Flowing from the Heart. The second of the four forms of love named by the Buddha is karuna, or compassion. Karuna is an openhearted awareness of suffering. Sometimes, we all try to protect ourselves from the pain of loving by closing our hearts to others. This creates the illusion of duality and separation. When we close our hearts, we shut out the light of happiness and pain of this constriction can become a vague depression. Keeping our hearts open, even to the point where they are pierced is a courageous and necessary practice for anyone on the path of love.  There is a great Leonard Cohen song in which he sings,

This month at Sacred Space, dedicate your asana practice to opening your heart and connecting with your fourth chakra, anahata chakra.  One way to cultivate Karuna during your yoga practice is to accept your own imperfections as something natural and human! Remind yourself that the goal is not to become perfect, but to become more self-loving. Self-love is the essence of yoga. If we can not love ourselves and be compassionate with ourselves, we can not truly give this to others.

 People in our lives will always offer their opinions of how you're living your life: from parenting to  running a business or handling your personal relationships, there will always be outside perceptions and with those perceptions, judgments. We can not change this reality, no matter how hard we try or how much we want to. All we can do is make a choice to not internalize that criticism and use it as ammunition to attack ourselves. When we become our own worst critic, we have disconnected from our power, refused to soften to ourselves, and in that moment, we temporarily forget all that we are.  The practice of yoga teaches us to become firm and steady in our resolve while we keep a "soft heart" so that we can listen to others without getting derailed: so that we can continue to follow our own intuition and calling. We are growing, and as we grow, we make mistakes in order to learn. Feeling anger, needy, inadequate are all a part of the dance of growth. We continually need to harness karuna, to forgive ourselves, have compassion for ourselves so we can grow from our mistakes rather than be burdened by them. 

When you step onto your mat, ground yourself in the intention to love.  Drop your mind down into the chest and feel the chest expand and soften as you breathe in and breathe out. As you feel this rhythm, visualize the people you love and the people who love you. Or, call forth a moment in your life when you felt the most loving and the most loved. Hold this steady in your mind and as you start to move through class, dedicate every movement, from the way you plant your hands in downward dog, to the way you plant your feet in Warrior One, to be an expression of your commitment and willingness to love.  Remember, there is only one person on the entire planet who can do the things you do and the way you do them. If we were all the same, what a boring journey life would be.  So let go and let love-

YOU ROCK! 

All love,
Kim G.