by Izzy Brown, MA, LPC, R-DMT
Happy February everyone! The month associated with love. What better way to ring in the month of love than by talking about the heart chakra. What even is a chakra? In this blog post, you will learn about chakras, primarily the fourth chakra, Anahata, also known as, the heart chakra.
Since starting my reiki journey, I have been devoting a lot of my time listening and feeling energy around and within me. In Sanskrit, the word chakra means “disc” or “wheel.” Each chakra allows energy to flow in the body when spinning appropriately. You have probably seen images of chakras. These discs are aligned in a vertical formation from your root to your crown. There are seven major chakras that runs along your spine. Each chakra has its own color, function and corresponds to major organs. The more you pay attention to your chakras, the better able you’ll be to identify which chakras are blocked, versus unblocked and balanced as you gain a better understanding about how you flow in life. If blocked, you may experience emotional and physical symptoms/energy I will later discuss specifically around the heart chakra.
The heart chakra is, you guessed it, located at your upper chest behind your heart! When you think about your heart, what comes to mind? For me I think about love, compassion, beauty, empathy, and nurturance. Think about the antonyms of the words I just listed. Essentially, words like love and empathy shows great signs that your heart chakra is balanced. Words like neglect, hate and dislike can show great signs that your chakra is blocked. However, this goes deeper; let me explain. If one’s heart chakra is blocked, they might have a difficult time developing healthy relationships to others and self. One may fear intimacy, isolate, hold feelings of jealousy and resentment, hold grudges and have a difficult time trusting others. Physically, the heart chakra directly affects the heart, lungs, arms and hands. When blocked, mentally, one may notice signs of poor circulation that can increase blood pressure and complications in the lungs. I do want to note, everybody’s BODY reacts differently to stressors. This is NOT medical advice, if you experience pain, discomfort, high blood pressure and any other physical complications, please consult with a doctor.
When one’s heart chakra is balanced, one may feel fullness of love and compassion, witness the world’s beauty and relate to world around them. We have better ability to not only feel love and compassion but show it as well.
Take a few moments to check in with yourself before continuing this blog post. Reflect on your relationships, how you see the world, how you view yourself. We know ourselves and our body’s better than anyone. Do you feel your heart chakara is open? Or closed?
If you feel your heart chakra is closed, here are some tips to fully open your heart chakra in order to get the proper energy flow in your body:
1. Yoga poses.
Yoga poses are essential for opening chakras. Different poses help different chakras fully release open. Heart openers such as camel, wheel, and humble warrior are wonderful ways to feel chest expansions. You may notice emotions flooding throughout your body when you practice a heart opener pose. Heart openers can feel vulnerable. If you find yourself feeling flooded, come out of the pose slowly and breathe. That is your body’s way of releasing negative experiences in your body and it can feel overwhelming sometimes! Attend to these emotions with love and compassion.
2. Meditate
Meditation helps bring clarity to our minds and lives. If you find your heart chakara is closed, bring intention and awareness to your chest and maybe say a few affirmations to seal in your intention around your heart. Affirmation examples: “I am allowed to love and be loved.” “I see the world and its beauty.” “I am compassionate to myself and others.” These affirmations can help soften your heart and allow love in.
3. Keep a gratitude journal.
Gratitude is a lovely way to bring compassion in our lives. When things feel tough, write a few things you are grateful for to remind yourself there is beauty even in sticky situations. Embrace the situation with compassion. Compassion can help us with true decision making!
These are a few ways you can open your heart chakra if it feels blocked. The more you practice self-love, you may notice the world in a different lens that feels less scary. I invite you to find beauty in the world, yourself, your relationships and anything else you’d like.
Here are some fun facts about the heart chakra.
The heart chakra’s color is green. Green represents transformation and love energy. On Valentine’s day, maybe wear something green as you transform your energy!
Element is Air.
Type of intelligence: compassion.
Vibration: yaam.
If you are struggling with emotional blockage and self-love, I encourage you to visit our website at bellavalorepsychotherapy.com and book an appointment with a therapist today. We are here to help guide you as you explore and navigate how to find love in a world that may feel uncomfortable. You deserve to love and be loved.
Namaste,
Izzy Brown, MA, LPC, R-DMT
Credit website:
https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/chakras-yoga-for-beginners/intro-heart-chakra-anahata/