You feel disconnected from your heart. You might know it’s there, but you struggle to truly feel it, which makes it difficult to connect with the hearts of those you care about most.

In this practice, John will guide you to energetically activate the four quadrants of your heart and explore feeling into the different textures of them. From there, you will feel into a deep desire, need, or truth in your heart and then feel out into the world and imagine everyone else who might feel that too, eventually connecting your heart to the heart of humanity.

If you want to learn how to deeply feel your own heart and from there, be able to connect with the hearts of those you love, this 11-minute practice will help.

Come to a strong seated position. Your eyes can be closed or open. Sit with the texture of "Yogi on the Mountain" - tall, proud, long spine, and feeling the earth beneath you.

If you're seated in a chair, bring the soles of your feet to the ground. Wiggle your toes and spread the soles of your feet wide, so you can feel the magnetic pulse of the earth's energy running beneath your feet. If you're seated in a meditative position on the floor, press your sitz bones into the ground. Use your side ribs to press your hips and sitz bones down, grounding your hips and sacrum.

With this connection to the earth, take a few breaths through your nose and listen to the pulse of the earth. Become sensitive to the pulse of the earth. Placing your tongue gently on the roof of your mouth, begin to breathe into a wide open, strong nose. Imagine breathing into the upper sinus cavities of your nostrils. Notice if this cleans, purifies or activates the frontal lobe of your brain, your third eye.

Taking a few more breaths deep into your upper sinuses, begin to breathe through the back of your throat, relaxing it open wide. This is different than an ujjayi breath in yoga in that your throat is wide, open, and relaxed. Feel how these breaths bring energy to the back of your neck, lengthening it a little bit, or how they may activate the back of your brain.

Your throat is the top of the center column that runs down through the very core of you to the perineum. Notice that as you open the upper throat region, it also activates the top of your heart, which is bright like a big, blue sky. This top quadrant of your heart is very clean and fresh.

Continuing to breathe through your open nose and throat, bring your breath into the back of your heart. Notice the difference in texture between the bright, open top of your heart and the dense, lush back of your heart. It's like a forest or a jungle.

Now bring your awareness to the bottom of your heart. Feel the difference in texture between these other two quadrants of your heart and the root of your heart—the point at the bottom of your heart that reaches down to your genitals and the earth. It's the texture of your heart that's a bit darker and richer, like dense velvet or rich, red earth.

Continuing to breathe deeply and activating these different quadrants of your heart, bring your awareness to the front of your heart. Notice how the front of your heart has the energy of a shining sun. Feel how the front of your heart can radiate out. Let it relax open and shine.

Feeling these four quadrants of your heart, make them bigger. Breathing into your side ribs, make your heart even wider, so it can fill your entire chest cavity. Allow your breath to come through that big, wide open heart, down into your lower abdomen, and into the perineum. Feel the center column that goes down from your throat, through your heart and lower abdomen, and down into the perineum. Breathe into that column and feel your lower abdomen get wider.

If you've lost your connection to the ground, press your feet and sacrum down into the earth.

Coming back to your wide, activated heart, feel the deep desire, the deep need, the truth of your heart that brought you here to this practice. For the Feminine, perhaps it is to be pierced by fierce presence. For the Masculine, maybe it is for your partner to trust you completely. It's like a nutrient that your body needs.

Then open your eyes and feel out into the world and imagine everybody else who has this need. Take the last few breaths of the practice to connect your heart to the heart of humanity, as if you could breathe with humanity.

Disclaimer: Although anyone may find this practice to be useful, it is made available with the understanding that we are not engaged in presenting specific medical, psychological, emotional, sexual or spiritual advice. Nor is anything in this practice intended to be a diagnosis, prescription, recommendation or cure for any specific kind of medical, psychological, emotional, sexual or spiritual problem. Each individual has unique needs and this practice cannot take these individual differences into account. Each person should engage in a program of treatment, prevention, cure, or general health only in consultation with a licensed, qualified physician, therapist or other competent professional. Any person suffering from a sexually transmitted disease or any local illness of his or her sexual organs should consult a medical doctor and a qualified instructor of sexual yoga before practicing the sexual methods described in this practice.