Yoga For A Broken Heart

When your heart is broken, you still need to continue to live. Learn how the philosophy and practical application of yoga can support you in that process.

- Rachael Coopes 

Have you felt those earth-shattering, spirit-crushing days of heartbreak? No matter who you are, where you’re from, it’s an inescapable reality of the human condition … heartbreak.

There’s a reason why they call it that, right? Physically and emotionally you feel it directly in the heart and lungs. Sometimes it feels like an elephant is sitting on your chest and you become short of breath. Some people develop a form of heart disease which mimics the symptoms of a heart attack, aptly named “broken heart syndrome” (a disease experienced predominantly by women).

Jade Clark, Chinese medicine physician from the White Owl Clinic says from a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective we also feel heartbreak in these physical and energetic places. “Lung energy deals with the grief that comes from a relationship ending, whereas heart energy deals with the pain of losing the connection and love shared. The quality of these organs influences and can determine how you process the experience. Easy to see then how the internal organ health can be the difference between emotional hell or a stressful yet healing and emotionally growth-producing experience.”

Sometimes you get “lovesick” and feel it more in the stomach. You’re digesting so much emotionally that you might lose your appetite. Or there can be a feeling of dread hanging out in the belly, giving you the notso-fun variety of butterflies.