08 June 2014

Chakra Series: Heart Chakra; The Very Heart of Your Matter

This article is part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over and read all the different flavors added by each chef. I know that you will love it!




This week I've come back to my chakra series. It's time to learn about your 4th chakra, the heart chakra, the Anahata. The Anahata is the center of your being, it is your connection to others, to your world.


You can do nothing until you love yourself. This is the most important thing. Often, people have a problem finding their self-love. But this is of the utmost importance. Self-love will help you to more accepting of yourself, your situations, your relationships. 

When this chakra is healthy you will fall in love with your life and being alive. You will see the world as the beautiful place that it is. You will learn and give unconditional love. Everyone wants to be loved, it is a basic need and a basic right. We all want and need this inner peace. It is what our very souls long for and we should give it to ourselves freely, and we will be able to when this chakra is a beautiful spinning orb of glowing green.

True love, peace, respect, and forgiveness are all things that will be yours when this chakra is in balance. Compassion, forgiveness, and empathy in their correct forms will be given freely from your balanced heart chakra. 

The root chakra is about learning to love yourself and the heart chakra helps you to give this love to your world and your companions. It helps you to share your love, be more accepting, and less critical. You will revel in your connections with others and find your balance for true happiness.

Love is an essential life-giving force and a basic need for every being on the planet. You can read about an interesting study conducted by Harry F. Harlow and rhesus monkeys here. It basically shows love and it's impact in the development of humans.  



It's interesting that I should land on this chakra the same week that my dear friend, Rita, of Lapulia Studios, is renewing her article on self love. You should also visit her article, it is filled with wisdom. Even though the heart chakra deals more with the distribution to your world, I feel like self-love should always be added to and refined. 



This chakra is located in the center of your chest and is a vibrant, emerald green. It develops between the ages of 12 and 16, with a focus between the ages of 42 and 46, and again at ages 72 and 76. Your heart chakra rules your heart (of course), lungs, hands, inner arms, upper back, pericardium, and your ribs. It also relates to your breath and your respiratory system, so lung disorders could point to an out of balance heart chakra. It also governs the immune system. The thymus glad is associated with this chakra. Other association include the astral body, the sense of touch, the Hindu deities Ishana Rudra Shiva and Kakini Shakti,  vital breath Prana, a twelve-petaled lotus, the black antelope, musical note F, and the Yam mantra. 


So what are symptoms of a deficient Anahata:

1. Being antisocial
2. Intolerant and critical, overly pessimistic  
3. Unable to get close with people, a fear of intimacy
4. No empathy
5. Being a loner, isolation from others
6. Relationship difficulties
7. Passive aggressive
8. Lack of forgiveness and holding grudges




BUT, you can also have excessive, so here are the symptoms of excessive.

1. Being overly caring of someone to the point of smothering them.
2. Trying to please everyone
3. Jealousy and Envy
4. Martyrdom
5. Not respecting people's bounderies



If your Anahata is in balance:

1. You will love, as in giving your loved ones their respective space, give them our support. But, you will also be able to recognize an unhealthy relationship and know that even though you still love that person, it is better for both of you to end your relationship.

2. Compassion. In contrast I would like to point out that you shouldn't do something just because you feel like you have to. There are times when you have to draw a line. My friend, Alan, showed me a great article on "Idiot Compassion" 

3. Empathy

4. Acceptance

5. Peace 

6. Forgiveness--Again, I want to point out that you can forgive someone and stay away from them. Listen to your soul, if a relationship is toxic, then stay away. 



Some things that you can do to help balance your Anahata:

1. Meditate:

Yam mantra





F Note, Heart Chakra






2. Yoga poses:





3. One of my most favorite series. If you have been following along, these are excellent for a meditation type study and at the end you can have your very own little chakra art book that you have made.



4. Use crystals during meditation. Any green stones such as malachite, emerald, jade, peridot, adventurine, moss agate, and green tourmaline. Also any pink stones are good to use: rose quartz, rhodochrosite, rhodonite, pink tourmaline, and pink sapphire. A combination of the colors in watermelon tourmaline would be excellent. 



5. Use of essential oils and incense while meditating:

Bergamot, cypruss, jasmine, lavender, neroli, and rose would all be useful for this.


I hope that you enjoyed the 4th in the chakra series. Thank you for reading.

Brightest blessings,
Saga




















No comments: