Many years ago I found something that excited me in a basement bookstore - one of my favorite bookstores, Seekers in Toronto - what I found was a single, easy to miss, textbook containing unfamiliar images titled 'ancient healing postures'.

One of the yoga postures it contained jumped right out at me and after experiencing it myself I've been guiding it in my classes for students. It is especially nice for gentle or beginner level classes. 

This posture is unusual and not usually found in the common yoga vocabulary.

And I am often asked for details because people have profound awakening sensations in the cardiac region - this pose is associated as a remedy for heartache - and general cardiac tension or stress. Consult your physician before beginning any exercise. 

Click here for a larger jpeg of the yoga heart posture to study.

Instructions:

• from standing, turn right foot outward 60-90 degress and rotate at the hip,
• place the left forearm to rest on the shelf of the low back,
• bend 90 degrees at the right elbow as well as the shoulder and make a soft fist to squeeze blood out of the palm,
• after lengthening the spine turn the face to the left, and
• with awareness relaxed at the chest sustain the pose for 2 to 8 breaths depending on comfort
• repeat on the other side, using opposite details (mirror directions)

The original translation is 'killing an evil spirit with a sword' - that's a mouthful so I've taken liberty to name it 'sword in the stone' for my students. The drawing provided is excerpted from Ancient Way to Keep Fit, provided with kind permission here, copyright 1992. Shelter Publications, Inc. www.shelterpub.com.