Welcome to the Heart Chakra

● It has 12 lotus flowers, green, but is also associated with the colour rose

● It has a 6 pointed star; the triangles represent the descent of the spirit into the body and the ascent of matter rising to meet spirit. The 6 points can also be seen as relating to the 6 other chakras

After burning through our stubbornest blocks, we can allow our fires to subside to warm embers

● We turn toward our centre, warmed, cleansed and ready to embrace the next level of awareness

● We start to move into the softer touch of spirit. We transcend our ego, and grow toward something greater, deeper, stronger

● The heart is at the centre of the 7 chakras; below it the Root, Sacral and Solar Plexus

● The spiritual and physical, and above is the Throat, 3rd Eye and Crown, representing spiritual

● Even in our language we say ‘the heart of the situation’ we are talking about the centre

● Physically the heart also relates to the cardiac plexus and its dominion extends to your lungs, your ribcage, your arms, your hands and your upper back

● It is connected to the thymus gland. which is part of the lymphatic system, which in turn is central to the immune system

● The heart is the vital link for the whole, associated with love and compassion - not just the love you feel for your partner, or child but of all creation

● The Heart chakra is also the seat of creativity, so it could create creative blocks, while when open it can bring inspiration

● When the Heart chakra is in balance you feel energised and have strength to fulfil your hopes and dreams, and receive unconditional love

● The element is air, with the sense of touch; thereby, balancing ethereal with the physical

● Plus when we feel love we say ‘it’s like walking on air’. Air represents openness, freedom, and letting go. When we cling too tight to the ones we love we can suffocate them, we need ‘room to breathe’

● Air also therefore represents breath, the vital process through which our cells are kept alive - prana

● This energy represents an interface between the physical and mental world. We can influence the body with the breath

● Our hands are closely related to the heart, and massage is a good example of this expression as is a kind touch an outward sign of love, compassion and forgiveness when in open and balanced state

● The Heart is the 2nd of the three locks. The Root being the first and the 3rd Eye being the third

● As you can imagine there are many things in this life or another that could give rise to being blocked

● The sanskrit name ‘Anahata’ means ‘sound that is made without any two things striking’, it also means ‘unstruck’, ‘unhurt’, ‘fresh’ and ‘clean’

● When the chakra is free of grief from old hurts, its opening is innocent, fresh and radiant

● The fight of the 3rd chakra is replaced with the acceptance of the 4th

● If we have balanced the solar plexus nicely then our circumstances are easier to accept

● A blocked Heart chakra can lead to weakened immune system think of respiratory infections etc. which are stress related disorders

● When it is out of balance, you may lack confidence and be able to let go of your fear

● Yoga and meditation, massage and oils such as rose, jasmine and neroli and crystals such as rose, green tourmaline, emerald and jade can support the opening of the Heart chakra and the below

● If this chakra is too open it can pour out so much energy in your desire to help others but have none left for yourself; you end up stressed and drained. The key as ever is balance

Balancing

● The heart in common with all the chakras needs to have its own flexibility - the ability to open and close as necessarily. This is particularly important in the heart as it is the chakra of change, giving us the confidence to fulfil our hopes, make a break with the past and embrace the future

● The love that we experience at the level of the heart chakra is the distinctively different from the more sexual, passionate love of the second chakra. Sexual love is object orientated - the passion is stimulated by the presence of a person. In the fourth chakra, love is not dependent on outside stimulation, but experienced within as a state of being. In this way it radiates outward, bringing love and compassion to whatever comes into our field.

It is a divine presence of empathic connection, rather than an extension of our need or desire. Hopefully, through the force of will, our needs have been fulfilled or transcended. Love can emerge with the deep sense of peace that comes from the lack of need, with a joyous acceptance of our place among things, and the radiance that comes from inner harmony. Unlike the changing nature of the second chakra with its transitionary passions, love from the heart is of an enduring quality, eternal and constant.

You always have you.

Once you realise this, it is incredibly peaceful. Love, like power, is something we all want and need and might sometimes feel we don’t have enough of it. What is this mysterious force and why does it have so much power in our lives? Love is a unifying force - it draws things together. From this unity it allows separate parts to be held in a relationship of something larger. From children we rely on it for survival, development, growth and independence. All shown in various ways to aid that process.

There is no greater way to invite love, than to offer it first. Since we all want it, we gravitate to it. But it starts within first, in a balanced place, rather than giving it for seeking it. When we receive acknowledgement in love it can be ecstatic. Some go for the money however, where they receive acknowledgment indirectly and bypass the less functional way we need to behave in order to find love.

Therefore, love can have implications in how we behave and how we attempt to gain acknowledgement. When growing up in how we learn to behave in order to attract love. How we observe what needs to be done to attract love. For example how our parents communicate with one another shows us how people should be in a relationship. How we think a woman must be and how a man must be and how we react to that. This can impact which partner we choose. However, we can unlearn what we have learned and break our patterns and rewire!

When we do find our partner, we feel as though we transcend all the lower chakras and fall in love. When we meet our opposite, for example, we feel whole. The other person completes those attributes that we have missing and vice-versa. This is a wonderful stage to be in. As the relationship progresses, we come to see that those differences could become frustrating as we start to see the sides of the person that are not similar to us.

At first these differences are acknowledged with love and so not only does the other person make us feel whole, but we also feel loved for being ourselves. When that starts to change, we feel disappointed and many couples end up breaking at this stage. Yet if we can learn to move through this phase with love and compassion for ourselves and the other, working as a team and reminding of those strengths the other holds then it can be a surely beautiful balance.

There are many things that can reduce the flow of love such as discrimination inset into the belief system, culture, background etc. The heart chakra sees the world as in unity, not in separation. Rejection is one of the most basic of human fears. This is not surprising when you consider how important it is that our core centre remain healthy. Rejection threatens our basic internal balance and sense of self-acceptance. We turn the ‘non-love’ against ourselves and start to self-destruct. Instead of feeling connected we feel cut off. For some it’s easier to live without love than risk opening, sharing and potentially rejection. Fear is integral in understanding the heart chakra. It tries to protect, meanwhile it impacts the input and output balance.

When we close it tight it inhibits the connection from the upper and lower chakras, from the inside and outside world and becomes depleted. It takes energy to open it - with energy flowing through all chakras, while relaxing and letting it happen, with the yin energy that sits with the heart. Love is not a matter of getting connected but seeing we are already connected, with a deep sense of spiritual connection, the sense of being touched, moved and inspired to heights beyond our normal limits. A deep fundamental truth. We are love. We are its life force, its expression, its manifestation, its vehicle.

How to Balance:

● The heart requires an understanding and practice of balance - between the mind and body, inner and outer realms, self and other, giving and receiving

● Opening the heart requires a transcendence of the ego; we surrender to forces lighter than the self

● Lastly, opening the heart requires an understanding and control of the breath, for it is the tool of physical and mental transformation. In the Upanishads (the original documentation of the chakras) it states:mm‘When all the knots of the heart are unloosened, then even here in this human birth, the mortal becomes immortal. This is the whole teaching of the chakras’. Check my blog on loosen knots found here

https://www.inspire-rewire.com/blog-main/healing-past-pain-a-knot-in-a-chain-of-events

● To heal is to make whole. Love is the ultimate healing force. Once your chakra becomes even more open it naturally gives rise to the urge to heal, with this realisation that we are all one. We cannot advance alone while others are ailing.

Helping others also brings a state of compassion; when feeling a little down, undertaking the smallest of kind acts can bring you out of that zone. It’s a win-win. So long as there is balance, that you are taking care of your needs too. You must nurture yourself to nurture others.

When you are more and more healed, you might feel you need less and less for yourself. There’s a difference between needing less, and not giving yourself self-love because you are too busy helping others.

There’s also a difference between being sensitive to when someone wants to accept the help or when you are maybe imposing. Help also doesn’t need to be a profession, simply helping those on a daily basis can help - someone drops something and you run to give it back. When our heart is open our very presence radiates love and joy. This love is the essence of true healing

● Meditation is a key area in opening the Heart chakra and letting go

● Hand chakras: mudras (get photocopies) creativity, expression and a direct link to the heart

● EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)

● Massage

● Crystal meditation

● Express yourself creatively: write a poem, bake a cake, music to listen to/ or dance to, paint, sketch, play an instrument, build or make something out of clay or wood, take a camera outside, doodle

● Give each other (or self) a hand massage with oils

● Laughter (cinema, stand-up, books, clips online)

Pranayama:

A normal human inhales between 18,000 and 20,000 breaths per day, totalling an average of 5,000 gallons of air. In weight this is 35 times as much as we take in from food or drink. We can go weeks without food, days without after, hours without heat in extreme cold, but only minutes without air. How long can we go without thought?

It is also quickly distributed in the body, unlike food.

Despite it maintaining our basic life, it also is one of our most powerful tools for transforming ourselves: for burning up toxins, releasing stored emotions, changing body structure and changing consciousness. Without breath we could not speak, for air is the force behind our voice.

We could not metabolize our food without oxygen. Our brain could not think. It is grossly underestimated.

Pranayama is used to nourish the physical and spiritual pathways. Try the alternate nostril breathing, kapalbhati and look up viloma breathing online.

Mental work, with the least physical activity gets into the habit of shallow breathing. Frequent fear, anxiety, depression, smoking, or polluted air can also lead to deprivation. This then leads to slower metabolism, lower physical energy, buildup of toxins and therefore a contribution to self- perpetuating cycle. We become lethargic, leading to greater reliance on convenience and ingesting stimulants which continues the cycle.

● Aromatherapy Support: Bergamot, Cypress, Geranium, Jasmine, Lavender, Lemon, Mandarin, Melissa, Neroli, Orange, Rose, Sandalwood, Tangerine, Ylang Ylang Crystals and Stones: Amazonite, Chrysocolla, Chrysoprase, Emerald, Green Aventurine, Green Calcite, Green Flourite, Kunzi Peridot, Pink Calcite (Mangano), Pink Tourmalin, Rose Quartz, Tourmaline.