Singers are all about the heart. One of my students put this into words best, after attending a yoga class concentrating on the chakra system. The best example of the heart chakra, she said, was seeing the bows at the end of an opera performance. Singers open their arms out to their sides, opening up the heart chakra. This symbolizes how they have shared their hearts with the audience through their performance that evening. Then they bow and bring their hands to their heart, a humble gesture of accepting the gratitude of the audience members.
The heart chakra is at the base of the breastbone, the heart, the upper chest, and upper back. It is the balancing chakra that connects the lower three chakras to the upper three chakras. On the physical level, this chakra relates to the heart, blood, lungs, and the circulatory, immune, and endocrine systems. Negative experiences with this chakra can manifest as asthma, high blood pressure, and heart- and lung-related problems. An unnaturally protected heart chakra presents as a hunchback posture with shoulders rounded and chest collapsed.
If you feel like your life is full of genuine loving relationships where you give and receive love freely, including the relationship you have with yourself, your heart chakra is in balance. Love and compassion begin with the heart, along with responsibility and kindness towards others. An unbalanced heart chakra can manifest through loneliness, shyness, co-dependency, possessiveness, lack of empathy, or an inability to forgive.
The following sequence of poses open, energize, and balance the heart chakra. You may add a new dimension to yoga poses by repeating a heart chakra mantra such as “love without ceasing” while practicing. Another technique is to remember what we love and appreciate while holding a pose.
Pranayama
Yoga breathing techniques bring more air into the body to open up and energize the heart chakra. See last month’s article, “The Empowering Third Chakra,” for an explanation of two breathing techniques: Kapalabhati and Bastricka breath.
Tree pose with arms open and upward
This balancing pose (see picture) helps to balance the heart chakra. It also serves as an ideal pose to set an intention on your heart chakra by placing your hands in prayer position as you begin the pose.
Come into Mountain pose and plant your feet firmly on the earth. Bring your weight to your left foot and slowly lift your right leg into Tree pose, either above or below the knee. Imagine your left and right legs pushing together with equal force. Bring your hands into prayer position at your heart, keeping the intention on your heart, a gentle gaze in your eyes and an inner smile on your mouth. Focus on the core muscles.
Bring your arms up and open your heart to the day or the moment. Slowly come back down to Mountain pose. Now bring your leg to the right foot and repeat. Continue breathing as you return to Mountain pose.
Downward Dog pose
This pose should be learned in a class setting to prevent any injury. The heart is the energetic center for this pose. Facing down toward the earth centers and balances the heart chakra. This pose allows you to lead with the heart, not the head.
Come onto the floor on your hands and knees. Place knees directly below hips and hands slightly forward of your shoulders. Turn your toes under. Exhale and lift your knees away from the floor. Keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor. Then bring your tailbone upwards as you push your top thighs back and stretch your heels toward the floor. Keep the head between the upper arms; don’t let it hang. Then bend your knees to the floor and rest in Child’s pose.
Bridge pose (or backbends, for more advanced students)
This is another pose that allows the heart to lead by positioning the heart higher than the head (see picture). It develops the trust and surrender to help the heart open completely. Backbend can be a scary pose. Fear brings contraction to the body while trust brings openness. Backbend can help melt away the fear and bring openness.
To do the bridge pose, begin by lying on your back with your legs bent. Place the soles of your feet to the earth with your legs placed a little wider than the width of your hips. Keeping your heels a few inches from your buttocks, place the palms of your hands to the earth, and angle your toes in to protect your knees. Begin to roll up and down one vertebra at a time, inhaling up and exhaling down to awaken your spine.
When you are ready, bring your body up into full bridge pose, rolling one shoulder back at a time, moving your arms toward each other, and if you feel comfortable, clasping your hands under your back. Keep your chin lifted away from your chest, to stimulate the thyroid gland and to open up your throat.
In this pose, you can sense the diaphragm rising and falling. Inhale and open the chest and heart chakras. Now come into the counter pose by coming down one vertebra at a time, and bring your nose to your knees.
Cobra pose
Begin by lying face down. Arms bent, place your hands face down on the mat underneath your shoulders, spreading each finger (see picture). Bring your forehead to the earth, toes pointed, feet together for the traditional Cobra pose, or feet hip-width apart to be easier on the back. Engage your abdominals and breathe in as you gently push up, lifting your head and chest off the ground and tilting your head back. Keep your elbows bent and drawn in close to the body.
Continue breathing evenly as you hold the pose, and as you exhale, slowly release down. Do yoga with your eyes by looking up as high as you can. Keep breathing deeply into your body.
This pose further opens the chest and heart chakras, making space for more air while strengthening your back. As you exhale, slowly release down to your mat.
Camel pose
This powerful chest opening pose should initially only be done with the supervision of a teacher.
Begin in a kneeling pose with the hips lined up directly over the knees. Reach your hands back, one at a time, grasping your right ankle with your right hand and your left ankle with your left hand. Then, while holding your ankles, bring the hips forward so that they are over the knees. Beginners may curl the toes under and come to the balls of the feet if you cannot reach the heels when feet are flat. Arch your back and open your chest. Let the head relax, following the gentle curvature of the spine. If this is uncomfortable for your neck, tuck your chin in against your chest.
Hold the pose for as long as is comfortable, concentrating on the heart chakra. To release the pose, exhale as you press the head forward toward your shoulders and lower your sitz bones onto your ankles, allowing the torso
to follow.
Passive Chest Opener
My teacher called this pose the cannoli roll. Roll up a yoga blanket like a cannoli and place it on the floor. Place your spine on the blanket with your head supported. Open your arms out to the side. This restorative pose uses gravity to gently open the chest, resulting in an opening of the heart chakra.
Bow pose (not an official yoga pose but a YogaSing pose)
Visualize yourself giving a stellar performance and taking a bow in front of thousands of adoring fans. Inhale while opening your arms, exhale on the close. Repeat this as many times as you wish.
Namaste
“Nama” means bow, “as” means I, and “te” means you, so Namaste literally means “I bow to you.” Place your hands together at the heart chakra, close your eyes, and bow your head. You may set the intention on your heart or the heart of another. This helps to balance and tone the heart chakra.
Most yoga classes end with Namaste, an act of honoring. If you bring the concept of Namaste into your life fully, honoring yourself and those in your life, your heart chakra will remain healthy and balanced. The opera singer’s bow is in essence, a glorified Namaste.
