Yoga Speak Explained: "shine your heart forward" or "lead with your heart"

It's a funny process writing these, as we are confronted with our own struggle to explain the things we say in class, and why we say them.​​​​​​​​​ As yoga teachers, we can often use colourful language to change up the monotonous, or to sprinkle a little more joy into anatomy talk. But it's an interesting thing to ponder - are we actually making it easier for our students to understand, or more difficult? I think these cues have their place - they have a visual element to them that can help you understand the movement required. Some students may benefit, whilst others are left scratching their heads. Don't get me wrong, I use some of this language myself! But it is interesting to delve into why we say things, and what we really mean!

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"Shine your heart forward" or "Lead with your heart"

You might hear this cue in postures that involve a degree of backbending. A few other variations might be:

"Draw your heart forward"

"Open your heart"

Okay, we can all agree that you can't physically open your heart in yoga, or move it. It is a colourful way of saying, "expand your chest".

To do so, we lengthen the tissues on the upper front body, and contract the tissues on the upper back body.

Some other helpful cues might be:

• broaden your collarbones

• draw your shoulder blades down and/or together

• broaden your chest/puff out your chest

• draw your sternum forward

• rotate the eye of your elbow forward

Leave a comment if you want us to break down any other yoga cues!

Emilie & Julie ♡