You can’t soften your heart without strengthening it.

This is a profound lesson that we’ll embrace in today’s new yoga practice.

Think about wheel pose; it’s a back bend posture that demands expansion, so a softening of the heart, but it also requires a strong foundation. We can open, open, open all we want, pushing into our back bend as hard as we can, but if there’s no support, we compromise the experience.

On your mat, this leads to soreness, discomfort, and injury. Off your mat, this leads to a spiraling effect of disconnection.

Related: Air Element Yoga to Open Your Heart

When we don’t strengthen first, it’s so very difficult to…….

• to love ourselves
• to accept ourselves
• to love others
• to be in healthy relationships
• to not be judgmental
• to extend compassion
• to connect with our heart’s desires
• to follow our heart’s desires
• to be of service to the planet

All of the above are heart chakra lessons and since you know I’m kinda-sorta obsessed with the system, I am doing my best to weave the teachings into our practices and conversations.

So on the mat today, you can expect this to be our focus. We’ll do soft postures like belly shoulder-stretches, sphinx pose with cat and cow (my favvv), crocodile pose, thread the needle, and puppy pose. We’ll also do strong postures like forearm planks and an entire sequence of belly back bend postures.

At the end, it’s my intention that you feel a sense of wholeness. So you can step off your mat and do all of this:

• Love yourself, so you can wholeheartedly love others.
• Stop judging yourself so harshly, so you can accept others.
• Hear your heart’s desires, so you can take action that matters.
• Sense your center, so you can live from this power.

Related: Connect with + balance your chakras with the Cleanse Your Chakra Series

Interested in stepping off your mat and feeling like this? Then unroll your mat and come join me.

Meet ya there,

Allie, xx