Welcome to Day 7 of your 7 Day Beach Self Love Yoga Series—a journey of inner peace, strength, and healing. Today’s focus is on chest openers and backbends, an essential practice for unlocking your heart center, improving posture, and boosting your energy. On the soft sands of the beach, with the rhythmic sound of waves nearby, we’ll complete this beautiful self-love series with movements that invite emotional release, vulnerability, and rejuvenation.
The Power of Chest Openers and Backbends
Chest openers and backbends are not just physical postures; they’re emotional expressions. The chest, often called the heart space in yoga, stores tension from stress, sadness, or emotional restraint. Backbending and opening the front body symbolically opens your heart—allowing more compassion, joy, and confidence to flow through you.
These poses energize the spine, improve breathing by expanding the lungs, and counteract the hunched-over posture many of us develop from long hours of sitting. By practicing backbends mindfully, we create strength in the back body and flexibility in the front body—two essential qualities of balance in both yoga and life.
Setting the Scene on the Beach
Imagine yourself standing barefoot on warm sand. The sea breeze brushes against your skin. The sunrise gently warms your face as the waves offer their steady rhythm. Today, you give yourself permission to fully let go—to open your body and heart, and receive the love you deserve.
Let’s begin with mindful breathing to center ourselves.
Grounding Breath & Intention (5 minutes)
Seated or Standing Position
Sit or stand tall, close your eyes, and place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly.
Inhale deeply through your nose… feel your chest lift…
Exhale slowly through your mouth, allowing any tension to melt away.
Repeat this for a few minutes. Set your intention:
“I open my heart. I release what no longer serves me. I receive love fully.”
Warm-Up Flow (10 minutes)
1. Cat-Cow (Marjaryasana/Bitilasana)
Come to all fours.
Inhale: Drop the belly, lift the chest and tailbone – Cow Pose.
Exhale: Round the back, tuck the chin – Cat Pose.
Repeat for 5 rounds, warming the spine.
2. Thread the Needle
From all fours, slide your right arm under the left, resting your right shoulder and cheek on the mat. Hold for 30 seconds, then switch sides. This prepares the thoracic spine for deeper opening.
3. Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
Tuck your toes, lift your hips to the sky.
Bend one knee at a time to warm up the hamstrings.
Stay here for 5 deep breaths.
Main Flow – Chest Opening & Backbending (25 minutes)
4. Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)
Lie on your belly, palms under shoulders.
Inhale: Press into your hands, lift your chest gently.
Keep your elbows slightly bent.
Exhale: Lower down.
Repeat 3–5 times.
5. Sphinx Pose
From your belly, bring your elbows under your shoulders and forearms flat.
Lift the chest, gaze forward, and relax your shoulders.
Feel the opening through your heart and spine.
Hold for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
6. Locust Pose (Salabhasana)
Rest on your belly, arms by your sides.
Inhale: Lift your head, chest, arms, and legs off the ground.
Reach fingers toward your toes.
Hold for 20 seconds. Exhale and lower.
Repeat 2–3 times. This strengthens the entire back body.
7. Camel Pose (Ustrasana)
Kneel with knees hip-width apart.
Place your hands on your lower back or heels.
Inhale: Lift your chest, pressing hips forward.
Exhale: Gently lean back, keeping neck neutral or gaze upward.
Hold for 30 seconds.
Come out slowly and rest in Child’s Pose.
8. Low Lunge with Heart Opener (Anjaneyasana Variation)
Step your right foot forward into a low lunge.
Inhale: Sweep your arms up and back, lift your chest.
Option to clasp hands behind your back for a deeper stretch.
Hold for 30 seconds, switch sides.
9. Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana)
Lie on your back, knees bent, feet hip-width.
Arms down by your sides.
Inhale: Lift hips toward the sky.
Option to clasp hands under your back and press the chest upward.
Hold for 5 breaths, then release.
Repeat 2–3 times.
10. Wheel Pose (Urdhva Dhanurasana) – Optional Advanced
If comfortable, place your hands by your ears and press into a full wheel pose.
Hold for 3–5 breaths. Come down slowly.
Cooling Down & Integration (15 minutes)
11. Supine Twist
Lie on your back, hug knees to chest.
Drop both knees to the right, gaze left.
Hold for 1 minute. Switch sides.
This helps release the spine and balances the nervous system.
12. Reclined Bound Angle (Supta Baddha Konasana)
Bring soles of the feet together, knees fall open.
Place one hand on your belly, one on your heart.
Breathe deeply and soften.
13. Savasana on the Sand (5 minutes)
Stretch out fully, allow your body to melt into the sand.
Close your eyes.
Let the sun, the ocean air, and the echoes of your breath remind you of your own presence.
Feel gratitude for your journey—this beach, this body, this breath.
Reflection
As you rise from savasana, take a moment to place your hands together at heart center. Bow your head gently and thank yourself for showing up fully.
Chest openers and backbends aren’t just physical achievements; they are emotional victories. They reflect your willingness to face discomfort, lean into love, and soften in a world that often asks you to harden.
Final Words – Completing the 7 Day Journey
You’ve made it through seven beautiful days of self-love on the beach. With each practice, you’ve awakened parts of yourself that needed attention. You’ve stretched, breathed, released, and reconnected.
Today, your heart is open. Your body is strong. Your spirit is alive.
As you move forward, carry this self-love with you. Make time each day—even if just five minutes—to return to your mat, your breath, and your truth.
Namaste.
