Let Your Heart Be the Boss
With the first month of 2017 behind us, it’s a great time to check in with your goals — to remember why they’re important to you, to reflect on your progress so far, to visualise yourself achieving them. Whether you are crushing it so far, or needing to make big changes to your game plan, one of the most powerful ways to fuel the pursuit of big dreams is to shift your focus.
The shift in focus I’m talking about isn’t about upping your mental game or spending more time on recovery. It’s super important to be balanced in your approach, to be clear about the reasons — the whys — behind your goals, and to courageously believe in your ability to achieve them.
But the shift I’m talking about is this:
Take your goal out of your head and putting it into your heart.
A couple years ago one of my teachers, Elena Brower, brought my attention to the fact that your heart should be the boss. She compared the mind to a secretary (with utmost respect for those in that line of work) — it records, files, sorts, and arranges. The heart, meanwhile, is the Boss — it’s what leads and supports you no matter what you choose to do.
“The mind is crucial,” she says, “…it deserves respect but not the kind of power that the boss has.”
So let your mind organize your goals and your game plans, but choose for your heart to lead the way. Whether you realize it or not, this happens when you Hit Reset — when you use yoga to bring things back into balance. Every time you take a deep breath in… and a slow breath out… when you pay attention to what's happening and are willing to respond, you are doing the kind of listening to yourself and applying the kind of action that keeps your power where it should be — in your own heart.
It’s a subtle shift that yields radical results and helps all your systems to function more optimally. And, more importantly, helps you to manage whatever comes at you more easefully — use this powerful fuel to help you close the gap between where you are now, and where you want to be.
Try it now: Take your goal out of your head and put it into your heart. Feel it.
Join Athletes for Yoga this month: Let your heart be the Boss — #heartisboss.