Yoga is the Journey of the Self to the Self through the Self – Patanjali

If you were to understand yoga by way of the images served up on the internet you would assume that yoga has to do with twisting your body into different postures called asanas.

This understanding of yoga is the equivalent of living on the ground floor of a Palace with 7 floors and that has a penthouse at the top. Most Western yoga practice is about making the ground floor more comfortable. Yoga in the East is about the acent to living in the Penthouse.

Consider Yoga for the heart chakra as the practice of living on the 4th floor that gives you access to the higher floors.

When you begin the practice of Yoga you have to start somewhere. Most people start the practice of yoga with the practice of Hatha Yoga.  The focus is on increased flexibility and fitness.

There is nothing wrong with this but that the least aspect of Yoga with its focus on the body.

The clear understanding of Yoga is even more essential where your focus relates to the heart chakra which in the view of this writer is central to the 7-chakra system.

The REAL purpose of all yoga paths and styles is the experience of union. This is union of the personal with the Divine. This is the source of all fulfilment and the purpose of your life.

The way in which this union is experienced is by way of an open-heart chakra.  The German Christian mystic Miester Eckhart (1260-13280) describes the experience when he declares: –

When the higher flows into the lower the lower is transformed by the higher – Miester Eckhart.

The higher relates to the top 3 chakras that connect to the highest within you. The lower three chakras relate to the personality.  The doorway between the two is the heart chakra.

Buried in your heart is a powerful knowing, telling you what you’d love to dedicate your life to. — Dr. John F. Demartini

You can practice heart chakra asanas all you want but the opening of this chakra will follow your clear intention.

The modern spiritual teacher Guy Finley states this heart chakra intention when he says: –

Your purpose is to serve Love’s purpose – Guy Finley

The Master Jesus states the yoga for heart chakra awakening when he instructs in the Lord’s prayer

Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven – Matthew 6:10

These states are the correct posture to adopt for the practice of yoga for the heart chakra.

If either of these statements above, do not align then your focus is not heart centred as understood by the chakra system.

The heart referred to in the phrase “heart chakra” relates to the spiritual heart. This is a high level of consciousness. It is where you are willing to live your life in alignment with what I call Divine Intention.

This is the central focus of your life.  With such a focus your life becomes an invitation to living from the flow of Divine Presence.

If this isn’t your focus at least there is a longing to experience the unity that is invited by the revelation of yoga and the opening of the heart chakra.

Your heart knows the way. Run in that direction. — Rumi

So if you are ready for a new adventure let’s begin to look at a sequence of yoga postures that invite heart chakra awakening.

In this presentation I share with you the spiritual and emotional dynamic that is invited by way of this yoga for the heart chakra sequence.

In this article I have not focused on the way in which the postures are physically practiced. There are more than enough videos on YouTube that share with you how any of these postures are to be practiced.

What you will not find (at least I haven’t found any) videos that share with you the spiritual and psychological aspects of these postures.

What I repeatedly emphasis is intention and attitude. This is how you work with the subtle body and the 7-chakra system.

Before we move into the practice of the yoga postures, I invite you to take time to learn about how to begin with setting the scene for the practice of yoga for the heart chakra.

• The Environment.
• The Hand Gesture.
• Entering the Body Temple.
• Yoga for the Heart Chakra Sequence.

So shall we begin the adventure into the new possibility of awakening the heart.

I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats. – Eckhart Tolle – Spiritual Teacher

Practicing Yoga for the Heart chakra is a sacred endeavour.

Wherever you stand when practicing heart chakra yoga is holy ground – grounding in wholeness. This grounding in wholeness is the essence of Yoga.

When I view articles on yoga for the heart chakra there isn’t much said about the importance of the environment.

Yoga for the heart chakra is I think a private practice. You do it in the privacy of your own room or place that you hold sacred or reverence in some way.

This also has to be a place of safety where you can let go physically, emotionally, psychologically and allow Divine Intention to flow.

The practice of yoga for the heart chakra will alter you from within. This will be reflected in your outer environment.

Whether or not you go to Church or other religious gathering place the attitude to adopt is one of reverence.

You are practicing being available to the fullness of Divine Intention and the revelation of the highest within you.

And if the only prayer you ever said was “Thank You,” that would be enough – Meister Eckhart

To begin a series of yoga postures for awakening the heart chakra let’s begin with a lovely hand gesture that is called Anjali Mudra.

This gesture is recognised as a hand gesture connected to invoking an attitude of prayer. It helps to establish the intention to reconnect with your Higher Self. It is a posture and attitude of reverence.

What Is Mudra?

‘Mudra ‘can be translated as ‘seal’ or ‘gesture.’ When we do a mudra, it acts as a seal or bond which brings our whole body in alignment with the energy associated with the mudra.

The essence of postures for the heart chakra is the attitude of prayer.  This is not prayer as normally understood for centuries and which gets you nowhere.

This posture of prayer is not prayer as some form of petitioning God.

It’s not a form of Cosmic ordering whereby you demand of Divine Intention “Where’s my stuff?” (Caroline Myss) whether that be by way of wealth, health, or relationship.

This is prayer as a posture of trust and receptivity.  It is an emptying out of your desires and demands other than one central desire.  This is the desire to be a servant of Love’s purpose.

With most every image on the web that show yoga for the heart chakra postures there are none that invite a posture of prayer and receptivity.

This attitude is what the modern mystic Joseph Goldsmith (The Infinite Way) refers to as “an atmosphere of prayer.”

This is the atmosphere you are required to commit too in order that yoga for the heart chakra is effective.

The body is a temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in – B.K.S. Iyengar

The body is the temple of the spirit.  This is the “Church made without hands.” It is from within this Temple that the Presence of the Divine emanates.

Your work as advised by the poet Robert Browning is to open a way for this imprisoned splendour to escape.

The opening is by way of opening the heart chakra.

There is an inmost centre in us all, where truth abides in fullness;….and, to know, rather consists in opening out a way where the imprisoned splendour may escape, then in effecting entry for a light supposed to be without. Robert Browning – English poet and playwright – 1812-1889

This practice of yoga for the heart chakra is not for your glory but for the opening of the way in which the purpose of LOVE is to be expressed through you.

This is the attitude of mind required if your yoga practice for opening the heart chakra is to have any impact. How the Light within is to manifest without is not your concern.  Your intention is to make your heart centre available for the Light to radiate from within you.

While on the shop and street I gazed
My body of a sudden blazed;
And twenty minutes more or less
It seemed, so great my happiness,
That I was blessed and could bless.

Vacillation IV – W. B. Yeats

So are you ready to explore yoga for the heart chakra that awakens within you the KNOWING that you are blessed and can bless.

When we develop the heart chakra, we begin to influence the surroundings with our spiritual presence – Swami Dhyan Giten

There are any number of articles detailing the physical nature of the postures related to yoga for the heart chakra. My focus here is to invite you to begin with a heart awakening attitude.

Some of the postures lead themselves more easily to the cultivation of a heart chakra awakening attitude than others.

However, consider this series of postures as a whole rather than separate postures.

The basic postures that I outline for your yoga for the heart chakra sequence, in order of performance, are:

• Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
• Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Salute)
• Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend)
• Virasana (Hero Pose)
• Balvasana (Child Pose)
• Balvasana Version 2 (Child Pose Version 2)
• Return to Tadasana in Reverse Order.

Some of these postures flow more easily into one another than others. Again it is more important to stay with the correct attitude rather than angst about the correctness of the physical posture.

First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is – Donovan

The yoga for the heart chakra begins with Tadasana or mountain pose. This is where you learn to be open and upstanding.

Mountain pose is symbolic of the journey to the realisation of your full potential that you are here to share with the world. To take this journey you need to have your feet on the ground.

You are here to embody the glory of Divine Intention as it created you to uniquely express through you.

The Tadasana pose invites you to be present and to feel what it is to be standing in a body temple. This is the beginning of the spiritual invitation “Be still and KNOW.”

This is KNOWING beyond your intellect. This is KNOWING who and why you are. This is the KNOWING of the heart in communion with Divine Intention.

Tadasana allows you to take a moment to enter within the body temple before you proceed to intentionally begin the yoga of heart chakra awakening.

Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, ‘you owe me.’ Look what happens with a love like that! It lights up the whole sky. – Hafez

Urdhva Hastasana is also called upward salute. I prefer the phrase “upward salutation.” This is where you raise your arms above your head.

The attitude to adopt with this posture is the attitude of gratitude.

Picture someone standing in a wildflower meadow raising their arms to the sun in celebration and gratitude at the experience of being alive.

With Tadanasa you are grounded. With the “upward salutation” you are reaching for the Heavens. With these two postures alone you are symbolically bringing Heaven to earth.

This is a form of body prayer.

The way this Heaven on earth experience is manifested is through the open-heart chakra. The Christian mystic Miester Eckhart states it this way.

When the higher flows into the lower the lower is transformed by the higher – Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)

Life is a balance of holding on and letting go. Rumi

Yoga for the heart chakra is all about surrender and letting go. Let this posture be a symbol of your willingness to bend to the will of Divine intention.

The statement that symbolises this posture is “Thy will be done.”

Just as your body in this posture is pulled toward the earth let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love. (Rumi)

The key to the practice of this asana is relaxation.

Don’t seek, don’t search, don’t ask, don’t knock, don’t demand – relax. Osho

Courage is the most important spiritual quality. — Paulo Coelho

The focus of heart chakra yoga is the focus on attitude. This is essential for impacting the subtle body that is represented by the chakra system.

To venture into the heart is to be willing to become the hero/ine of your life purpose and allow the full potential within you to be manifested for the highest good of all.

It is the adventure into the unknown but not the unknowable.

The hero/ine is the one who has real courage. This is the courage to be true to who they are created to become. The word “courage” comes from the French word “cour” meaning “to enter the heart.”

See how the root of the word “courage” has been changed over time to be mostly associated with courage in battle.

I suggest that you combine the hero posture with the xxx mudra. This is where you place your hands together in a prayer posture.

This is not the easiest of poses so use a rolled-up blanket for any needed support. This is a pose that many people have used for meditation using a cushion underneath their bottom.

Accept that you become like a child you shall not enter Heaven – Matthew 18:13

This is one of my favourite yoga poses. I love to rest in this pose. This pose reminds me of the statement by the mystic poet Rumi when he says: –

There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground;
there are a thousand ways to go home again.

—Rumi

Here we have a posture of humility. Interesting that the word “humility” derives from the word “humus” which is another name for the beauty that is good organic soil.

Humility (n)

from humilis “lowly, humble,” literally “on the ground,” from humus “earth,” from PIE root *dhghem- “earth.”

This is the soil in which you plan the seeds of willingness to be childlike and trust in the flow of Divine Intention through you.

Begin this posture with your arms pointed to the rear of your body and then bring them forward. You how have a posture of surrender.

Choosing joy involves spiritual surrender. Marianne Williamson

Here we have the posture of surrender. This is the gateway to the KNOWING of Divine Intention that is available by way of yoga for the heart chakra.

Stay within this posture as long as is comfortable. I recommend that you consider repeating the mantra “Thy will be done.”  Or simply remain silent.

With this posture you are at the gateway to the unknown. You are on a great adventure. You are leaving the matrix for the venture into the wonderland of who you are created to become.

With the revelation of who you are you will bow down. You will KNOW that you could never be grateful enough for the blessing that is the flower you are here to bloom.

Entry into the heart chakra is a quantum leap. It is the movement from the mind to the heart. Surrender is the awakening to the KNOWING that you are never separate from Divine Intention. Neither can you ever be separate.

Surrender is the opening of the heart to the KNOWING of this.

This is surrender: relaxing, resting, dropping all private goals, dropping the whole achieving mind, all the ego projections. And then life is a mystery. Your eyes will be full of wonder; your heart will be full of awe. – Osho

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we startedand know the place for the first time. – from Little Gidding – T.S. Eliot

Now in this yoga for the Heart Chakra you reverse the sequence of the postures. You move from

• Balvasana Version 2 (Child Pose Version 2) to
• Balvasana (Child Pose) to
• Virasana (Hero Pose) to
• Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend) to
• Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Salute) to
• Tadasana (Mountain Pose)

Thus you have a wonderful yoga for the heart chakra sequence that you can explore in your own way.

There are more than enough videos on YouTube to share with you the nuances of each posture from a physical standpoint.

However, yoga for the heart chakra is not about the physical body but the awakening of the subtle body. What is central to yoga for the heart chakra is attitude and intention.

Most articles on yoga for the heart chakra have their focus on postures and the correct way of practicing such postures.  The real posture is a mind willing to be open to the awakening of Divine Intention.

The postures can help cultivate this open-minded open-hearted state, but it all begins with intention.

And when an individual takes a step in the direction of the new, the impossible, the whole human race travels through that individual. –  In the Fire of Dancing Stillness – Vimala Thakar

The above yoga for the heart chakra sequence is really a form of body prayer. If the word “prayer” has issues for you then drop it.

I invite you to make this yoga for the heart chakra a form of moving meditation. This means that it is better to move through it slowly rather than focus on the number of rounds that you can achieve.

Recognise that what you are doing is a sacred endeavour. You are engaged in a practice of revealing the “imprisoned splendour within.”

Recognise that this is an invitation to living in the world in a different way.  It is a way of allowing and receiving. This receiving isn’t for your grandeur. It is for the highest good of all. Your intention has to be to become one who serves “Love’s purpose” and not your own.

This is not a practice of achievement. It is a practice of unfoldment. The practice is working to the extent that you feel more expansive.

However, be aware that often things might get worse before they get better.

Jesus said: He who seeks, let him not cease seeking until he finds; and when he finds he will be troubled, and when he is troubled, he will be amazed, and he will reign over the All. – Saying 2 – Gospel of St. Thomas

You will be troubled because yoga for the heart chakra is a journey into the unknown beyond the limitation of the personal self (lower three chakras).

When you find the heart chakra opening you will be amazed.

Yoga for the heart chakra is supported with the practice of the above body prayer. However, there is much more to yoga for the heart chakra.

I wrote the book Awakening the Heart – 21 Ways to Follow Loves Message so that I might share the many ways in which you are invited to explore the opening of the heart chakra within your everyday time and space experience.

Readers say that this book conversational in nature. I wrote it in the way in which I speak. It is more like a conversation that I would have with a friend around an open fire.

I hope some of the reviews of this book provide you with insight into how other readers have found this book to benefit them in the experience of heart chakra awakening.

This book allows you to read a chapter at a time and reflect on its invitation. At the end of each chapter there is what I call “The Invitation.”

This would be a great support to anyone who made a choice to go on a 21 Day Challenge of Heart Awakening.

Worldwide Availability

• Book Depository (Free Delivery)

There is no image at this supplier, but the book cover is shown above.

Available from

• Amazon – USA.
• Amazon – UK.
• Amazon – Canada.
• Amazon – Australia and New Zealand

Available as Ebook from Smashwords

Do you like reading eBooks. I have made this book that answers the question “What is the heart chakra?” available at Smashwords.

Smashwords Ebook.

I have the intention to share with you the 21 Ways to Awaken the Heart over the coming months from the beginning of September 2021.

I am presently setting up the facility for recording this book, so I plan to make an audio recording of these 21 chapters.