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Sacred Edges

2/23/2026

In February, yoga teachers (present company included) often emphasize heart opening poses -- to stretch the physical chest as well as to open the energetic heart to connection, compassion, and loving kindness. Openness is beautiful; but the heart is not meant to be unguarded at all times. It is meant to be balanced.

Balance plays a part in every yoga practice. The inhale expands; the exhale contracts. The spine arches and then rounds. We stretch one side, then the other. Strength supports flexibility. Even in heart-opening poses, the back body must engage to safely lift the front body. Without that support, openness collapses.

This final week of our February arc explores the often-overlooked truth that healthy love, like healthy heart openers, requires structure. Boundaries are not walls; they are clarity. They are the energetic container that allows love to circulate without depletion. They protect what is sacred. They prevent resentment and create safety.

On the mat, this may show up as:

Engaging the legs in backbends to support the heart.
Embracing the moments of rest as well as moments of movement.
Choosing the variation and depth of a pose that feels sustainable and safe. Or choosing an alternative pose altogether.
Recognizing, pausing, and modifying when sensation becomes strain.

In heart-centered poses like Anahatasana, we practice both yielding and grounding. The chest melts, but the hips stay stacked. The heart opens, but the spine remains supported. There is both surrender and structure.

Off the mat, boundaries of the heart might look like:

Saying no without apology.
Resting without guilt.
Speaking truth with kindness.
Offering compassion to others, but also yourself.

Many of us were taught that love means limitless giving. Yoga suggests something subtler: love that is steady, sustainable, and rooted in self-awareness.

The Sanskrit concept of ahimsa (non-harming) applies inward as much as outward. If opening the heart leads to exhaustion, resentment, or self-betrayal, something is out of alignment.

A heart with boundaries is not closed. It is discerning. It is strong enough to remain open without losing itself.

As February closes, consider:

Where do I overextend?
Where do I overprotect?
What would balanced openness feel like in my body?

This week, we practice heart with backbone, softness with steadiness, love with clarity. Because the most sustainable love, much like the most sustainable yoga practice, is the kind that honors its edges.

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Everyday Bhakti

2/16/2026

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Love is in the air. All you need is love. Love will keep us together. I could keep going, but I'll stop. Love is for sure a big topic during the month of February, but it's not limited to those days just before Valentine's Day. It's in most songs and movies. It's a fundamental human emotion. We might think of it as a feeling—something that arrives, fades, and returns on its own terms. In yoga, however, love is also understood as a practice: something we cultivate through attention, intention, and presence. This is the heart of bhakti, the yogic path of devotion—not dramatic or sentimental, but steady, sincere, and lived through everyday action.

Over the past two weeks, we have returned to center and explored the courage to feel. Now we begin to ask: what does it mean to meet our experience with care? Love in practice is not about forcing positivity or avoiding discomfort. It is expressed in how we breathe when sensation intensifies, how we soften when the body resists, and how we remain present rather than pushing or withdrawing.

In this way, love becomes less about emotion and more about the relationship we build with breath, body, and awareness. Each time we choose patience over judgment, listening over striving, or steadiness over force, we are practicing love.

This week, Heart-Melting Pose (Anahatasana) continues as our companion. Rather than approaching the pose as something to achieve, we enter it as an offering of attention. The shape invites the chest to soften while the body remains supported, reminding us that openness grows from safety and trust, not effort alone. You may notice that the pose feels different each time—sometimes spacious, sometimes tender, sometimes neutral. All of these are welcome. Devotion is not measured by depth, but by presence.

In yogic philosophy, devotion does not require perfection. It asks only sincerity. To practice love is simply to return—again and again—to awareness, to breath, and to a willingness to stay.

As you come to your mat this week, consider this reflection:
What would it mean to treat this moment—just as it is—as worthy of care?

Love, in yoga, is not something we wait for. It is something we practice—quietly, patiently, one breath at a time.

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The Courage to Feel

2/9/2026

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In the early days of my yoga practice, one of my teachers noticed a pattern. The poses I didn't enjoy (whined about) were all heart openers/back bends, like camel, bridge, cobra, and fish (pictured above). With that awareness, I was able to explore what was going on there.

In February, we often lean into the Hallmark vibe of Valentine's Day - open hearts, love, and compassion. This year, we're going to dive a little deeper. We started the month with a return to center—reconnecting with support, steadiness, and breath. We'll continue with an invitation to something both simple and profound: the courage to feel.

In yoga, heart-centered practice is not about forcing openness or chasing emotional experiences. Instead, it is about developing the capacity to remain present with sensation, breath, and inner movement—especially when those experiences are subtle, complex, unfamiliar, or even a bit uncomfortable.

The heart space, associated with Anahata, the heart chakra, is often described as the meeting place of opposites: strength and softness, joy and grief, expansion and protection. To practice here is to allow multiple truths to coexist.

Many of us are conditioned to move quickly away from discomfort. When sensation intensifies—whether physical or emotional—the nervous system often reacts by bracing, distracting, or pushing through. Yoga offers another possibility: curiosity without urgency. When we slow down, breathe steadily, and remain grounded, we begin to notice the difference between sensation and story, between feeling and reaction.

Working with the heart also means acknowledging vulnerability. If you also tend to whine about heart openers, this is for you. Openness is not the absence of protection—it is the ability to remain connected to ourselves even when sensations are tender or uncertain. This is where courage arises: not in pushing past limits, but in staying gently present.

As you come to the mat this week, consider this reflection:
What happens when I pause long enough to feel, without needing to change anything?

You may discover that the heart does not need to be forced open. When supported by breath, steadiness, and awareness, it opens in its own time—quietly, honestly, and with wisdom.

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Heart-Melting Pose/Anahatasana

2/2/2026

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February often brings an invitation to focus on the heart—but in yoga, heart-opening is about more than romance or emotion. Anahatasana, commonly known as Heart-Melting Pose (or Melting Heart Pose or Puppy Pose), offers a powerful yet understated way to explore openness with steadiness and choice.

This pose sits somewhere between effort and surrender. With hips stacked over the knees and the chest easing toward the floor, Anahatasana asks us to remain supported while softening—an ideal companion for late winter and this season’s themes of love, presence, and discernment.

The name Anahata refers to the heart chakra, traditionally associated with balance, connection, compassion, and integration. While Anahatasana does not appear in classical yoga texts in the way seated postures do, it is a modern expression inspired by yogic principles of bhavana (cultivated feeling) and sthira–sukha (steadiness and ease).

The pose reflects an important yogic insight: the heart is not just a place of emotion, but a center of equilibrium—where effort and surrender meet.

Benefits

Opens the chest, shoulders, and upper back
Stretches the spine and arms
Gently decompresses the thoracic spine
Supports improved posture and breath capacity
Encourages emotional awareness without overwhelm
Cultivates receptivity and humility
Supports regulation of the nervous system when practiced with props
Invites trust—both in the body and in sensation

Use caution or modify if you experience:

Shoulder injuries or instability
Neck sensitivity (support the head as needed)
Lower back pain (keep hips slightly behind knees)

Avoid or practice under guidance if you have:

Recent shoulder or spinal injury
Severe disc issues
Unmanaged nerve pain

As always, the depth of the pose should support steady breathing. Sensation is welcome; strain is not.

Warm-Up Suggestions

Prepare the body with movements that mobilize the spine and shoulders:

Cat–Cow
Thread the Needle
Gentle chest-opening lunges
Shoulder rolls and arm circles
Tabletop with forearm support

Slow, mindful preparation helps the nervous system trust the shape.

How to Practice Anahatasana (Cues)

Begin in Tabletop, shoulders over wrists and hips over knees.
Walk your hands forward, keeping your hips stacked above—or slightly behind—your knees.
Allow the chest to lower toward the floor or onto a bolster or blocks.
Keep the arms active, pressing gently into the mat.
Support the forehead or chin if helpful.
Breathe steadily, softening the front of the heart while staying grounded through the legs.

Suggested Counter Pose - Child’s Pose (Garbhasana)
After Heart-Melting, Child’s Pose offers integration and containment. Bring the hands or stacked fists under the forehead, and sink the hips back toward the heels as you gently round the upper back and allow the heart to settle.
Other supportive options include:

Neutral Tabletop
Slow Cat & Dog Tilts
Supine constructive rest

Anahatasana reminds us that openness doesn’t require pushing or performing. Sometimes, the deepest heart opening happens when we feel supported enough to soften—staying present with what arises and honoring our own boundaries.

This February, may your practice be a place where the heart opens wisely, gently, and in its own time.

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Sacred Edges

Everyday Bhakti

The Courage to Feel

Heart-Melting Pose/Anahatasana

Dena D. Beratta

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