Opening the Heart

We hear it all the time in yoga class, especially in backbends: “Open your heart!” “Lead with your heart!” “Reach your heart up and push it forward!” The problem is, I’m not really sure that we actually want to do that. Not exactly. You see, anatomically, the heart attaches to the back of the breathing diaphragm via the pericardium, a fascial sac that wraps the heart and interfaces with the lungs and the breathing diaphragm. When we inhale, the breathing diaphragm presses down; and, if we apply bandha, the pelvic floor widens. On exhale, the breathing diaphragm domes up; and the pelvic floor condenses and lifts slightly. So, when we inhale and the breathing diaphragm spreads and drops, which it does; then the heart also drops down slightly and rocks back, massaged between the lungs. In fact, each breath is an opportunity to allow the heart to rest.

So, why would we ask our students to push their hearts forward in a backbend? Go ahead and do it. Push your heart forward and up as you reach your arms up over your head. Now, do it again. But this time, pause. Close your eyes and allow your heart to rest back and down on that inhale as you reach up. As you exhale, continue to allow the heart to rest on the cradle of the diaphragm. With each breath, allow the heart to be supported and massaged by the lungs. How does that feel?

I understand that we’re probably asking people to do is to open up the heart space – in an effort to encourage emotional opening, or to counteract physical restriction and collapse of the front chest. But, in giving the direction to push the heart or lead with it, we’re asking people to do something that actually goes against the natural rhythm and movement that the breath itself creates; we’re asking them to do something that causes a restriction of the breath! I believe there’s a softer way.

We can (and we can ask our students to) lift the sternum and rib cage while resting the heart on the back of the breathing diaphragm. This way, the heart stays soft and quiet. We aren’t giving our bodies mixed messages, but rather we’re encouraging the natural movement of the heart and breath together. I think it’s much more productive to encourage students to soften the heart/heart space rather than encourage them to push through the heart, which will lead to the hardening of its fascial sac – the pericardium – and ultimately, the heart itself.

Over the years, I’ve resisted that direction of reaching with the heart, or pushing the heart forward/up/anywhere. Following that direction just never felt right to me in my body. As a matter of fact, it causes me to become fairly anxious! I already struggle with anxiety and depression, so those “heart opening” backbends are arguably poses of which I should avail myself, and do . . . But not in that way. I’ve found that I’m much more able to find the lift of the chest with the heart resting back than I am by initiating that movement with the heart itself.

In Chinese medicine, the heart is the storehouse of Joy. Its element is Fire. “The power of fire comes from its ability to liberate heat and light and realize joy and fulfillment.” Beinfield, Harriet, and Efrem Korngold. Between Heaven and Earth; A Guide to Chinese Medicine, (New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 1991), 189. But it needs to be tempered. Too much fire/heart can cause mania and burnout. We want the uplift, but not too much! Again, I believe that what we really want to ask our students to do is to soften the heart.  Not push it, or even reach it. Surely we want to encourage our students to love and allow love; we want them to experience the softness of a heart that trusts. But I don’t think we really want anyone to push her or his heart anywhere. I think we want them to learn to feel. And we learn to feel by softening and slowing down – paying attention to what we do and how it makes us feel. A friend of mine recently posted a beautiful quote by Cynthia Ocelli:

For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out, and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction”

Yes. And in order for the seed to crack open, it requires moisture. Softness. Richard Freeman mentions it in his audio lecture series, The Yoga Matrix: The Body as a Gateway to Freedom. We are like little seeds. We water the seeds, and they soften so that the spirit living within can emerge and begin to be known. A seed in dry soil isn’t going to grow until the rain comes. The rain softens the ground and the seed’s covering so that the seed can open up and make its way towards the sun.  We need a balance of softening and effort in the body, so the soul can make itself known, much like the seed in the soil needs water and sunlight to grow!  

Now, if pushing or reaching with your heart makes you feel good, protected, and ready to love then do so! But if it’s never really worked for you – if you’ve ever wondered what an open heart even is – well then, try softening the whole operation. Try allowing your heart to rest while it nourishes the entire body/mind with precious life-giving blood. Its steady rhythm keeps your body’s time. When coming into any back bend, try lifting the sternum without pushing the heart. See if you can find the buoyancy that the lungs provide the thoracic halves (the rib cage), and allow the lungs to massage the heart, softening it back as the breathing diaphragm carries it along on the journey of the breath.

Bhavani Maki, in her book The Yogi’s Roadmap: The Patanjali Yoga Sutra as a Journey to Self Realization writes, “As we become empowered by our own personal process of healing, our hearts are rendered open, revealing astonishing insights hidden within.” I think one of the key words in that statement is “rendered.” When we practice yoga – asana or otherwise – we progress along a path of spiritual healing; whatever that may look like for each of us is going to be different. It is in the practice and in the surrender to Self where our hearts are opened. We don’t have to DO anything. We simply trust and allow. (Simply!!!)

So, although I may be accused of splitting hairs, I believe that our language is important; what we ask our students to do bears examining. I think we all want to encourage our students to open their hearts in whatever way is safe for them. And I believe the most useful way is to soften and allow, not to push or force. The heart will be rendered open as a result of the practice. We don’t need to push anything anywhere. Do less; feel more. ☺