat,
Cross-legged on the floor,
To begin this heart opening practice.
Place both hands over your heart center and close your eyes.
Let the shoulders be soft and see if you can tune in to the beating of your heart beneath the palms of your hands.
Feel the rise and fall of your chest and connect with how your heart is feeling today.
One of the most beautiful emotions that our hearts can hold is that of gratitude.
So I invite you now to think of one thing that you are grateful for in your life.
This can be something small that happens every day or perhaps it is a big life-changing event.
Whatever it is,
Really notice how this gratitude sits in your heart and see if you can expand that sensation over your entire body.
Now take a deep breath in,
Reach the arms wide,
Gathering your hands above you and exhale.
Exhale,
Bring all of that gratitude back into your heart center,
Palms pressed together.
Gently allow the eyes to open and roll forward to set up for a child's pose.
The knees are together,
The hips rest back on the heels and the arms extend long in front.
Let the forehead touch down on the earth beneath you as you surrender your heart toward the earth.
Connect with your breath here.
Connect with the beating of your heart.
Allow yourself to tune in to your emotional body.
Allow yourself to feel the softness of what is happening within you.
Rising up on the fingertips now,
Begin to wander your hands over to the left hand side.
Feeling a stretch in the right side body,
Take a deep breath in.
And then exhale,
Come back through the center and take it over to the right.
Breathing in here,
Expanding through the side ribs.
And then exhale,
Come back through your center.
Look up between your palms and spreading the knees hip width apart,
Palms beneath your shoulders.
Drop the heart down,
Gaze forward as you breathe in.
And exhale,
Tuck the chin,
Imagine the back of the heart magnetized to the sky.
Inhale,
Heart moves down and forward.
Exhale,
Rounding out the spine.
Again,
Inhale,
Drop the belly,
Heart shines its light.
Exhale,
Round it out.
Come back to a neutral spine now and place the hands one step forward toward the top of your mat.
Keep the hips stacked above the knees as you sink your chest down to the floor beneath you.
Perhaps the forehead touches,
Perhaps it doesn't.
Wherever you land is perfectly okay.
You should feel this wonderful heart opener through the front of the chest and under the armpits.
And this pose is known as Anahatasana or heart melting pose.
If you wish to take it a little deeper,
You can choose to look up between your hands.
But only if that feels good for your neck.
This is quite strong,
So we'll just take one more deep breath.
And then exhale to release,
Rise back up,
And come to lie all the way down flat on your belly.
You can create a pillow with your hands,
Stacking the palms on top of one another,
And resting the forehead on the backs of your hands.
Take a deep breath in here.
Let a deep breath go.
And then when you feel ready,
Rise up to rest on the elbows,
Coming into Sphinx pose.
The hands are gripping into the mat,
And the elbows are at 90 degrees,
Arms parallel to one another.
With this grip of the fingers,
Perhaps you can pull the heart forward,
Shining that wonderful light radiating from your heart center.
The legs and the feet are soft.
And the gaze is slightly forward.
Take one more breath in here.
And exhale,
Let it go.
And from here,
We will come into a spinal twist.
So taking your right arm,
Thread it underneath the left armpit,
Reaching it as far as it can go.
Draw your left knee up in toward your chest,
And then take your left arm all the way over the body,
Arms spread wide,
Heart open,
And landing in your spinal twist.
Both shoulder blades should work to be firmly planted on the earth beneath you.
And the head can rest in any direction that feels comfortable.
From here,
Using the left arm,
Draw three big circles across the body,
Sweeping motion to open up the shoulder and the heart space.
And then take it back,
Three big circles in the opposite direction.
Gently bring your left arm back across the body to meet the right,
And straightening out through that left leg,
Come back to where we began in sphinx pose.
Take a breath here to recenter the spine,
And then take it over to the other side.
Left arm reaches underneath right armpit,
Right knee bends up toward the body,
And right arm expands wide.
Finding your spinal twist,
Softening the shoulders,
And then taking three big circles with that right arm in one direction,
And three big circles in the other direction.
Once complete,
Take that right arm back over toward the left,
And this time draw both knees in toward your chest,
And come to lie flat on your back.
Take a squeeze of the knees and a gentle rock left to right,
As you massage the lower spine into the floor beneath you.
Then begin to plant the feet on the earth,
And press the soles of the feet together as the knees fall out wide.
Both hands rest on top of one another over the heart center,
As you land in supta baddha konasana.
You can reconnect with that sensation of gratitude.
Reconnect with any sensations that are happening in your heart center.
Let your breath be strong and steady.
Let your heart stay open.
And if you choose to rest here a little longer,
You are welcome to stay exactly as you are.
If you are ready for movement,
Then bring the knees back in toward the chest,
And roll over to one side.
Keeping your eyes closed,
Gently push your way up,
And lay back up to a comfortable seat,
Hands connecting at the heart.
The love in me sees the love in you.
Together and to each other we say,
Namaste.
