Welcome to this short,
Heart-opening yoga practice.
This practice invites us to lead with the heart,
To notice the times in which we subtly close in on the chest and the shoulders and the breath,
And it offers a way to gently reopen the front body,
Not forcing openness,
But supporting spaciousness and nourishment.
So you're always invited to move in a way that feels supportive,
To make the movement your own,
To adjust to your own body and what it's able to do,
And also to rest at any time.
So we can do this practice standing or you can remain seated if that feels more supportive.
And whether you're seated or standing,
Just feel your feet on the floor and let the spine rise naturally and allow the shoulders to soften.
When you feel ready,
You can place one hand on the chest and one on the belly.
And notice the movement of breath beneath your hands,
Perhaps sensing into the heart area gently being breathed and simply noticing what is here as you take some natural breaths.
And now on an in-breath,
Gently lift the shoulders up towards the ears and as you exhale,
Just allow the shoulders to soften down.
So we're inhaling,
Bringing the shoulders up to the ears.
And when you're ready to exhale,
You can also breathe out through the mouth,
See what that feels like.
And now beginning some gentle shoulder rolls,
Inhaling,
Shoulders come forwards and up,
And exhaling,
Around and back down.
And repeating a few times,
Linking the movement with your breath,
Loosening what often carries the weight of our caring or our worrying.
Releasing through the shoulders,
Feeling into the upper chest and the collarbones and the back body.
And when that feels complete for you,
You might end this with inhaling one more time,
Bringing the shoulders right up to the ears,
Holding it a little bit longer.
And then as you exhale,
Just softening the shoulders down.
And now when you feel ready,
You can take the hands and place them on the shoulders,
Right hand on right shoulders,
Fingers in front,
Thumb behind,
And left hand on left shoulder,
Fingers in front,
Thumb behind.
And very gently,
Try to keep the elbows level as you inhale,
Twisting gently to the left,
And exhale to the centre.
And then slowly inhale,
Rotating to the right,
And exhaling to the centre.
Repeating this one more time to each side,
Maybe slowing it down a little bit more,
So you can notice inhaling to the left,
Exhaling centre,
And gently twisting to the right,
And exhaling centre.
Releasing the hands,
Letting them rest by the sides of the body.
And once again,
Just pausing to notice the echo of sensation through the body.
And now if you can,
Bring your hands to the back of the lower back,
So that the fingers are just holding the lower back and the thumbs are holding the hip,
And use it as an opportunity to inhale,
Lift the breastbone up,
Drawing the shoulders back,
Letting the front of the chest widen,
And on the out-breath,
Returning to neutral.
And so repeating slowly,
Two or three times,
Inhaling gently,
Lifting the breastbone,
Feeling that opening through the heart,
Drawing the shoulders back,
And exhaling,
Releasing.
Taking your time to breathe right down into the heart and right down into the lower back,
Feeling that lifting through the breastbone,
And a gentle returning to neutral in your own time.
Taking a deep breath in through the nose,
And a slow breath out through the mouth,
Pausing just to feel and notice.
And now when you're ready,
You can draw the palms of both hands to the front of the heart centre.
It's kind of like a little prayer gesture,
Palm meeting palm in front of the heart centre.
And now on an inhale,
You can bring this prayer gesture up towards the ceiling,
And then open the arms out into a wide V overhead,
And when you're ready to exhale,
Draw the hands back together towards the heart centre.
So on the in-breath,
Palms are together,
Bringing the arms up,
And when you feel ready,
Separating the palms and opening the arms into a wide V,
Stretching as far as feels comfortable,
And on the out-breath,
The hands come back to the heart centre.
Moving with your own breath,
In your own rhythm,
Feeling into this gesture of opening wide as you extend the arms up,
And returning back to your heart centre.
This continued gesture of giving out and gathering back in.
When that feels complete for you,
Maybe doing one more slowly,
Taking your time to really feel the breath and the movement,
Ending with the out-breath and the hands meeting in front of the heart centre,
And pausing.
And now keeping the hands palm to palm in front of the heart centre,
On your inhale,
Open the arms wide,
The chest broad,
And so the arms are parallel to the ground.
And as you exhale,
Just wrap the arms across the body in a self-embrace.
So as you inhale,
Opening the arms wide like wings,
You might lift the gaze slightly,
And on the out-breath,
Wrapping the arms around yourself,
Right hand to left shoulder,
Left hand to right shoulder.
Inhaling,
Opening,
Feeling the back of the heart widening,
And exhaling,
Self-embrace.
Continuing in your own time,
Exploring this gesture of opening and coming back to self-care.
And now when you're ready,
Let the hands come to rest over the heart,
Left hand on the heart and right hand on top.
Allow the eyes to close or soften,
And feel the natural rhythm of breathing in the chest.
Noticing any sensations of warmth or space or emotion.
And gently,
Without needing to change anything,
Resting with what is here.
Noticing any subtle shifts.
And as you return to the rest of your day or night,
See if you can carry this quality of gentle heart awareness with you,
As a way of staying open and grounded.
You can thank yourself for taking this time.
And you can return to this practice at any point that you feel you need that extra heart connection.
