“Your heart is a drum, keeping time with everyone.”

Recently, I heard this beautiful lyric by Beck from his song, “Heart is a Drum.” It’s an important reminder for me of what yoga teaches us—that we are all connected and what happens to one of us happens to all of us; that if we close off our hearts, we lose that connection; and that if we lose our connection to the greater whole, we risk losing our humanity.

When we arrive on our yoga mats at the beginning of class, we try to connect to our breath and our heartbeat. It might be the first time all day that we’ve paid attention to both of those miracles. We try to meet ourselves where we are. We notice what we’ve brought with us to our practice. Usually, it’s a range of emotions, thoughts, and feelings. Can we accept all that we are feeling with self-love and compassion? Do we try to sweep the uncomfortable things under our mats rather than face them with kindness? Can we start by loving ourselves in all our chaos, messiness, and imperfections? Because if we can, then we can extend that love and acceptance more easily to others. That’s when the drumbeat of our own heart begins to keep time with everyone else’s. And that is Yoga.

This month, we will focus on heart-opening poses to remind our physical bodies that we need to lead with our hearts—shoulders back, head high, front body long and lifted. We will focus also on the yogic yama of Satya, the Sanskrit word that means truthfulness. Restraining from falsehood and committing to the truth in each moment can be applied to so many aspects of our lives. Satya asks us to be truthful, transparent, open, and honest to others and to ourselves, always with kindness. Satya demands that we be vulnerable. We must try to acknowledge those times when we need help and when our actions are out of alignment with our own Truth. We must seek the higher, universal Truths. These Truths always lead to love and connection and hearts beating in unison.

Ways to practice Satya

• Try to be honest with yourself in a loving way. Noticing behaviors that do not serve you is honoring your truth, but you don’t need to be super critical and negative. Talk to yourself as you would talk to a friend.

• Try to be vulnerable—allowing others to see you when you’re not at your best strengthens compassion, empathy and connection.

• Try to connect your truth to something greater—Spirit, higher power, God, Universe, or whatever resonates—so you cultivate a deeper relationship to all beings.

This is hard work. For me, I feel like I am constantly talking to myself—reminding my ego to take 10 large steps back please and just CHILL OUT for god’s sake. LOL. Also, it’s so hard to be vulnerable, but I’m getting better at it thanks to age and wisdom. And my connection to Spirit is something I also explore/grapple with daily.

Satya asks us to keep our hearts open to ourselves and to all others. Yoga reminds us of our connection to all beings everywhere. So, this month let’s focus on heart-centered truth and see where it takes us.