Written by Amanda Dzengeleski
Step out of your mind and connect with your heart in our upcoming four-part series: Heart Centered Yoga and Meditation on Mondays 8:00-9:15 a.m. March 6–March 27, 2023.
The heart center is the energy point for unconditional love, compassion, and joy. By inviting awareness to our heart space through the practice of yoga, we choose love as the guiding principle in life and open ourselves to a greater sense of fulfillment. Our deepest knowing and highest truth is accessed through the heart. A heart-centered approach to life allows us to move through the world more resourced from within.
In order to lead from a place of love, we must first learn to be fully present in our own lives. According to Buddhist tradition, there are four elements of true love.
Loving-Kindness
Compassion
Joy
Freedom
In the words of Thich Nhat Hanh, loving-kindness is not only the desire to make yourself or someone else happy, but the ability to bring joy to yourself and those you love. It is looking at the world through a compassionate lens and using love as a tool to reclaim a heart-felt connection to the world. Through loving-kindness meditation we extend benevolent and loving energy toward ourselves and others to strengthen our ability to cultivate joy.
The second element of true love is compassion. Thich Nhat Hanh describes this as the ability to ease the pain of another person. To do so, you must practice deep contemplation in order to understand the true nature of suffering. “The practice of understanding is the practice of meditation. To meditate is to look deeply into the heart of things.” Through mindful practice, we learn to respond more appropriately to our own needs and become compassionately aware of the needs of others.
The third element of true love is joy. The practice of yoga requires us to return to ourselves to restore peace, harmony, and joy. Joy arises when our emotional energy flows freely and we are present with our full spectrum of emotions. When we cultivate joy, the heart, mind and body come together to increase our quality of being.
The fourth element of true love is freedom. When you love, you bring freedom to yourself and the person you love. Thich Nhat Hanh suggests that love is having enough space in and around your heart. We create space in the physical body through postures that lift and expand the heart center. When integrated with a meditation practice, we create space to respond from a place of love, opening ourselves to give and receive.
When we actively choose to lead from a place of love, we experience compassion, joy, and freedom to greater depths. We recognize that we are worthy of unconditional love, exactly as we are.
Join me in Heart Centered Yoga and Meditation where we will explore each of these elements to experience the deep-rooted benefits that heart-centered living brings.
Sign Up using Dogwood’s Class Sign Up Calendar
“The practice of being there with what is beautiful and with what is healing is something we should do everyday, and it is possible to do this in everyday life.” -Thich Nhat Hanh (from his book True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart)
Reach out to the Dogwood Team with any questions at info@dogwoodstudioyoga.com. We are here to help.
Amanda Dzengeleski is a 200-hour registered yoga teacher (RYT), lifelong student, and lover of movement. She first discovered yoga as a form of mind-body medicine that cultivated a deeper state of self-awareness and personal growth. Using a trauma-informed approach, Amanda empowers her students to move freely and intentionally in celebration of body, mind, and soul. Email Amanda at amandadz.yoga@gmail.com with any questions.
SAM Sather, founder of Dogwood Studios, is a certified yoga therapist (C-IAYT), individualizes the yoga practice with appropriate modifications for participants’ unique bodies and medical histories with a focus on finding calm and improving health. She offers several live, online and in person yoga classes as well as private sessions so you can focus on your needs one-on-one.