"When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms."
--Mary Oliver
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, which means that I should be discussing all things love and romance. Perhaps I could blog about yoga postures for better sex. Or maybe I could talk about opening the lower chakras to allow the energy flow into the heart. Or maybe I could offer up some partner yoga asana. Not. Gonna. Do. It.
I heard somewhat of a love and romance killer while on the phone with my friend the other day. She said that a friend of hers who married her "soul mate" (the friend's words, not mine) admitted that she was unhappy in her marriage because she felt disconnected from her partner. When she finally admitted to a group of her girlfriends that the perfect appearance of her marriage was a facade and that she often felt disappointed, sad and alone, they responded by saying that the dirty little secret about marriage that no one tells you is that marriage can be lonely.
This led my friend and I into a deep discussion about love, expectation and responsibility. Needless to say, things got mighty interesting and a lot of cell phone minutes were used. We put so much emphasis on finding love, grasping at love and not really taking responsibility for loving ourselves and truly opening ourselves to love. I'm all about romance and all, but why limit yourself to defining love as romantic love when love is all around you if you only stop looking at it in a limited way?
Ironically, I found out first hand how much love there is in the world and inside of me when I exited a relationship. Yeah, that's right -- this isn't Cupid's Valentine's Day blog post. No, no -- I'm not dissing romantic love. I think it's fabulous. It's just not the source of it all. Tomorrow is the first time in a long time that I haven't been partnered on Valentine's Day and yet I feel anything but lonely, unlike my friend's married friend. It feels pretty darned amazing to be open to love in all of its forms rather than solely focused on the candlelight, sweet words, grand gestures, hand holding, flowers and candy, stuff corny movies are made of kind of love.
This Valentine's Day, I urge you to open your heart to yourself and the world not with grand expectations of romance but with the desire to simply be love. And for those of you who are wanting a themed post in honor of Valentine's Day, here are some goodies for you:
Isvara Pranidhana -- surrendering to the Divine is a whole other kind of love. Read this invitation to get into your heart in a whole new way.
A little music to call in your inner Isvara -- crank up this tune - Invoking the Beloved - and amp up your inner love with a little movement.
A Kundalini Yoga Inpsired Heart Opener -- the heart opening practice that I've been doing for the past month is inspired by this Kundalini kriya. Rather than use the mantra listed, I used one of my own: "I am connected to everyone and everything."
Heart Chakra Balancing -- yeah, it wouldn't be a post about love and Valentine's Day if there were no mention about the heart chakra, right? Here's a stimulating Kundalini practice to open, clear, and balance the heart chakra.
Self love -- and don't forget to love the most important one of all -- yourself. You can read more about it here, and you can practice along to a self love meditation here.
The sound of love -- personally, I like to add the chant AH to my yoga practice (throughout your asana practice, chant AHHHHHHHH on your exhales) when I want to "feel the love." Of course if you'd rather not chanting during your yoga practice, try singing along to this funny little diddy about AH.
Here's to love in all of its forms and love without limits and expectations (romantic or otherwise). And just so you know -- I love you all, dear readers!
Namaste!
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