If you get Struck, don’t get stuck 💓

Apparently, I’m extra sensitive. I can get angry, sad and disgusted very very easily. Litter on the side of the road? Anger. An injured kitten? Sad. The ingredients in fast food? Disgusted! These “negative” emotions, when they hit me, hit me straight in the heart chakra. There’s a tightening to my chest muscles, a collapse of my posture, and a restriction in my breathing. Yup, it’s as if an arrow pierces my heart.

Not coincidentally, ancient yogi’s, long long ago, named the heart region of the body “anahata” which means unstruck or unhurt. They knew in order to have a healthy heart, a healthy thymus, disease-free lungs, and healthy breasts, emotions and all toxic things need to pass through. If you get struck, don’t get stuck. It’s in your best interest to mend your heart, as soon as possible. 

There are two types of movement that can help heal a hurt heart. The first kind of movement is gentle cardio. Increasing the heart rate in a non-intense way, deepens the breath, warms up the body and softens the area of the heart. Look at heart disease in both men and women – it’s severely minimized in people who take a daily walk.

The second kind of movement that heals a struck heart is heart openers, also known as back extensions or back bends. Above, I demonstrate a classic heart opener, Ustrasana, Camel Pose. Cobra Pose is a heart opener. Wheel Pose is a heart opener. Dancer Pose is a heart opener. A big huge inhalation is technically a heart opener.

Heart openers stretch the front body, doing two things: 1. releasing tension and trapped emotion, and 2. creating space for new “clean” energy to flow on through. Both the physical body and the energetic body benefit from heart openers, and big time.

Grief, despair, heartache…it ain’t all rainbows and sunshine here on planet Earth – that’s the way it goes for all of us. We might as well welcome all the feels, but make a pact with ourselves to not let the low vibe emotions linger for too long.

 So yeah, “Anahata” means unhurt or unstruck, but recently learned it also means intact, which resonated with me right away. This “new” definition inspired a sweet mantra, my heart is anahata.
And so it is, figuratively and literally. Here’s to movement helping us stay unstruck, unhurt, and intact.
Let’s Move! 🤗