Heart Work

"If you want  a deep, intimate relationship with another, first become aware of who you are." - William Haugh

I taught a yoga class today on the heart chakra, the energy center for compassion.  As I talked about the heart (physical and emotional) and how important its energy is for yoga, I also talked about love.
As we did breath work, and asanas I talked about how for some it is easy to love others and difficult to love your self.....and some find it easy to think they love themselves more than others.  I mentioned how if you want balance in your life, in your relationships, you love yourself then you can love others.

Rehab is a hard place to love yourself......for one thing, it's all that digging, that truly finding out who you are.  And then you begin to realize that your actions, your life,  really has affected others.  You don't have to be in rehab to become aware of who you are.  First, you have to be willing to be honest, and to look deep.....at your past, your wants, your needs, your pain, and your triumphs.  You think about what makes you happy, your likes and your dislikes, your dreams and your goals.  After a while, you realize that you are a valuable, caring human, worthy of being loved.  I don't even remember where I read this or who said it, but years ago I read something about the definition of love, that it is how good the other person makes you feel about yourself.

Life comes and goes so quickly, it easy to become unaware of who we are.  But to live it to its fullest,  we have to take the time to know ourselves, to love ourselves.
Heart work, it is more than cardio, more than saying I love you, it is knowing and caring about
yourself, and then finding the compassion and love for others.