Break ups are hard. If they weren’t, the post relationship emotional state would be called something different than heart broken. Planned or unplanned, the departure of a loved one can leave us feeling raw, vulnerable and unsteady.  Most of us try a variety of coping mechanisms to get back to “normal, yet these distractions rarely do the trick. Maybe you’ve consulted loved ones, colleagues, therapists or even your local barista and it’s likely somewhere along the way someone suggested yoga.

If you are new to yoga, you may be skeptical about how downdog could possibly help ease the palpable pain you are experiencing; I don’t blame you. We know that physical movement can boost endorphins in our system and that endorphins inhibit sensations of pain, but the connection to healing your broken heart is a bit more challenging to grasp.

The key is that yoga is more than just physical movement. Frequently defined as “union”, yoga is the joining together of the mind, the body and the spirit. When we are in this state of union we experience freedom from the turbulence of life; the anxiety, depression and fear that often accompany break ups are all states of separation from this union.

It is only natural during a breakup to want to shutdown, retreat or hide the emotions you are experiencing.  You may even feel that this approach   is the only way to cope, but over time it can take a toll on your body and your health.

Yoga offers an alternative path, encouraging us to tune in rather than tune out, to experience rather than avoid, and to open up to life rather than shut it out. Through yoga, we also learn to stay present with the pain, to acknowledge the emotions and thoughts that come along with it, and to find compassion for ourselves and the others involved in the challenging scenario.  A mindful yoga practice will:

• Shift your Energy. Pain that isn’t properly processed negatively, impacts the energetic body and creates blockages.  Yoga helps to clear these blockages; as we stretch, bend, and move with our breath we literally work the tension and negativity out of the body.
• Connect you to the power within: The dualities of a yoga practice demand that we leverage our inner strength to find balance between the push and pull of the day-to-day and the ups and downs of life in general.
• Change your Mindset. Inverted poses like down dog or head stand are, literally to change our perspective.  When our head is upside down, we see the world in a different way, which shifts our understanding of what we “know” to be true.
• Boost your resilience. Meditation and focused breathing exercises help to center us in the present moment. As we become more comfortable residing in the present we can move away from “What could have been.” As we soften our grasp on the past, our tension releases and we are left with space to see the possibilities that lie ahead.

Yoga is not a silver bullet to cure heart break, but it can be the guide to help you overcome a broken heart and learn to thrive again.