Bhakti Yoga: The Forgotten Art of Loving with an Open Heart

Unlocking the sweetness of divine love in everyday life

Follow your heart. We have heard that a million times in life. There is some truth in it because what other options do we have besides following the heart? Our restless mind, unreliable intelligence, or deceptive emotions?

When we incorporate the word ‘yoga’ into our heart, we achieve the yoga of the heart — bhakti yoga, or, in other words, the yoga of devotion.

Many of us have learned — sometimes painfully — that an open heart can be wounded. We close ourselves off with cynicism, indifference, or ignore the world around us, including the people we care about, such as friends and family.

Bhakti yoga helps us open up, as we become stronger despite the hardships we anticipate when approaching others with an open heart.

Besides being a spiritual discipline, I would rather use the expression “the art of spiritual love.” It sounds more poetic, gentler, more inviting.

Another expression also describes bhakti yoga well — it is the yoga of transformation. Step by step, we discover new signs leading to the treasure that we have unconsciously buried deep inside. So deep that even we ourselves couldn’t find where it is hidden.