4TH CHAKRA: BALANCE SOFTNESS & BOUNDARIES
JANUARY 2ND, 2009: Yoga is after all not an escape from life but a way of really feeling the pulse. This pulse is found at the beating of your heart. My Father and my whole Mordini family have heart disease and my brother is a Cardiologist so I have been tuned into heart health my entire life. Maybe it some ways it has made me more sensitive to it and a little bit more vulnerable.
But that’s the point of yoga it will lead you eventually to your own vulnerability whether you want it to or not. For some this means they walk away from the practice as soon as it gets hard (I’m not talking physically but emotionally raw). It took me a long time and a ton of resistance (some anger too) to realize that being vulnerable opens up greater pathways to love and healing. Vulnerability, being soft on the inside is linked to our capacity for intimacy and love. Especially the kind of unconditional love that doesn’t sit in judgment of others. Being your soft self takes guts and a ton of courage. Being vulnerable and open hearted is not for wimps. It is the most advanced practice of yoga.
The fourth chakra is that of the heart center. And in a favorite book of mine, Wheels of Light, the author writes “LOVE IS A UNIFYING FORCE: it draws things together and keeps them in relationship. And there is no greater way to invite love than to offer it first.”
I personally have experimented with this. Putting yourself out there and offering love first and I can tell you it is scary. It’s a whole lot harder than driving a speed boat super fast, skiing down black diamond slopes, going to a nude beach, giving a presentation to hundreds of people. But here’s the thing. If you do offer it first you know you are living in the moment and by making yourself vulnerable you will live without regret.
So if you ever need that extra support to put yourself out there call me, email me, stop by. I’ve done it, I’ve lived to write about it and I have found a joyous sense of acceptance that I never even knew existed. I am here for you! Love Big In