Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Hello and welcome to Deepen your yoga practice.
[00:00:15] Speaker C: I'm Lauren Leduc, the founder and owner.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Of True Love Yoga in Kansas City, Missouri. And today I wanted to talk about yoga in love. Not romantic love, but. But really exploring the different ways that the concept of love shows up in yoga and yogic philosophy on the mat and celebrate Valentine's with you and nerd out on our love of yoga. Obviously, my studio is named True Love Yoga, so this episode felt really apropos. And, you know, there's something about yoga that keeps many of us coming back over and over again. And I think that through line is often love.
[00:00:57] Speaker C: Love takes so many forms.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: The romantic part of it can really become overemphasized, I think, this time of year. But I do want to focus on self love, love for others, love for community, for the earth, for the divine.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: There are so many beautiful ways that.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: It can show up in our spiritual and yoga practice. So we'll talk about Bhakti Yoga, metta, heart, chakra, and self love as they pertain to yoga. So one of the branches of yoga as outlined in the Bhagavad Gita is called Bhakti Yoga. B H A K T I and this is the yoga of devotion. So you might think back to my yoga history episode.
[00:01:44] Speaker C: There are so many different forms of.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: Yoga and schools of thought when it comes to yoga, yoga and branches of yoga.
[00:01:50] Speaker C: And because of that, there are so.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Many different ways to practice yoga. So Bhakti Yoga is actually a practice all in itself. And it's the practice of devotion, of longing, of connecting to the divine, connecting to this self through love. Truly, people practice this in different ways, but most commonly you'll see or you'll experience practicing Bhakti yoga through chant and through kirtan. And a lot of the chants or songs in kirtan are about love, often about romantic love, even between Radha and.
[00:02:27] Speaker C: Krishna or perhaps the devotion of Hanuman.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: Who loved them both. And that's really what it is on the surface is the romantic love, but really it's about this union between masculine.
[00:02:38] Speaker C: And feminine that creates this wholeness in the divine.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: So we sing about these characters in.
[00:02:44] Speaker C: This longing to be in union with them.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: So instead of perfecting postures or practicing.
[00:02:50] Speaker C: Austerity in some way, we simply sing and we long.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: I've gotten to practice Bhakti yoga and kirtan at different points in my yoga practice. A few years ago, I spent some time at the Sivananda Ashram in the Bahamas for a week, kind of out.
[00:03:07] Speaker C: Of my Comfort zone.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: But one of the kind of wonderful surprises that was there was the famous kirtan artist Jay Utal did a residency there for about a week. And I got to go to his kirtans every day.
[00:03:20] Speaker C: And there are some Q&As and stuff within it as well.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: And, you know, we were singing and chanting and there are a lot of tears. It's something that this emotion can come up during the practice of bhakti yoga. And someone asked about it. Jai, every time I chant, I cry.
And his response to that was basically, wow, so beautiful.
[00:03:45] Speaker C: That's the point of this whole thing, is to feel that sense of longing.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Kind of to truly feel this perceived space between ourselves and the divine, which can bring up a lot of emotions.
[00:03:57] Speaker C: And then when we feel the union, it does the same things. Tears can come up.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: They're tears of the feeling of something.
[00:04:05] Speaker C: Being so profoundly beautiful.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: So this isn't my primary practice, bhakti or kirtan, but I have really appreciated this sense of emotional release, of longing, of love, as a practice in and of itself. It has provided really valuable experiences for me. And it is, in my opinion, a.
[00:04:27] Speaker C: Little bit more feminine form, meaning like.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: A little bit more formless and wild form of yoga than something like Hatha yoga, because it just kind of allows space for this resonance and for this experience. So bhakti helps us open our hearts through surrender, gratitude, connection, through longing, through love, and through beautifully told stories. You don't have to chant to access bhakti.
[00:04:52] Speaker C: Something as simple as having a gratitude.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: Journal can be a form of bhakti Yoga of looking around and appreciating what's around you can be bhakti Yoga of.
[00:05:02] Speaker C: Looking into someone else's eyes and seeing.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: The divine within them can be bhakti yoga. I think anything that peels back layers of illusion, protection, hardness, and allows us to see things for what they truly are is a form of bhakti.
[00:05:18] Speaker C: So maybe consider different ways you practice it. Again, it doesn't have to be chanting or singing. Maybe it's listening to music.
[00:05:24] Speaker B: Maybe it's connecting with a beautiful piece of art.
[00:05:27] Speaker C: Maybe it's playing with your child.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: How do you experience the yoga of devotion? Another practice that I really love is part of the Buddhist tradition, but it's.
[00:05:37] Speaker C: Oftentimes interwoven throughout yoga. And that is metta M e t.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: T a and that is loving kindness in yoga.
[00:05:47] Speaker C: And it's often a form of meditation. So metta is loving kindness and universal goodwill.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: And it's a way to practice ahimsa.
[00:05:57] Speaker C: Or non violence and satya truthfulness.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: And it's a process that helps us cultivate, cultivate compassion for ourselves, for others, for the world, especially during challenging times.
[00:06:09] Speaker C: And I'm saying what it does, but I'll say how it does it too.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: But it's helps transcend the barriers between.
[00:06:15] Speaker C: Us and strengthen bonds of love and kindness.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: So my teacher Genyaro taught me the practice of Metabhavana.
[00:06:23] Speaker C: And Meta Bhavana is a Buddhist meditation.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: But interwoven it through yoga many times. And in this we practice sitting and.
[00:06:31] Speaker C: Imagining different folks in front of us. The first one would be someone you.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Really love and you offer them metta. So you cultivate the feeling of loving.
[00:06:42] Speaker C: Kindness in your heart and offer it to this person.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: You also can do it like mentally through words like may you be kind, may you be loved, may you be cared for, etc.
[00:06:53] Speaker C: So you do that with someone you love.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: And it's typically really easy because we love that person.
[00:06:57] Speaker C: And then we think of somebody who's neutral to us. So somebody maybe we know but don't really know well and don't have a lot of feelings toward.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: And we aim to cultivate that exact.
[00:07:08] Speaker C: Same sense of metta for them.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: Then it gets harder because the next.
[00:07:13] Speaker C: Person we call forth is somebody that.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: We have maybe negative association or feelings toward.
[00:07:18] Speaker C: And it's our job to sit with them and offer loving kindness.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: After that, it's us, ourselves. At any age, this can be the.
[00:07:26] Speaker C: Hardest one for some people. Offering ourselves unconditional metta, loving kindness.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: And then after that round, you picture.
[00:07:33] Speaker C: The whole world in front of you, sending it meta. And it is such a powerful and.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: Moving practice because it can feel so.
[00:07:43] Speaker C: Easy to withhold love and kindness from.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: People who we have a hard time with or who we feel don't deserve it. But there is something that alters within.
[00:07:51] Speaker C: You as you continue this practice, as.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: You keep working on it. And you do start to see everyone as worthy of love, even if we don't like their actions, even if they've.
[00:08:01] Speaker C: Done horrible things honestly. And it does less to change them more, to change us, to change our.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Hearts, to hold more love for the light and the shadow, not just what's palatable. So that's metta, one of my favorites. Another aspect of love I wanted to talk about through yoga is part of the yogic anatomy, which is the heart chakra.
[00:08:22] Speaker C: So chakras, Chakras are whirling vortexes of energy within us.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: And the heart would be right at.
[00:08:29] Speaker C: The space of the physical heart in the middle of the chest.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: It's the fourth energy center, usually considered green. And in our energy, it represents the love within us, unconditional love, compassion, forgiveness, connection. It also holds things like heartbreak and grief. And we can work on opening this.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: Space through our yoga practice.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: Sometimes we need to close it a little bit as well. If we're feeling a little too open.
[00:08:55] Speaker C: A little too vulnerable, but within a.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: Safe space, we can open it up and foster more openness and empathy and.
[00:09:02] Speaker C: Self acceptance within us.
[00:09:04] Speaker B: And it can be imbalanced at times too. It could lead to things like jealousy.
[00:09:09] Speaker C: Bitterness, difficulty connecting with others, lack of self, love bitterness.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: And so you think of open, it's full of love and compassion, clothes, jealousy, bitterness. And there are different practices to work with this. So you can like visualize this heart center and see it whirling and open. Maybe you're even pouring green light into it. Visually, you can also chant its seed.
[00:09:34] Speaker C: Mantra, which is Yam y a m.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: You chant it similarly to how you would chant Om.
[00:09:40] Speaker C: You can listen to one of my favorite mantras, Om Mani Padme Hum. The jewel is in the heart of the lotus.
[00:09:47] Speaker B: And there are so many ways to work with the chakras. This is just such a brief introduction, but a lot of it is, yes.
[00:09:53] Speaker C: Through visualization, meditation, things like that, but through your actions.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: So writing a forgiveness list, maybe writing down things that you're grateful for, maybe.
[00:10:04] Speaker C: It'S doing an act of kindness for someone else. Maybe it's taking some rest when you need to, or setting a boundary when you need to. There are so many ways to tend to your heart. What does yours need today?
[00:10:16] Speaker B: And what's one thing that you can do to tend to it? I want to add before we end today that self love and communal love are both such important parts of the yoga practice. We don't practice to punish ourselves, but out of love. At least that's the goal, right? And we also don't practice in a vacuum. We practice to hopefully become more compassionate, understanding, patient member of our families and workplaces and society. So I really recommend that you take the time to nurture yourself. Whether that be through figure a Spinasa Yoga or Restorative Yoga, through affirmations, self care rituals, really think about where you.
[00:11:00] Speaker C: Can love yourself more and how that.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Can create a better foundation for your life with others.
[00:11:07] Speaker C: Also think about maybe a cause.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: It's hard to just support every cause.
[00:11:11] Speaker C: Because it can be so overwhelming.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: But like, what's one thing you feel passionate about and what are small actions that you can take every day?
To improve your world and allow that to be fueled with the love that.
[00:11:22] Speaker C: You'Re giving yourself and it becomes this beautiful self healing cycle, I think or.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: Community healing cycle, self healing, community healing, feeding each other.
[00:11:31] Speaker C: Also think about the way you show.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: Up in your yoga spaces. Are you kind to others even if you're quiet? Are you maybe offering a blessing internally or just sending love to somebody, respecting that they have their own journey?
Are you giving space for somebody else's practice? Are you giving grace for others? Are you doing the same for yourself?
[00:11:50] Speaker C: And maybe take some time to send gratitude and love to your teachers. Let them know if they've made a positive impact in your life.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: It really makes a huge difference and can fuel this labor of love that is teaching yoga. So I want to thank you so.
[00:12:03] Speaker C: Much for listening today and for taking.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: The time to feel into this concept.
[00:12:09] Speaker C: Of love and yoga and different ways.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: That it shows up. I loved talking about my experience with Bhakti Yoga and Metta Heart Chakra Community Connection. I really encourage you to explore these practices to open your heart and deepen your relationship with yourself and with others. And I'd love for you to share with me any insights about love and yoga on the socials. Or feel free to write. And I just want to say may your heart be open, may your spirit.
[00:12:37] Speaker C: Be full, may your love be boundless.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: Om Shanti Om. Peace.
