Opening The Heart: Yoga as Compassion
In yoga, the heart is far more than a physical organ. It is the symbolic centre of love, compassion, forgiveness, and connection, both to ourselves and to others. While modern life often draws us into the mind, yoga invites us back into the wisdom of the heart, teaching us how to open up and feel more deeply. Through heart-opening postures, pranayama, meditation, and philosophy, yoga offers not just a physical expansion across the chest, but emotional spaciousness within our inner world.
The Heart Chakra
In yogic tradition, the energetic heart centre is known as Anahata chakra, the energetic bridge between the physical and spiritual realms. It is associated with love, empathy, trust, and emotional balance. When this centre feels open and balanced, we experience ease in relationships, self-acceptance, and a sense of belonging. When blocked or guarded, we may feel disconnected, closed off, or stuck in patterns of resentment and self-protection. Heart chakra yoga practices such as chest-opening poses, breath awareness, and meditation, help restore energetic flow through this centre, encouraging emotional healing and reconnection. In this way, the physical movements of yoga become a pathway back to wholeness.
Heart-Opening Poses
Physically, heart-opening yoga poses such as Cobra/Bhujangasana, Camel/Ustrasana, Bridge/Setu Bandhasana, and supported backbends expand the chest, shoulders, and upper spine; areas where many of us unknowingly store stress and emotional tension. These shapes stimulate the vagus nerve and encourage deeper breathing, activating the parasympathetic nervous system and creating a sense of calm and safety in the body. In Yin yoga especially, lingering in supported heart openers like Fish or Sphinx allows the body to soften gradually, often inviting emotional release alongside physical openness. Over time, these practices help us feel more spacious in posture and perspective - more receptive, less guarded, and more at ease in our own skin.
Metta; Loving-Kindness
Beyond posture, the heart in yoga is cultivated through meditation, particularly metta meditation, or loving-kindness practice. Metta invites us to silently offer phrases of goodwill first to ourselves, then to loved ones, neutral people, and eventually even those we find difficult. Research shows that compassion meditation improves emotional regulation, resilience, and feelings of connection, while reducing stress and self-criticism. In yogic terms, metta softens the armour around the heart, allowing us to relate to ourselves and others with more patience, understanding, and warmth. Over time, this gentle practice reshapes our internal dialogue, replacing harshness with kindness and self-judgement with care, and is a practice we will explore in February’s Yin and Reiki event.
Forgiveness as a Heart Practice
Forgiveness is one of the most powerful - and challenging - practices of the heart. In yoga, forgiveness is about freeing ourselves from the emotional weight of holding onto resentment. From a nervous system perspective, chronic anger and unresolved hurt keep the body in a state of contraction and vigilance. Yoga offers tools like breath, movement, meditation, and self-inquiry, that help us process these emotions somatically rather than just intellectually. Heart-focused practices gently teach us how to soften toward discomfort, allowing space for healing and release.
Living from the Heart
When open the heart in yoga, we avoid becoming emotionally unguarded, or falling into patterns of toxic positivity. You learn how to stay present with what you feel, without closing down or hardening against experience. Through heart-opening poses, metta meditation, breathwork, and compassionate self-awareness, yoga trains us to meet life with courage and softness at the same time. The heart becomes something that you can trust.