We’re currently walking through major energetic portals at the moment. I’m sure we can all feel the impact of the heavy energy that this year has brought, in one way or another. During times of significant change, it is vital that we keep our hearts open to new possibilities. These New Year yoga ideas will encourage you to open your heart to welcome change and opportunity.
Intention Setting for The New Year
First, it is essential to create an intention. Dr. Wayne Dyer states that an intention is a force in the universe that allows the act of creation to take place. When we align with this universal energy, incredible things can happen. Thus, if we intend to open our hearts to prepare for the possibility of positive change to take place, we must put that force out into the universe. We can do this through journaling, spoken word, movement, breath, and Mantra.
New Year Yoga Mantras
Mantra is a powerful tool to cultivate and create intention because of the repetition that reaffirms the intention. For more on Mantras, discover how Mantras can be medicine for the mind.
You can acquire an open heart center by following the Mantras below to build your New Year intention.
Bija mantra: Yam (Yum)
Bija Mantra Yam connects to the Anahata chakra, the heart center. By chanting this Mantra, you can activate and open your heart center. The Anahata chakra is a powerful energetic center because it is where the physical body and the spiritual being meet. The lower three chakras are more connected to the physical, and the upper chakras to the etheric. Thus, the heart center is where they merge. It is a beautiful place to amplify the power of love and compassion.
Chant Yam (pronounced Yum) every morning for 1 minute with your hands over your heart to call in the energy of opening your heart.
Guru Guru Wahe Guru, Guru Ram Das Guru
This Mantra helps project your infinite power out to the universe and then brings the endless energy and wisdom right back inside you. The first part projects the mind to the source of knowledge and ecstasy. The second part translates to the understanding that comes as a servant of the infinite. This Mantra reconnects the experience of the finite to the infinite, deepening the abundance of love.
Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha
Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha translates to the salutations to the remover of obstacles. It will open our hearts by removing the challenges that stand in its way. Chant this traditional Mantra to remove the barriers holding you back from realizing your true self and living in divine purpose. Add this Mantra into your New Year Yoga sequence for the courage to open your heart.
Heart Activating Pranayama
This pranayama exercise will open your heart and call in expansive love for the New Year.
- Sit in a comfortable position, tall with a straight spine.
- Bring your hands to Anjali Mudra (prayer position) into the heart center, thumbs gently touching your chest. Think of someone you love or an experience you love or would like to love. This visualization will begin to cultivate loving energy.
- Inhale through your nose as you expand your arms out wide as though you’re going to give someone a big hug. As you do, imagine the color green continuously circulating from your heart out to your fingertips and back around.
- Exhale, and slowly bring your hands back to the heart center’s prayer position, feeling the abundance of light and energy cultivated.
- Continue for ten rounds, embracing the love around you.
10 New Year Yoga Poses to Open Your Heart
These New Year yoga poses work to open your heart. You may practice each pose on its own or in a sequence. Hold each pose for five breaths to activate optimal pranic flow.
- Cow/cat pose
- Tiger pose
- Hero’s pose + chest expansion backbend
- Puppy pose
- Locust pose
- Bow pose
- Bridge pose
- Wheel pose
- Ball pose
- Savasana
New Year Yoga Affirmations for Love
Practice these New Year affirmations while gazing in the mirror. Holding eye contact with yourself is a potent practice and a powerful stimulator of affection. By doing so, you’ll increase your self-love and self-compassion.
- I am open to love
- I am worthy of the purest love
- My heart radiates love, abundance, and pure light
- I live in harmony with all beings
- I direct love and light towards myself
Learn a new perspective of self-love through The Holiness of Holistic
Crystals to Open Your Heart
Consider incorporating the following crystals into your new year yoga practice.
Rose quartz
Rose quartz is one of the most well-known stones for universal love, heart activating energy! And for a good reason. This stone helps the holder restore trust and harmony in relationships and encourages universal love. Furthermore, the rose quartz opens the heart on all levels, making it an excellent stone for others’ self-love and love.
Jade
Jade is a powerful stone to open the heart center due to its powerful impact on bringing emotional healing. It increases self-confidence, clears negativity, and can open our hearts to become aware of deeper issues that may hinder our self-growth. If you feel like you have a blockage in your heart, this may be a great stone to incorporate into the New Year.
Green Tourmaline
Green tourmaline is often a stone related to the third eye chakra. However, you can also use it to stimulate a stronger connection between the heart and the mind, which may allow you to feel the energy of Divine love. This stone can be green or pink, or a blend, and is useful when focusing on opening your heart to the wisdom of your mind as you enter into the New Year.
Teas to Activate Your Heart Center
Tea is a beautiful way to nourish the body, mind and soul. Try these teas in the new year to strengthen our hearts.
Chyawanprash
This powerful nutritive jam is an ancient Ayurvedic formula that builds immunity, enhances circulation, and sharpens clarity. These benefits allow our heart center to remain healthy and open to the New Year’s possibilities. Try 1 tsp or PIOR Living Chyawanprash every morning for an enhanced overall sense of well-being.
Tulsi Tea
Tulsi, or Holy Basil, is one of the most revered herbs in Ayurvedic medicine. It carries a range of benefits, one being that it helps increase the cardiovascular system. Thus, Tulsi tea can help enhance the functioning of the heart and brings a state of balance.
Hawthorn Berry Tea
Hawthorn berries are a potent herb directly affecting diseases of the heart. So by taking this tea will help strengthen your heart center, encouraging optimal flow to come through.
Clare Michalik, Ayurvedic Practitioner
