Heart Opening Hints
backbend
HEART OPENING HINTS
What if one backbend could quietly teach us how to approach another? This is where Chromatic Yoga becomes particularly interesting. Instead of treating each posture as its own isolated challenge, we can recognize repeating actions and use one shape to inform the next. In today’s video, Matt provides us with some heart opening hints through Bow Pose and Wheel Pose, revealing connections between shoulder positioning, spinal extension, glute activation, and the direction of force through the legs. Bow teaches us to lengthen the front body while the legs actively reach back and up, while Wheel asks us to translate similar intentions into a completely different relationship with gravity. The shapes may look unrelated in some ways, but the muscular conversations are surprisingly familiar. When we learn to recognize these patterns, our practice becomes less about memorizing poses and more about developing movement intelligence that travels with us across the mat.
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ACTIVATION IN A HIP OPENER
Before moving into deeper backbending, Matt offers us a heart opening hint within a hip opening position similar to a modified Monkey or Lizard Pose. We flex the back foot and actively draw the heel toward the buttocks, recruiting the hamstrings to create an active quadriceps stretch. From there, the shoulder moves up, back, and around as the hand reaches for the foot. Once we have the bind, the stretch could easily become passive, but Matt encourages us to keep participating. Pressing the foot back into the hand activates the quadriceps while rolling the shoulder back creates more opportunity for the chest to open. The glutes also contribute to the organization of the pelvis and back leg. This exchange between effort and openness is important. We are not simply pulling ourselves farther into a stretch. We create opposing forces that provide both information and support as the front body begins to expand.
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HEART OPENING HINTS: DISCOVER HOW TWO BACKBENDS INFORM EACH OTHER
FOREHEAD ON BLOCK OPTION
Bow Pose gives us another opportunity to examine the difference between forcing an opening and preparing the body to receive one. Lying on the belly, Matt first has us wiggle the rib cage away from the pelvis, deliberately creating more length through the front body. With the knees bent, the forehead can rest on supportive foam blocks or a folded blanket while we reach back for the feet. The arms externally rotate and the shoulders move up and back, preparing the chest before elevation begins. From there, the glutes help lift the legs, the big toes reach upward, and the quadriceps kick the feet back as the heart travels forward. These heart opening hints also include an internal check in. Matt asks us to soften and consider how we want to feel. Repeating Bow becomes an opportunity to adjust the experience rather than automatically pursue more depth.
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BRIDGE PREPARATION
Before Wheel, Bridge Pose lets us rehearse spinal extension without managing the full demand of the final posture. Matt directs us to press the heels into the ground, move the knees away from the face, and use the glutes to elevate the pelvis. Meanwhile, the ribs travel in the opposite direction, toward the face, helping to create an arch that is distributed through the spine rather than concentrated in one area. The arms press into the floor while the heart continues its journey upward. These heart opening hints become increasingly valuable because they teach us where the movement should originate before more load is added. Bridge gives us time to understand the directional relationships: legs reaching one way, ribs another, pelvis lifting, and chest expanding. We are essentially building the neurological map for Wheel while remaining in a position where we can observe the details with greater clarity.
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FULL WHEEL AT THE WALL
The final translation into Wheel makes the importance of sequencing unmistakable. Matt begins from Bridge, allowing the elbows enough width before positioning the top of the head and retracting the shoulder blades. Then comes the detail that can change the experience entirely: legs first, arms second. The legs initiate the movement as we imagine sending the heart toward the wall. Only after that direction is established do the arms contribute more strongly to the lift. Reversing the order can send unnecessary demand into the lower back and SI joint. Here, heart opening becomes a study in timing as much as strength or flexibility. Bow, Bridge, and Wheel have been teaching related actions all along. Chromatic patterning allows us to collect those experiences, recognize what repeats, and apply what we have learned when the physical challenge increases. The deeper skill is knowing which action belongs where and when.
Explore more ways to connect biomechanics, purposeful action, and progressive sequencing through Matt’s Chromatic Yoga Training October 8th – 10th 2026.
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Article by Trish Curling
Video Extracted From: Heart Openers Immersion
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