Healing Heartbreak with Yoga: Forgiveness

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed

After any holiday weekend, you may be feeling great if your celebration was all that you hoped it would be. On the other hand, if you found yourself alone over a birthday, anniversary, or holiday, you may be feeling a tinge of sadness or loneliness, particularly if you would like to be in a nourishing romantic relationship. You may even have recently broken up with a boyfriend or girlfriend or begun the process of dissolving a marriage. 

Of course, there are many different forms of love, including the ability to love oneself. For many of us, the most consistent person with whom we share our lives is one’s self! Over the course of a lifetime, many Yogis and Yoginis will experience different types and degrees of loving connections. When these connections come to an end, many of us hold the pain of loss and separation in our heart and throat chakra areas. 

This emotional tension and protective constriction in the heart and throat areas can eventually contribute to poor thyroid function, cardiac problems, depression, a lowered immune system, and an overall lack of energy and general malaise. If you are currently experiencing heartbreak, or if you have experienced heartbreak in the past, practicing a balanced sequence of Yoga postures, pranayama exercises and meditative techniques will help to dissolve the holding that often occurs around the heart and throat. 

The heart and throat chakras are frequently the areas of the body where the emotional pain of heartbreak is experienced and somatized, or physically held and frozen. Back bending Yoga poses are some of the most effective postures for releasing tension in the front and back of the heart area, as well as constriction in the throat and tension in the upper back, shoulders and neck. Some of the most powerful, multi-level back bending Yoga postures is: Cobra Pose, Camel Pose, Bow Pose, and Reclining Supported Goddess Pose. 

If you have experienced heartbreak in the past, or if you are currently feeling the pain of the loss of a loved one or cherished dream, practicing these heart-opening Yoga postures will release the tension that often unconsciously accumulates in the front and back of the heart chakra. When this tension is dissolved, it is much easier to forgive both yourself and others. The inability to forgive is like an anchor that weighs us down. If this lack of forgiveness continues for an extended period of time, the weight of unresolved heartbreak has the ability to pull us under. 

If you are a certified Yoga teacher, you may want to sequence a class in such a way that the pain of heartbreak, disappointment or an overly critical mind is assuaged and released. By integrating a number of back bending postures into your class, you will help your students to release the pain of heartbreak, as the muscular holding in the heart and throat areas is dissolved. By consistently offering your students classes that offer a sequential series of back bending Yoga poses, you will help them to dispel the grief and sadness that is so common for many of us.   

According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, forgiveness can be defined as ceasing to feel resentment and granting relief from the desire to punish others or us for our grief. Inherent in the term forgiveness is the essence of opening up the doorway of our own heart, so that we can allow the love within us to flow freely again. A well-rounded practice of Yoga postures, cleansing breathing exercises and soothing meditation techniques will help both you and your Yoga students to dissolve the tension of heartbreak, so that you can rest in the freedom and peace within your own being. 

Virginia Iversen, M.Ed, has been practicing and studying the art of Yoga for over twenty years. She lives in Woodstock, New York, where she specializes in writing customized articles that are 100% unique. She is currently accepting Yoga and health-related writing orders and may be contacted at: enchantress108@gmail.com.

© Copyright 2016 – Virginia Iversen / Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

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