There’s a lot to be said about the power of the heart. Yoga that focuses on this area of the body can be both healing and empowering. Heart opening yoga invites expansion through your chest while stretching your neck, spine, and shoulders. It’s a tool for regulating emotions, enhancing feelings of confidence, and showing yourself some love.
Incorporate these heart opening yoga poses into your practice to open your heart chakra, stretch/strengthen your upper body, and promote feelings of self love.
Cobra
This backbend is found in most yoga practices- from high paced vinyasa to slow yin. It represents rebirth as the cobra sheds its skin and is reborn into a new body.
Level: beginner
How to do it: Lying with your belly on your mat, root down your hands below your shoulders and lift your chest forward. Ground both hips, draw your shoulder blades back, and feel your heart center opening.
Counter pose: child’s pose, cat, downward dog
Camel
Ustrasana is an intermediate level backbend that looks similar to the back of a camel when you’re in it. It activates the throat and heart chakra.
Level: intermediate
How to do it: Stack your hips above your bent knees, with your shins pressed to your mat. Leaning back, reach one hand behind you and find one of your ankles. Then send your other hand back finding your other ankle. As you inhale, expand through your chest and press your hips forward.
Counter pose: child’s pose
Dancer
A heart opening balance pose named for the cosmic dancer, Lord Shiva. It opens the heart space and hips, stretches the abdominals, and strengthens the shoulders and back.
Level: intermediate
How to do it: Lift left foot to left hand and extend right hand straight overhead (flamingo pose). Extend right hand forward, while pressing your left foot back into your left hand. Keep a soft bend in your right knee, and hinge forward at your hips. Open through your heart space
Counter pose: Forward fold, shiva’s twist
Warrior II
A base pose for warrior variations, this beginner-ish intermediate-ish pose engages most of the muscles in the body.
Level: beginner
How to do it: Ground back foot down and stack your front foot over your front knee. Extend arms to the side with your palms facing down. Keep a steady gaze over your fingertips.
Counter pose: reverse warrior, half moon, extended side angle
Bow
A beginner friendly pose that cultivates flexibility, balance, and strength. It’s used in many different styles of yoga.
Level: beginner
How to do it: Starting by lying with your belly towards your mat, engage your glutes and lower back. Hover your feet and inch or two above the ground. Let the palms of your hands hover next to your shoulders, face down. Option to extend your arms behind you and take a bind for a deeper heart opener.
Counter pose: Child’s pose
Palm Tree
Beginner-friendly warm up for the spine and upper body.
Level: beginner
How to do it: Starting in sukhasana, comfortable cross legged position, extend both of your hands overhead, lengthening through your spine. Grip on to opposite elbows. Take a full breath in and fill your lungs with air. As you exhale, tilt over to the side, then the other, staying rooted down through your sit bones. You could do kundalini circles by rotating in circles from your lower spine.
Counter pose: Knees to chest, butterfly
Tiger
An energizing pose that’s both heart and hip opening.
Level: intermediate
How to do it: Move into table top posture. Extend one of your legs behind you and reach your opposite side arm back to find the foot. Press your foot into your hand.
Counter pose: Child’s pose
Bridge
Level: beginner
How to do it: Lie on your back with your knees bent, foot rooted down hip with distance. Ground into your feet and lift your hips. Draw your shoulder blades together underneath you.
Counter pose: Windshield wiper your knees or draw them into your chest
Sphynx
This restorative heart opener can be used as a spinal warm up or supported version of cobra throughout the flow.
Level: beginner
How to do it: Lying with your belly on your mat, lift your chest, placing your arms at a 90 degree angle with your elbows under your shoulders.
Counter pose: Child’s pose
Cat/Cow
Cat and cow pose are usually done dynamically at the beginning of a yoga practice to warm the body up for deeper backbends later on.
Level: beginner
How to do it: Move into table top posture, feel your shoulders stacked over your hands, hips over your knees. Take a deep breath in and draw your heart space forward, feeling your shoulder blades draw back. Draw your stomach down towards your mat.
Counter pose: Cat, puppy, child’s pose
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