5 Heart-Opening Yoga Poses to Share With Your Students This Holiday Season

The holiday season is a time of connection, gratitude, and compassion, making it the perfect opportunity to focus on heart-opening yoga poses in your classes. These poses can help students release tension, cultivate openness, and bring more mindfulness into their interactions. Here are five heart-opening poses to share with your students this holiday season.

1. Camel Pose (Ustrasana)
Camel Pose is a deep backbend that stretches the entire front body and helps release tension in the chest and shoulders.

• How to do it: Kneel on the floor with your knees hip-width apart. Place your hands on your lower back, fingers pointing down, and slowly begin to arch your back. For a deeper stretch, reach for your heels with each hand, lifting the chest and pressing the hips forward.
• Benefits: Camel Pose improves posture, stretches the chest and lungs, and can increase energy and openness.
• Tip: Encourage students to engage their core and lift through their sternum to avoid straining the lower back.

2. Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana)
Bridge Pose gently opens the chest and heart center while also strengthening the legs and glutes.

• How to do it: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet hip-width apart, close to the glutes. Press into your feet, lift your hips toward the ceiling, and clasp your hands under your lower back. Lift your chest toward your chin, broadening the collarbones.
• Benefits: This pose helps to relieve stress, improve lung capacity, and encourage self-compassion.
• Tip: Suggest students roll their shoulders under and interlace their fingers for added shoulder mobility and heart expansion.

3. Upward Facing Dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana)
Upward Facing Dog is a powerful yet accessible heart opener that also strengthens the upper body.

• How to do it: Start lying on your stomach, hands placed under your shoulders. As you inhale, press through your palms, lift your torso, and straighten your arms. Keep your legs and the tops of your feet pressing into the mat, opening your chest, and looking slightly upward.
• Benefits: This pose stretches the chest and shoulders, aligns the spine, and promotes a sense of openness and presence.
• Tip: Guide students to keep their shoulders away from their ears and avoid collapsing in the lower back by engaging the core.

4. Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)
Bow Pose is a full-body heart opener that enhances flexibility in the back and shoulders.

• How to do it: Lie on your belly with your arms by your sides. Bend your knees, reach back with your hands, and grab your ankles. As you inhale, press your feet into your hands to lift your chest and thighs off the mat, creating a bow shape with your body.
• Benefits: Bow Pose helps to counteract forward-hunching, stimulates the heart, and encourages a feeling of joy and vitality
• Tip: Remind students to keep their necks relaxed and focus on lifting from the heart center rather than straining the back.

5. Puppy Pose (Uttana Shishosana)
Puppy Pose offers a gentle heart opener and is accessible to all levels, making it a great addition to any sequence.

• How to do it: Start on all fours, with hips stacked over knees and arms reaching forward. Lower your chest toward the mat and rest your forehead or chin on the floor, feeling a deep stretch in the shoulders and chest.
• Benefits: This pose relieves tension in the upper back and shoulders, lengthens the spine, and can help reduce stress and anxiety.
• Tip: For a deeper stretch, encourage students to walk their hands further forward, ensuring the hips stay aligned over the knees.

Heart-opening poses can be deeply restorative and provide a sense of connection, self-love, and compassion—perfect themes for the holiday season. Incorporating these poses into your classes can encourage students to release tension, welcome openness, and bring a sense of gratitude into their lives.