When we backbend, we stretch through our spine and open our chests. For some people this comes easily, for others it doesn't. For me it's a bit of both.

My back... bends, and that happened through discipline and practise, but my chest has a hard time keeping up. I'm not sure if it's a recent thing - I always thought the two worked quite well together, but there's something stopping my chest from opening beyond a certain point. 

Rather than putting it down to a lack of practise (because that's not a problem I have) I have decided to look into it in more depth.

If my chest isn't open, my heart isn't open.





But what exactly does having an open heart mean? That's the thing, it's different for us all and that's why our yoga can't tell us exactly how to get around walls, rather how to break them down. Yoga teaches us to search deep inside ourselves; let go of things that no longer serve us. My practise more recently has felt held back, stuck almost, and we have to experience this for a while to be able to pin point what's holding us back. I guess there was more in it than I had realised and I'd never quite grasped the spiritual side of back bending - just that it was a yummy stretch that keeps my spine healthy.

I think an open heart is a willingness to accept. We can all learn to accept what the universe brings us, learn to love every moment and believe that the universe has a plan for us. Believe in the higher good. We open our hearts to experience, to love, to explore.

So now, I'm setting myself and all of you a challenge. Open your heart, whatever that means for you. Search deep, forgive yourself easily, allow yourself to be vulnerable and let your practise remove obstacles. Accept love, change, new possibilities. I'm not 100% sure what an open heart entails, but I guess I'll find out soon enough! 

This week's intention: Love freely, limitlessly, without boundaries. 


xx Courtney