I’m blessed to be part of a “power trio” discussion group that meets by phone each week. For the past four or five months, we have used Brene Brown’s “Unlocking Us” as the jump off point for our conversation. We take turns leading and the leader picks which episode we are going to discuss. The discussions are lively, loving, and much looked forward to each week.
This week we are discussing a recent episode entitled, “Strong Backs, Soft Fronts, Wild Hearts”. The episode left a big impression on me and I feel these ideas of having a strong back, soft front and wild heart are very relevant to a yoga practice. In this post, I’m going to explain the connections that I’ve made.
In my classes, the spine is central to the poses I chose for the practice. Keeping the spine healthy and strong is a primary goal. In the beginning part of a session, we warm up all six directions in which the spine is able to move: twisting, arching, forward folding and stretching from side to side. These movements are all key to our mobility.
When I hear the words, “soft front”, I immediately think of all my beloved heart opening poses that get built into a practice. In fact, one of my cornerstone cues in performing little backbends is to say, “let your heart shine”. Opening and exposing the front of our bodies can be a very vulnerable feeling and yet, these positions often give us the greatest rewards by offering great emotional release.
And, finally, we get to the idea of having a “wild heart”. What does this phrase mean to you? For me, it means a sense of playfulness, lightness, and brave enough to speak our truth – a heart that is free to express itself. Our yoga practices offer a path towards this, with patience and perseverance if we need to do work in this area.
And, then there is breathing: inhaling and exhaling. If we look at these activities, metaphorically, we can see exhaling as our output into the world – all of our doing, giving, working, producing. It’s easy to buy into having to “exhale” all the time without replenishing ourselves with inhalation. If we want to continue to do/give/produce; i.e., “exhale”, we have to “inhale” — in other words, we need to recharge our batteries.
This week I’m leading a Restorative Practice online through Our Community Well on Friday night and I’m going to go more deeply into these ideas. I would love for you to join me.
All my best, Arlene
I love reading your insights about how this episode connects to yoga practice. The balance of the inhale and exhale is especially relevant to me.
Yeah, that inhale and exhale part really got me too!