| Opening the heart“When all the knots of the heart are broken, then the mortal becomes immortal.” (Katha Upanishad 6.15)
One day studying the teachings of my Guru Paramahansa Yogananda, I read “It is slow but sure suicide to walk, sit, rest, talk, or lie down with a caved-in chest. The cells of the lungs become starved thereby, and maladjustments of the vertebrae often occur.” Because of the strong impact this statement had on me, I decided that the focus of what I wanted to offer in my yoga classes would be the opening of the heart center. As we open the heart center, we are simultaneously correcting bad posture, opening the chest, shoulders, and lungs, allowing the life force to flow into the body and, therefore, changing our defensive attitude into a courageous, open, “ready to face anything” attitude. That inspired me to call that heart awakening practice Anahata Yoga, which is the Sanskrit word for heart chakra. It literally means unbeaten, unhurt, unstruck, that is a “ready to face anything” attitude with an open and courageous heart. — Ana Costa, founder of Anahata Yoga |
