Yoga from the Hart - Eileen Hartley

What is a sankalpa?

It is a heartfelt intention or resolve, used in yoga to plant a seed of positive awareness in the subconscious mind.

Unlike a standard New Year's resolution or a measurable to-do list goal, a sankalpa is not about "fixing" yourself or achieving a temporary outer milestone.

Rather, it focuses on being—aligning your conscious and subconscious awareness with your highest truth and inner potential.

" I trust the wisdom of my body ", is a sankalpa that I have chosen for this week's Third eye chakra class.

This week's class focuses on the Ajna or Third eye chakra...... Trust your intuition.

This chakra is located between the eyes and connects to the pituitary and pineal glands, the eyes and the mind's capacity for intuition, imagination and higher awareness.

Enjoy every moment today brings 🧡

Speak kindly to yourself 🙏

Chanting or humming or whispering the seed mantra "Hum" or "Ham" physically vibrates the vocal cords and throat area to help awaken and balance the Vishuddha or Throat chakra.

Check out the possible benefits

Ujjayi/Ocean breath.

🌊 Ujjayi, pronounced oo-JAI-yee is one of many breath practices that helps with focus and attention.

🌊 Ujjayi breath will be a helpful tool to maintain steadiness (Sthira) and ease (Sukha) as we move through our yoga practice.

🌊 A soft whispering breath, compared to waves coming in to shore or the sound of the wind in the trees.

🌊 Smooth, steady, continuous breathes, with the inhale and exhale of similar length.

🌊 Inhale through the nose, slightly constrict the back of the throat, exhale through the nose. If feels like a sigh but with lips closed.

🦁 Lion Pose, or Simhasana, is an expressive yoga posture that relieves tension in the face and chest while building confidence.

Benefits are:
🦁 relieves tension
🦁 Stretches the muscles in the face, jaw, eyes and throat.
🦁 Reduces stress
🦁 Helps release pent-up frustration, anxiety, and fear.

Choose the position that suits you.

Beginning class with Conch Shell / Shankah mudra.

This mudra stimulates the throat chakra to help clear it, calms the mind, relieving mental restlessness, reducing anxiety and deepening meditative focus when paired with deep breathing or chanting "Om".

Throat chakra tune up is this week's class theme.

🩵 The fifth chakra, the Throat or Vishuddha chakra is our centre of communication.

🩵 In the physical body the throat chakra is situated in the centre of the neck at the height of the thyroid gland which regulates processing of energy in the body through temperature, growth and metabolism.

🩵 It is also linked to the mouth, jaws, tongue, pharynx, palate, shoulders and neck.