SDEpisode15 - Heart Chakra w/ Guided Meditation

In this episode, we explore the heart chakra as the bridge between mind and emotion, love and grief. We talk about what it means to carry unspoken wounds from childhood especially when love wasn’t expressed and how that can impact our ability to open, trust, and receive. You’ll learn how grief lives in the body, ways to gently support heart chakra healing, and what it truly looks like to build self-love from the ground up. Stay until the end for a guided meditation to reconnect with your heart space.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Welcome back, fellow yogis, to our podcast, Soul Deep Yoga in the house. Next to me. Next to me, I got my favorite co-host, Kimmy. And next to me, I also have my favorite co-host, Brittany. Cool. Welcome back, guys. It's another week.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Another week, and it's been a good week. We've had a really, really, really good week. We've had so much fun this week. Let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Yeah, let's. So, where do we want to start?

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Well, I guess. Yeah, I mean, classes were really good this week. We've had full houses. We've had full houses all week, actually, which has been really great. Um, so that's been really fun. But we also had the opportunity this Thursday. Um, one of our yoga students reached out to us. She's a teacher at the middle school here in Preston, and she teaches the marketing class to the seventh and eighth graders. And we as a business gotta go and teach our those little kiddos about soul beef yoga and how we market, which was so fun. It was fun. What was your favorite part?

SPEAKER_03 1:10

For the for going and doing that?

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

I have a favorite part. Oh, oh, do you? I do. Listen, that was an experience for me. I was getting some flashbacks.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

Oh, major flashbacks. I don't remember the last time I've been in middle school, but it was I was yeah, I was just so funny.

SPEAKER_03 1:29

Honestly, I don't think I had a favorite part. Um, I actually actually, actually, I'll take that back. I enjoy QAs. I I did so. I like the questions and the answers because sometimes presenting it does doesn't answer all questions. I don't know. I just like QA. I'm better at it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

I'm just better at that stuff. So uh yeah, the QA was fun. My favorite part personally, so at the end, after we did our whole presentation and everything, we put them through a little mini yoga session and a little sound bath and meditation at the end. Um, and so we always end with namaste, you know, and the first class they kind of like they didn't really say it. Um, but the second class, they are all namaste, like in unison. And it was so cute. Like as they were leaving, they were like, Thank you, Namaste!

SPEAKER_03 2:21

Yeah, that was cute actually.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

My heart, it was yeah, it was adorable. I love that. I thought that was very fun. And like for me, it was like, I don't know, it was heartwarming for me because I remember being in middle school and like feeling so uncomfortable in my body and like hating myself. Yeah, hating myself, and so it was, I don't know, for me, it was almost like a full circle moment, like going back into the middle school and like teaching these kids like the tools that I wish I would have had when I was their age.

SPEAKER_03 2:47

So, and even though it was two classrooms, like I feel I felt like we reached some of them because at the end they were like, Are kids allowed to come?

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Like, does my mom have to come? Like, how does that work? Like, how can I get in? And I was like, Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

Like, come on in. And I specifically chose the meditation for that marketing class because for um for self-love and like energy shielding, because I feel like I forgot how weird of an age group that is. I just forgot. I was like, well, I'm pretty sure I was this weird too.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Like, you're about to have another kid that's going into that age group.

SPEAKER_03 3:28

So I know I have one in that age group. He's 12, he's sixth grader. He was there, he actually came in and seen me, which I just thought I was like.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

That was cute, that was tender. He came and like sought us out because Brittany was like, should we go find him? And I was like, No, because I think about him back in the day, and I was like, I would die if my mom ever came and found me in school. And so, um, yeah, I was like, no, but he came and found us.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

He's like, hey, who's up? His little group of friends seen me and they were like, Matthew, Matthew, your mom is here. And he was actually across the hall, so he just popped in and said hi, gave me a hug. So cute. He was so cute. That was actually a really good experience.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

It was so cool. And we, if you're listening, thank you so much for having us come out and do that. We had an absolute blast. Um, and it was really good for us just because we've been in business for over two years at this point, and so like putting together all of our things of like what we've done and like how we market was actually really like informative for me and Brittany too.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

So we had a lot of stop and like, oh my gosh, Kimmy. Like, wow, we've done a lot. Yeah, there's yeah, yeah. So it's been really cool. Good reflection, positive reflection.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Yes, it was great. So that was super fun. Um, any magic moments? Um, I would say it would be that it would be literally. I had so much fun. It was it was cute when the kids said Namaste at the end, I was like, oh, my heart. Um, that was my magic moment, but I did have a love to share. You might hate it, but I love it. Okay. Um, I my love for this week is uh after we got done recording last week's episode, I called Brittany out on saying tsunami as tisami.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

And then we were joking about it today. And then we were like, it's the G E D'Onther. Your G E D showing Brett. Yep, that's exactly what it was. That's probably gonna have to go on a shirt.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

No, but it was yeah, I I love you. You're amazing. I try we love to joke around with each other, but yeah, I had a good I had a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

They were like, Brett, I forgot to tell you this. I was like, oh man, it's okay. We're fine. We're worldwide and I'm like making grammar mistakes. That's okay. We try. We do try. We try though. That's what I'm saying. I do try, and I like I'll say it first, and then you'll be like, let's try that again. Retry. It's okay, we're all learning. Um, so okay, so look, I have a magic moment. Oh, that's right. Um, I had to meet um Lance of a polar bear. Okay. He was coming out and he was eating something. And I was like, what you eating? In his pocket. He because he put his food in his pocket. I was like, what's in there? And he was he pulls it out and I was like, oh, those mac and cheese bites. Dude, he shared them with me. Did he? That is my magic moment. That is so sharing a mac and cheese bite with Lance Houndsley, man.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

What a guy. That's funny that you did that because I actually I had some of those the other day. Did you like them? Yeah, I did. Actually, they were good.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Yeah. I yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:37

So magic moment.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

That's so fun. Lance. He's just got some mac and cheese bites in his pocket. He does. He did.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

And that's we're in Napoleon Dynamite Town. Like, that is just so funny. I can just imagine him just like pulling them out of his pocket.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

It was exactly like that, the crunch, the crinkle in the bag, and everything. And when I bit into it, it was like like a tot, like a tater tot. That's so funny. Yeah. He's not listening, but thanks, Lance, for sharing your makeup. Cheese bites. We know you're not listening, but we love you anyway. Yeah. Alright. Um, so I have a I have a love and hate actually today. That's right. I have a couple of funny things in my love. So, um, I okay, so you kind of had warned me before on Spotify that like if we listen to like random playlists, that sometimes it can get wild. Uh-huh. Yeah. Well, you gotta listen through. Well, well, my playlist got me on a Monday night in Restorative. Hard dude. I okay, so like I was listening to the podcast, or not the podcast, but I was listening to the playlist, and I just wanted I have been trying so hard to find new music for my playlist, and it is really, really hard.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

It's hard to find good music that you like and that fits your vibe.

SPEAKER_03 8:00

And so, yeah, like you're just constantly listening. So I'm like, dude, I was I had been listening to this playlist for a while because I'd been here at the studio for a while. And I was like, okay, this is great. It's low drum beats, like it's like chill. It was chill and relaxing, and like I had all the lights off except for the red lights, and it was just like the aesthetic was actually really cool. And um, we're halfway through class, and the didgery dude just starts playing obnoxiously. And I was like, I was mortified. Oh no, and so I turned it down, I transitioned into a trusted playlist, my restorative playlist. The one that you've personally made. The one that I personally made. So then after class, Mr. Banker, one of my students, freaking totally is roasting me on my playlist. He was being very funny. It was very, very funny actually. And so, like, I didn't take any of offense to it because we were all just like laughing about it. I was like, guys, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

I everyone should be able to do it.

SPEAKER_03 9:10

I tried to trust and I couldn't. Kimmy warned me.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

That's so funny. Well, no, I've had that happen before where it's like I've listened through a playlist and it's pretty good, but like if I like start the playlist too early and it's like getting past a point that I've listened to, and I've had it like surprise me in Shivasna, where it's like the song that I imagine, but then it transitions into the next one, and it's like this upbeat, like yeah, it's just like hurrying change, yeah, volume down change, and for so yeah, yeah, that's definitely a joke.

SPEAKER_03 9:43

I get that, but the jokes were really funny. I'm not gonna lie. I was like, whatever, Mr. Binker. You know, it happens, it's okay. Um okay, I have another love. I don't know what the other so I love when I have a good memory about the studio, like when it just randomly pops up. Like I'll just be like I'll just be cleaning and like I'll just think of a moment you it has you in it. And I'm just smiling or I'm laughing, or I'm like, I'm like, this is this is a great memory. I do.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Thank you, Brain.

SPEAKER_03 10:22

Thank you for giving me something positive in there.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

No, that's a good one. I I feel like I get those all the time, actually.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

I'll be like chuckling over something that we've done or said, or like just the weird stuff that we do behind closed doors. Oh fun. Okay, I have a hate. I haven't had one in a while, but listen, it's 2026, and I hate that everything is still closed in our valley on Sunday. True, I'm just like yes to each their own, not dogging on anybody, but like I get we need rest days, but also 2026, guys.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Sundays are the like only day in my week that I actually have time to get stuff done.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

And me barely.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

So like I just like yeah, I would love yeah, I agree. I would love more businesses open on Sunday. And the only reason why I say that is because I was like, Shout out to Louise in Richmond that's open on Sundays. Thank you. You guys have changed my life. I love and appreciate you guys for being open on the Sunday. Seriously, it's so convenient, it's so nice.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

So every other Sunday, actually, when I'm um cleaning crumble, um, because like I'll deep clean their floors and stuff like that. And I had to stop parking in front of the building because people were trying to come in and buy cookies because they just seen one vehicle parked out there. There's been times I'm not even joking, I was there cleaning, and um, you could tell that they were tourists because they weren't from the area, and they try to come in, and I was like, No, sorry. I was mouthing and I was silent. I was like, We're closed on the cleaner. And they're like, Okay, dude, next thing I know, their whole entire family shows up in front of the store. I'm literally like right there, like you can like and they start they can see me, so they're standing out in front of the building and they start literally taking family photos in front of the building, and you just see me slowly like duck under the underneath like the counters and stuff. So I'm like, what the heck is going on? And I'm just like I had helper at the time and I was like, hey, hey, and so like and then like she lowered down at the same time, and I was just like that's so weird. I know. Um, fun fact if anybody knew this, didn't know this, crumbled in so the Logan location is the home store, so it does get a lot of like it's heavily populated for stuff like that. But like I was telling Lance the other day, I was like, listen, I had to stop parking in front of the building because like I was like, people be trying to buy cookies and then they get mad at me that we're not open. But I totally respect, I totally respect like businesses and stuff, like they do need to have like a day off. I respect bus like I wanted to go take my son down to the batting cages in Logan and they were closed. And I was like, ah, they only like this is my day off, well, my afternoon off, and so I'm just like alright, we'll go to the drive range. But he's getting ready for baseball, so I'm like trying to like get him used to things and sharpen up his skills a little bit, and that's alright.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Okay. Do you have a hate, Kimmy? I don't. I don't have a hate this week. It's been great.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

Okay, then we okay. But I do have an FMK for you before we do the poll of the day. Okay, I promise that's a good one. You like it. Okay. FMK. Crystal clusters. Towers. Or just a rock. A formation of just like a standard crystal that we would like in a just like a raw one. Whatever. Your choice there.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

I'm gonna have to marry the clusters.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

I know. That surprises me because I like the towers, but I am, I don't know. I'm just more drawn to like the natural, like I like the rough.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Like I'd rather have like uncut crystals than cut crystals. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 14:44

I know, because that surprises me because we were getting ready to order stuff for rodeo weekend and we're getting some more rocks, and you're like, there for a while. You're like towers, towers. Well, we do need towers, we do need towers. But then this morning you had me look up clusters.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

So that's fun. All right, let's do our pull of the day. Let's do it. Brittany pulled from the comfy cozy witch oracle deck, and she pulled the card Amethyst. And with this reading, um, it comes with a mantra, a message, and a prompt. And your mantra is I am a vessel of peace and tranquility message. The amethyst card appears with its calming lavender to deep purple hues to offer you peace and tranquility, especially in moments of stress and being overwhelmed. Although your busyness may mean productivity lately, don't forget to take some time for yourself. Amethyst connected to the third eye chakra could also be telling you to work on your intuition. Pay attention to any intuitive hits and gut feelings you've been getting lately. When you're anxious or stressed, hold a piece of amethyst to your heart to help soothe and calm. And if you're looking for wisdom from your guides or intuition, hold the amethyst crystal to your third eye, the space between your brows, and ask your team what it is that they wish for you to know. Start trusting your inner knowing and intuition as it's always whispering to you and won't steer you in the wrong direction. And your prompt is how can I calm my mind to be more receptive to my intuitive signs?

SPEAKER_01 16:18

That's a good card. That is a very good card.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

Um, so going into the the Dharma talk, we're moving forward. So last week we talked about our solar plexus, and this week we are talking about our heart chakra, anahata. So the heart chakra is located at your heart. It's the middle of our chakra system and represents the center of our being. The heart chakra represents our love for others, self-love, compassion, empathy, and forgiveness. Opening the heart brings expansion and joy through a profound sense of universal love and connection to all that is. And this just kind of goes into a little more deeper dive of the heart chakra.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Yeah, so the book that we're referencing is called Chakra Yoga by Anita Judith. Um, and we want to read some of the excerpts from page 246. Um she says, Fourth chakra yoga moves from doing to being, from effort to surrender, from muscular strength to yielding tenderness. So with the solar plexus chakra, we're also we're talking about that the strength, the internal fire, that muscular engagement. And now we're moving from that strength into the tenderness, into the openness of it. Because you can't open up without having that strength uh beneath you. So softening opens the gateway to the heart. That can mean softening your body or your breath, but it also points to softening your judgments or your stance towards another person or situation. Next time you find yourself holding a hard line with someone, try softening your stance and see what happens. Softening allows things to join, to mash their edges together. It invites openness, connectedness, and reception. Opening the heart brings expansion and joy through a profound sense of universal love and connection to all that is. Love is a natural state of being, not only within your inner temple, but through all of creation, through your relationships, the exchange of energy, information, singing together, interacting with other people, all the things. And even though love is the universal force of connection and healing, we simultaneously fear it and long for it. And this creates blockages in the heart. Opening the heart chakra breaks through the bondage of that conflict into ecstatic joy, radiant love, tender compassion, and a deep intimacy with our own and another's interior. When you create space inside yourself as well as spaciousness in your life, you have room to truly enter your heart. Spaciousness can mean free time, peace and quiet, relaxation in the body, or physical space that is expansive, such as being outside, which is my personal favorite. That's my bet like my go-to to connect to the hearts, being outside. Um, there is this quote from Rumi that says, Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. And as Rumi has suggested in the quote, um, our key to finding love is to remove the barriers we've built against opening to love. The reasons for these defenses are many. It could be past hurts, betrayal, it could go all the way back to childhood wounds. Um, but at the center of all of that holds the very essence of our core and the unifying force of love, which is our heart chakra. So opening the heart chakra involves taking down these defenses to experience the love that is the natural state of our being. Unfortunately, defenses get hardwired into the body and become permanent body armor. This rigidifies the upper back, chest, and shoulders, and it constricts the breath and can even shorten the connective tissue in the front of the body, drawing the shoulders forward and collapsing in the chest, which is a physical manifestation of someone who has a deficient heart chakra. Um, which you can see there's some people that have the natural rounding of the shoulders, and when you see them doing that, it's because they're protecting their heart, they're inherently curling inward to protect themselves, and it's probably just because they've gone through some sort of hurt or grief or pain in the past, and so we we build up these barriers to protect.

SPEAKER_03 21:04

And a lot, and it's sometimes it's not just like one thing that does it to us, it's a repetitive of things. It's the constant trauma, the constant pain, the constant hurt that you feel like like you can't get a relief from.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

You're welcome. Thank you, DJ. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

Yes, that that's actually been a really, really good book. And um, fun fact about me, um, and I don't know if you can do this, so like um I can I can like determine like when I'm having a conversation with someone, like I can, after like a five ten minute conversation, I can tell where which chakra is out of alignment. And I don't even have to be like practicing Reiki or anything on them.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

Like sometimes it's just very obvious. Once you learn about the chakras. I think sometimes it becomes like very just like clear, like you can physically see it in people just by the way that they hold themselves.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

I can also feel it too. Um, but yeah. So with the heart chakra, the heart chakra is associated with the color green. So you can use the color green in anything to help create balance into that chakra, whether it's wearing green, eating greens, um, just thinking about the color green.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Being out in nature, the trees, the yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

Yeah, you want to be around all that greenery. The element is air. So that's we're associating that with our breath here. So, like our breath is gonna help create that space to help us release to let go. Um, the principle is equilibrium, and the purpose is love, dissolution of ego, and separateness, also expansion. Um, the body parts that our hot chart our heart chakra is associated with is our chest, lungs, diaphragm, shoulder blades, heart, ribs, and respiratory system. Um, coming into the masculine and feminine side, so masculine, we're thinking protecting, guiding, and supporting, and that feminine side is the giving, the nurturing, connecting, joining, and joining. So when someone is deficient, um, they're gonna have fear of intimacy, fear of letting anyone in, they're probably gonna be judgmental, um, they're isolating, and and physically, we just talked about they're gonna have that rounding, they're gonna be walking around like hunchback. So, um, and they might complain a lot of a lot about a lot of like pressure in that chest because once you start hovering, you start creating that deep pressure on that chest. Trouble breathing, trouble breathing, probably always sick. I mean, we could probably go on and on about that for excessive, um, codependent. Um, you're gonna be desperate for love and attention, and you're probably gonna walk out with a puffed up chest.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Yep, heart slightly lifted.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

Um when you feel balanced in your heart chakra, um, you're probably gonna feel radiant, joyful, generous, full of love. You'll have self-love. Um, affirmations. So this is the I receive. Um, also I am. Sometimes a lot of those kind of like interlace with each other. Yeah. So for affirmations, um, we have I give love and love comes back to me. I am loving and I am loved. I forgive instantly, completely, and unconditionally. I love myself unconditionally. I have the strength to follow my heart, and I choose joy. Essential oils, you can use lavender, bergamot, rose, norelli, melissa. Your frequency sound is 639 hertz. And our seed sound is yum. Y A M. Yum. Listen, we were doing that at the end of class, and I'm telling you, I felt it in my heart.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

I we don't practice our seed sounds very often, but like this go-around on practicing them, it's been different.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

It's been good.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

It's been good. Like it's hitting every chakra. I'm like, wait, I feel it in my root. Wait a minute. Anywho, yeah, so oh, so the demon and the identity associated with this is the demon was grief, and the identity was um social uh I can't remember.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

I think it was just love, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_03 26:13

It was like love and social. Maybe I read that wrong. Kitty's gonna find it. Oh, self-acceptance.

SPEAKER_02 26:23

And self-acceptance.

SPEAKER_03 26:25

Social. So I was right. I just perfect. Um, okay. So we're gonna dive a little bit deeper into the heart chakra and coming into some like yoga history. Um, so the heart chakra, anhata, comes from eight ancient yoga yogic texts, especially with tantric traditions and later systems like the Hatha yoga that most studios are practicing. Um, so anahata means unstruck or unhurt. It refers to a sound that is not made by two things striking. It's a symbolization of pure inner vibration that exists beyond conflict or pain. So it's not two things hitting each other to create that sound. It's that own internal power to bring it out. This chakra is also known as the bridge. In traditional yoga uh chakra yoga systems, the lower three chakras are survival identity and personal power. The upper three chakras are expression, intuition, and spiritual spirituality. The heart sits in the middle, integrating both worlds. So it's not just about love, it's a balance between being human and being spiritual. Um, we kind of just talked about how the element is air, and that is connecting directly to the breath. This is why pranayama is so central to heart opening, it literally moves life force through the chest. So, today in today's practice, we really focused on bringing that breath right into the heart center, creating that expansion, that openness within the body through the breath. Ancient yogis believed that awakening the heart chakra can lead to compassion without attachment, love without uh possession, and connection without losing yourself. Um, so a part of the chakra system, they say that there's the 18-inch journey, and that is between that's the 18 inches between your heart chakra and your crown chakra. And so when people talk about that distance, they're pointing to the shift from intellectual understanding to embodied truth. So your head knows these things. I should forgive, I am worthy, and I deserve love. But your heart has to feel and believe those things as well. Um, that's where the difficulty lies. The mind is built for protection, it analyzes, compares, predicts. It keeps you safe by creating stories and patterns. The heart, though, is about connection, vulnerability, and presence. It asks you to soften, to trust, and to open even when there's risks. So that 18 inches is really moving from control to surrender, from fear to compassion, from logic to intuition, and from self-protection to authentic connection. Um, most of us can understand that love long before we can actually live from it. The longest journey we take isn't about crossing the world. It's the one from thinking we're worthy of love to actually feel it in our own bones.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

True that, because like even us as yoga instructors, I feel like sometimes we've talked about this before, but like the imposter syndrome comes out sometimes because like we're just people too. You know, like we make mistakes. Like, I'm not, I'm not perfect by any means, you know. Um, but yeah, you can you can know all these things and know all the all this stuff and like know how to help yourself, but unless you feel like you're worthy of actually deserving and like deserving of that, like you're not gonna, you know, make those strides to make it's not actually going to resonate, it's not gonna change anything. Like you have to be feeling like you're worthy of it and know that you do deserve it, and then that's when things really change.

SPEAKER_03 30:59

True story. So even though the chakras aren't like a scientific system, there are real biological correlations that line up with the heart-centered practices. So the first one, um, the heart brain connection. The heart has its own network of neurons, sometimes called the heart brain. It communicates with the brain through the vagus nerve. So when you're practicing things like slow breathing, gratitude, and compassion meditation, you increase your heart, your heart rate um variability, so your HRV, which is linked to better emotional regulation, reduced stress, improved resilience.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

All good things.

SPEAKER_03 31:41

All good things. Your second is coherence in emotional states. Research, especially from Heart Math Institute, shows that feelings like love, appreciation, and compassion create a state called cardiac coherence. In this state, you'll feel your heart rating become more ordered, your nervous system is calmer, and your brain functions are more clearly. So basically, when you open up your heart, your body actually becomes more efficient and balanced. Your third is oxytocin and connection. Heart-centered experiences, hugging, bonding, trust, emotional openness, release um oxytocin, the connection hormone. This lowers your stress hormones like cortisol, supports healing and immune function, and increases feelings of safety and belonging. Your fourth is breath and the nervous system. Uh, since the heart chakra is tied to the lungs in the breath, slow deep breathing activates that parasympathetic nervous system. And this is gonna reduce anxiety, it's gonna lower blood pressure, and it's gonna promote calm. Um, okay, so with all of this information, you're probably like, okay, cool, all I hear is love, love, love, but what if I was never told I was loved? And so I wanted to add on a little bit more into that because um for me personally, growing up, I did not, I didn't have anybody telling me that they loved me. And if it and if it did, it was every once in a while when I would come out here to visit my grandma. And um that can really, really do some damage. So, like when you're growing like through your whole childhood life and you just you're not told I love you, like that can cause a lot of internal emotional issues. Okay, the heart tracker healing is that space isn't about instantly open, it's about slowly, gently learning that you were never too much, you were just unmet. If no one modeled love for you, your system didn't just miss awards, it it missed felt safety, consistency, and emotional attunement. Uh, so the core wound often becomes, I'm too much, I'm not enough, love isn't for me, and I have to learn love or shrink to keep it, which growing up, I felt all those things. And like I remember when my alma did tell me she loved me one time and it was because I was getting on an airplane, and that was it. Exactly. Um, so in the heart chakra language, um, this can show up as a guarded or closed-off heart, fear of being hurt again, or the opposite overextending, over loving, or giving or over giving to prove worth which I think we all kind of have done that. Um, but I remember having to go back and forth from each of those as a kid. Like I would do some crazy stuff just to get any type of attention because I wasn't getting it. And so, yeah. So, why does this go so deep? And so it's associated with our nervous system and attack and like attachment. So, from a scientific perspective, early relationships shape your attachment style and your nervous system. If love wasn't expressed or was inconsistent, your birth your brain learned that connection equals unsafe or unreliable. Your body may stay in a subtle state of hypervigilance or emotional shutdown. Receiving love later in life can actually feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar. So when people say just love yourself, that can feel a little frustrating because you can't fully access something you never were shown how to feel. Um, and that's not a personal personal failure, it's just conditioning.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 36:08

And we kind of talked about this with the students because I we felt like it was a good example, like for me.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

I love this by the way.

SPEAKER_03 36:15

I was not expecting it. Um I you tell me you love me all the time. I've said it back a few times. I mean, yeah, but I also have to tell you, like, I remember the first time you called me your best friend over at Fit Factory at the old building. Uh-huh. And I was like, no joke. I went back into the office and I called my husband. I was like, Matt, she just called me her best friend. And I was just, I was like, I was like, I like I it made me feel like it was so foreign to me.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 37:01

And I was just like, so yeah, like it's a true feeling. It's frustrating because like if you're never told that, like it's so hard to believe. You're like, and I instantly when I heard BFF, I was like, walls, dude.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Walls are going up. You're like, I'm actually never gonna talk to you again. Wrong.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Because built-in self-defense mechanism, you know, it's like we like you go through life and you get hurt, and especially if you get like heartbroken or anything, you're you want to build up those walls because you don't want to get hurt again, you know.

SPEAKER_03 37:29

And I think in that time of the is I've gotten a lot better. You have, but like when I first met you, I was really, really going through a hard time, and um, and so yeah, you just yeah, and so we were telling the students that like I'll occasionally say it back. But you do like and you have found the balance too, like, as I was saying earlier, like you um like you receive and you give, and I felt like that you were very balanced in that sense because not like technically everybody is deficient or or excessive or excessive or both. Like there is no it's really hard to keep that balance because that's literally like love. I feel like love is the center of it all.

SPEAKER_02 38:16

So it is, yeah. Well, thank you. I love you. Say back. I love you too, Katie. Thank you. We're learning how to love around here, but it's it's great.

SPEAKER_03 38:29

Even the hugging, yeah. Like what like when people are hugging me, and I'm like, I'm not used to hugs actually. Didn't get any of those either, guys. Well I'm making up for it now, and I'm learning to accept it, and I like because sometimes when for me, like I'll go into like a spir, like a mental spiral, I'll be like, Do I deserve this friendship? Do I deserve it? Like, do I just like you just go through that spiral because that's the conditioning side? But since coming back into the yoga world and coming into it in more of like a healing way instead of a physical part of it, um, I have actually been able to work through a lot with that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

And so I've seen a lot of growth in you in the last couple of years too. Like I want to give you credit because like I joke about it. Like I gotta give you some grief for sure. But yeah, no, you've you've done a lot of like self-healing the last few years. I've been I'm really proud of you. Hope you know that. Well, I couldn't have done it without Yikimi Arger. Oh thanks. I couldn't have done this with that.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

Well, actually, let's thank Steph Swainston for hiring you. Thanks, Steph. All right. So, what what can healing the chakra look like? Um, so the first thing that we need to do is we need to learn the language of love from scratch. Um, that's pretty much going in and rewiring everything.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Rewire your brain. What you were taught love is let's throw that in the garbage and let's restart.

SPEAKER_03 40:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 40:10

Let's try again.

SPEAKER_03 40:11

If no one said it to you, um, it's gonna feel weird. Like, even when I have to do like I have to do affirmations for myself. That is one of the ways that I have been able to rewire everything. Affirmations are so powerful. Um, I remember it feeling weird when I told I love myself.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

Just start saying it out loud. Literally, that's I love myself. I know it sounds cringy and uncomfortable at first, but get used to saying it. You should love yourself. Why not?

SPEAKER_03 40:42

We're great, you know. So you're gonna start simple. You're gonna, it's gonna feel silly, it's gonna feel very unnatural, but trust. It gets normal. But just tell yourself, I love myself and I am worthy because we really are.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

Um, going along, sorry, to feed off of this, but the affirmations, I heard this trick one time um that's always kept with me too. Like with affirmations, you can always like bring more intention into it. Like you can write them on your mirror, like with a whiteboard mark. We do it, right? I am worthy, so that every time you look in the mirror, you're reading that and you're looking at yourself while you do it. You can write it on your water bottle so that every time you take a drink of water, you're you're drinking in that I am worthy. Like you can use it with so yeah, so many intentions.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

Yeah, we actually do that here at the studio. We have the uh you look great in the bathroom. Yes. Um, and if that still feels like really unnatural that I love I love myself, I am worthy. Um let's let's go even smaller and more personalized. So I am learning to care about myself.

unknown 41:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 41:46

Um, I am allowed to take up space. Like my existence is matters. Like, I'm not too much. I'm not doing too much. I'm good as I am. Yes. And my needs matter. This is gonna build trust instead of resistance. Um, another thing that you're gonna do um is you're gonna re-parent the heart. Um, this is huge for the heart chakra. It's the practice of becoming the one who speaks kindly to yourself. Um, you're gonna meet your own emotional needs and you're gonna offer comfort instead of criticism. So that's a big one. It's catching yourself in that criticism.

SPEAKER_02 42:29

Yes, and we kind of practiced that this morning with our students too. But I was like, if this is feeling uncomfortable for you, I'm like, think about what you're feeling as your friend is feeling it. How would you comfort them and like treat yourself just as you would a friend?

SPEAKER_03 42:43

Absolutely. Um, so another thing that you can do to help um is letting grief be a part of the process. And we kind of touched up on that on grief in class today. Um this grief doesn't have to be a death of a loved one. Um, this could be grief of a future. Um, this could be grief of a feeling that you didn't have, or anything. It's it's I didn't get what I needed, and that grief is very valid. So if you're feeling that grief of something that you didn't get, it's validated. Like, did we hear you, we see you, like you are very validated. Um the heart chakra healing healing here often includes mourning the childhood you didn't have, feeling the anger and sadness or emptiness. Um, I actually do do that. The morning of the childhood that I didn't get to have. I do, yeah. I can't I um like I watch my kids and I'm like, you guys literally. Have the best life, like in my eyes, whatever their their perspective is. But like when I look at the things that my kids are doing, like story being a cheerleader, I wasn't like that's part of the case. I was 16 and pregnant with her, yeah. Like, um, so yeah, so but I've been able to find healing through living vicariously through my kids. So that's showing up for the competition, showing up for the games, and just being the extra linear. Like, my oh my kids hate it when I get super excited out there. They're like, mom, like when I go golfing for leagues with Junior, he's like, now mom, remember this is a quiet sport. And then I'm like, okay, okay. And like you'll have like a good driver, a good putt or whatever. And I'm just like, and he's like, mom, he's mouthing mouth yelling at me. He's like, stop crying now. And then I'm just like over there fist bumping and just like that's so funny. Yeah, because I'm like, I do moving so cool as a kid and growing up being able to do all these sports and stuff and having a cheerleader behind me. I did do a little bit of sports, but not when I went back to live with my grandparents. Um, we're gonna find some safe connections first. So instead of jumping to deeply vulnerability, we're gonna start with safe, small connections. Um, people who are gonna be consistent and not intense. Um, you're gonna find relationships that feel calm and not chaotic.

SPEAKER_02 45:43

Yeah, the relationships that fill you up.

SPEAKER_03 45:46

Your nervous system here needs to learn. Love can be steady and love can be safe. And that's something actually we um practice at our house because we have like special needs kids at home. And um, I have to have steady, consistent, calm people around because like Oliver doesn't do well with new people.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:12

Um, okay, and we're gonna practice receiving without earning. And this is one of the hardest ones. If you grew up feeling like a burden, you may deflect compliments. That's me. I do not know how to take a compliment. Um, you're gonna feel uncomfortable being cared for. So when someone is like, oh, can I bring you a pie or sick? And you're like, no. No. Um, and you're gonna probably try to pay back love immediately.

SPEAKER_00 46:46

I feel like you have to give in order to receive love.

SPEAKER_03 46:50

Instead of just purely accepting. Because yeah, because like a lot of times when you receive a meal or you receive a gift, your automatic is like, oh, I need to do the thing.

SPEAKER_02 46:59

Yeah, I need to give you something back in return.

SPEAKER_03 47:02

But sometimes it's okay to just receive and not give something in return. Um, heart chakra alignment here is practicing saying thank you without minimizing. So just say thank you when someone says compliments you.

SPEAKER_00 47:14

Compliment? Exciting.

SPEAKER_03 47:15

Thanks, man. Um letting someone show up for you. Um, that would be like me being like, hey Kimmy, can you do next month's schedule for me? I'm busy. Um and not proving your worth every time. We don't always need to prove that.

SPEAKER_00 47:35

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 47:40

So just to summarize all of this about the heart chakra isn't just about love in a romantic sense, it's about integration. It's where human experiences, pain, grief, joy meet something higher. And while ancient yogis describe it as energy and vibration, modern science is starting to show us that when we live from the heart, our entire system shifts, our breath will slow down, our nervous system is gonna soften, and we become more connected, not just spiritually but biologically.

SPEAKER_00 48:13

Love that.

SPEAKER_03 48:14

That was great. Um, Kimmy has the note card activity.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

All right, so yeah, if you guys have a journal or just a piece of paper and a pen, um, I have a question or writing activity that I would like for you to do. And after I read this question, I'll give you some examples, but take as much time as you need to really write it out. So you can write this out as like a letter or just a couple of sentences, whatever you would like to do. Um, but you're gonna write something that you needed to hear growing up, but you didn't. So maybe this is even something that you still need to hear now to this day. Um that's how we're gonna write it out. So this might be, I love you. Maybe you weren't told that you were loved. Maybe it's you're not a burden, you're not too much. Maybe it's you are so strong, you are so smart. What did you need to hear when you were growing up? And maybe you like to just write a letter to yourself. Um thinking about the younger you and the words of encouragement that you needed. And this is like getting me emotional because again, I'm thinking about like our middle school experience. I know. This is such a full circle moment. Um, but yeah, take as much time as you need. Just talk to this younger you. What's something that you needed to hear growing up that was never told to you? Speak those words to yourself now. Now that you're older, now that you're wiser, speak it to yourself and allow yourself to receive those words back because you deserve them now, just as much as you deserve them back then. Um, so again, take as much time as you need to write, and then I'm just gonna leave you with this affirmation that you're welcome to write down or say aloud, and it is I am open to giving and receiving love. All right. From here, Brittany is going to lead us into our meditation. So if you want to go ahead and close your eyes, lay down if you're in the space to do so, and we'll go ahead and get started.

SPEAKER_03 50:16

Take a slow, steady breath in through your nose. And exhale gently through your mouth. Again, inhale and exhale, letting the shoulders drop. Now bring your awareness to your heart space, the center of your chest. Maybe placing a hand there, or simply feeling the rise and fall of your breath. No need to change anything. Just notice. And as you breathe here, imagine a soft, gentle light in your heart space. Just a small, steady glow. With every inhale, that light expands just a little. And with every exhale, you soften into it. Now gently bring to mind the version of you who needed love. The version of you who needed to hear, I love you, I am proud of you, and you are not a burden. No need to force this image. Just feel into their presence. And from where you are now, begin to offer them what they didn't receive. You can softly repeat, I see you, I hear you, I care about you. You are not a burden. You are allowed to be here. You are worthy of love. Even now. If emotions come up, let it be there. If nothing comes up, let that be okay too. There is no right way to feel. Only space to be now imagine that soft light in your heart turning a shade of green. Holding them gently without needing to fix anything. Just presence, just love. Not separate, but part of you. As you sit here for a moment, notice your breath. Notice your body. And gently remind yourself I am learning how to love myself. I am allowed to open at my own pace. My heart is safe to feel. Take one more deep breath in and a slow, steady exhale. When you're ready, gently bring your awareness back into your space. Slowly start to make your way up to a seated position if you're not already there. And bring your hands to heart center as we will be ending this meditation with our seat sound. Taking a deep breath in. Again, inhale, exhale, one more time, breathing in and letting go. Your heart has carried you through everything you've been through, and it's still here, still open, still willing. You are not too much, and you are never a burden. You are worthy of the love you've always needed. Thank you so much for joining us today. Namaste.