Mend Your Heart With These Simple Moves + Open Heart Surgery

Get your affairs in order

Three weeks ago my younger brother called, He’d been told by his doctor to get his affairs in order — he needed open heart surgery. My heart stopped for a minute. My little brother was so strong. He was the caretaker of our eighty-one-year-old dad. What did this mean for his family, including me??

My brother is now recovering from that open heart surgery. Since his surgery, I keep singing these lyrics:

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in

Leonard Cohen Anthem

Cracked open

I believe that our hearts get opened by being broken which feels like being cracked open. But to actually have your chest cavity physically cracked open… OUCH! Such a harsh way to let the light of love in.

Watching my brother recover from heart surgery makes my heart hurt all the way back to my ancestors. Yup, heart disease is rampant in my family history. With my brother, uncle and grandmother all experiencing open heart surgery.

And my family is not alone. Heart disease is the number one killer. My goodness, let’s do our work to reverse that. It means we all need to work on love. I know that’s my work.

Love opportunities

I inherited the family’s heart birth defect. Pectus carinatum, pigeon chest. A disorder where the cartilage and bones of the sternum don’t form properly. For me, that means my chest is shaped like an outward V instead of the rounded W most of you have. My nephew has the same birth defect and had his chest cavity broken open and reset so his heart had room to grow.

Cracked open hearts are a theme in my life. A theme I didn’t want to experience. As a result, I’ve been working on letting the light of love into my life in a kinder, gentler way. I think of my heart as having wings. I’m taking the binds that have been tied around my heart off. So I can freely love.

Love wings

I give you my love wings practice in this week’s Ageless Movement Practice. I call it my bird’s fly/human’s love practice. It will open your heart’s wings and allow you to soar on the currents of love.

Crazy love

My family’s love story could be titled, “Love Is Crazy, So Run.” The tale goes like this —  my bipolar mother was out of control. She was over emotional, drank too much, acted out sexually, shoplifted, and was anorexic. My stoic father shut down and ran away from her. Out of those two choices — shut down and run seemed the better path so I chose to love in that way.

Well, that’s not love obviously. But to stay with a partner and allow myself to be vulnerable is sooooooo scary. I’ve been consciously working on it for years and I’m blessed to have a partner that’s hung in there with me through lots of shut downs and runs.

I do my heart opening practice on a regular basis. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be in a relationship or I’d be stuck in one like my parents.

No thank you!! I believe that’s my greatest fear of all and motivates me to get on my mat and move to open my heart’s wings everyday!

Gift of love

Move yourself to open your love wings by reading the Ageless Body Love Note to you!

Dearest Love,

I’m soooooo crazy about you that I want to shout my love from the highest height. As it is, I’m carving I Love YOU into every tree and rock I can get my hands on.

Precious

I want you to know that you are so beautiful to me. I am enamored by me, your precious body. I’ve carried you through many years. Thank you for taking good care of me and continuing on through the struggles and challenges. I hope you are as amazed by you as I am.

Super cool

I really dig your mind. Observing it analyze problems and challenges is simply, wondrous. I often think, “How’s this going to be solved?” And you come up with such creative ways to deal with situations. I love that!

Amazing

Feeling your emotions and intuitions and allowing them to guide you through your life is one of my favorite things of all time. It’s like a good movie that starts out with a foreshadowing of uhhh ohhh and builds beautifully into WOW!! How did you flow like that??

I love watching you be inspired! Seeing you muster up the courage to walk through the doors that are continuously opening in front of you — So incredible.

You are my inspiration and I’m so grateful to be your body sharing this life journey with you!!

I love you sooooo much! Let’s unfold our heart wings and go soaring on the currents of love!

Your body (Via Michelle Andrie)