There’s been a lot of talks lately about chakras, chakra healing, and chakra balancing. But, before we get into how to balance the chakras, we need to first understand what they are, what they symbolize, and how they affect our mind, body, and life. This introduction covers it all!
The chakras are a component of the subtle body, also known as the energy body. It is the portion of the body that we cannot see or touch yet can always feel. It is the part of us that beats our hearts, the part of us that has gut instincts, and the energy inside us that connects, moves, and defines our being.
The seven chakras are the body’s primary energy centers. Unblocking or healing our chakras refers to the idea that when all of our chakras are open, energy can flow freely through them and there is harmony between the body, mind, and soul.
Each chakra emits a distinct color and energy, and each corresponds to a gland in the physical body. Because each chakra is associated with unique spiritual, emotional, psychological, and physical parts of our being, their blocking or dysfunction might cause physical, psychological, and emotional problems. Conscious awareness and balance of these energy centers, on the other hand, are said to result in happiness and good health.
The concept of chakras was initially conceived thousands of years ago in ancient India, and the oldest evidence of chakras may be found in the Vedas. They are the earliest known texts of Hinduism and the oldest known written Sanskrit, dating back to 1500–500 BCE. The Upanishads (part of the Vedas) include evidence of chakra theories, which influenced the spirituality of Hinduism, Buddhism, and other ancient eastern faiths.
The Heart Chakra, or Anahata, is the fourth of your seven chakras and is located in the center of your chest. The Sanskrit word means “Unstruck” or “Unbeaten,” and refers to the Vedic concept of unstruck sound, or the sound of the divine realm.
The Heart Chakra has a feminine energy and is symbolized by a green six-pointed star inside a 12-petaled flower. The Heart Chakra is associated with the element “air” and has the mantra “I love.”
Air is linked to our breath and life force energy, which is housed in the lungs near the Heart Chakra. This element is also associated with touch, emotions, and expansion. As a result, when the Heart Chakra is in good health, we can express our emotions, open up to others, and are more responsive to touch.
It is unique because it is the fourth of the seven chakras, making it the system’s exact midway point and the unifier of the physical and spiritual chakras. The Heart Chakra works as a bridge between worldly matters and spiritual aspirations by linking the lower three chakras—the Root, Sacral, and Solar Plexus—with the top three chakras—the Throat, Third Eye, and Crown. This deepens your affinities for love, tenderness, and endearment. This chakra represents your ability to love without discrimination.
Heart Chakra Attributes
Sanskrit Name: “Anahata” meaning “Unstruck” or “Unbeaten.”
Meaning: The Anahata Chakra is associated with unconditional love, compassion, and joy. It serves as our center of love for oneself and others, compassion, empathy, and forgiveness. It is the essence of deep and profound truths that cannot be expressed in words.
Location: In the center of the chest (the energy center is not where our actual heart organ is; rather, the Heart Chakra is in the center of the chest region).
Element: The element of the Heart Chakra is “Air” or “Vayu.” The air represents the freedom of expansion and breadth; a heart that is unbound in its offering. Vayu is associated with the sense of touch and emotional feelings. In Yoga and Ayurveda, life-air or prana is the vital force on which all bodily activity depends.
Qualities: The Heart Chakra is concerned with unconditional love and emotional strength. At its core, this chakra is emotional and propels us to boost our emotional growth. The energy of the Heart Chakra starts in the center and expands through the chest. This chakra links the lower and upper chakras, serving as a link between worldly matters and higher aspirations. This fourth chakra is where we realize that the most powerful energy on the planet is ‘Love.’
Color: If you’re unfamiliar with chakras, you might think that red would be associated with something that has a direct impact on the heart. Green, on the other hand, makes far more sense as the color associated with your fourth chakra. Green denotes vitality, rejuvenation, and peace. These are the things that your Heart Chakra has a direct influence on. As a result, it stands to reason that this chakra is related to the color green. The auric hue of an activated fourth chakra may also be seen as pink or smoky pink, which is why we often depict love as a pink heart.
Color Psychology: Green is a healthy color. It fosters an overall sense of well-being and health. This hue evokes sentiments and thoughts of compassion, generosity, and love. Green might help you feel more energetic, alert, and compassionate. Green, for example, has a soothing impact on the human body and psyche. The color is often connected with compassion and empathy. Green is also associated with wealth and prosperity.
Sensory: Skin (Sense of Touch).
Endocrine Gland: Thymus gland.
Organs: Heart, lungs, chest, arms, and hands.
Developmental Stage: The Heart Chakra develops between the ages of 21 and 28, when most of us are exploring romantic relationships.
Balanced/Flowing Energy: When your Heart Chakra is in good condition, you will be surrounded by love, compassion, and joy, and you will feel linked to the world around you. An open Heart Chakra helps us to recognize the beauty and love all around us and to connect with ourselves, our loved ones, and the natural world. This chakra also aids in cultivating compassion for ourselves, allowing us to love and accept ourselves and our bodies.
Imbalanced: When the energy in this chakra is out of balance, you may experience feelings of dread, hurt, and even hatred. Because fear is often believed to be the polar opposite of love, an imbalance might develop as a tight, frightening sensation in your chest. Or, if you’ve been deeply harmed, your love might turn to hatred.
Psychological Symptoms of Blockage: If you’ve been feeling disconnected from the world around you, you may have a blockage in your Heart Chakra. Classic symptoms include jealousy, self-doubt, and co-dependency. It may also cause feelings of alienation and nervousness in expressing your True Self.
Physical Symptoms of Blockage: Physical imbalance or blockage in this chakra will manifest as skin disorders, asthma, circulatory abnormalities, low or high blood pressure, heart palpitations, chest pains, and, in severe circumstances, heart attack.
Mantra Seed: YAM
Benefits of Heart Chakra Balancing
The Heart Chakra is also a place for appreciating beauty in life. Seeing the world through a balanced fourth chakra is a state of openness and acceptance that connects us to our surroundings and ourselves in deep, gratifying ways.
A healthy green chakra also fosters an inner feeling of tranquility, which keeps us from relying on others for joy. We become self-sufficient and self-assured. The green chakra’s emphasis on forgiveness, rather than hanging on to anger and blame, contributes to this peacefulness.
When Your Heart Chakra Opens:
- You are filled with empathy, compassion, and love.
- You are selfless and thoughtful towards others.
- You give off a sense of calm and strength, which helps you find and keep peace in the face of hardships and conflicts.
Symptoms of Heart Chakra Blockage
Because the Heart Chakra is concerned with issues of the heart, such as love, emotion, forgiveness, and healing. As a result, many of the symptoms of a blocked Heart Chakra include being imprisoned in the pains of previous trauma or being unable to move on from past trauma.
Rejection, despair, and feelings of disconnection may all cause you to become isolated from others. As you drift apart, the bonds in your relationships deteriorate. You may eventually lose some of your relationships.
Some of the many symptoms of Heart Chakra blockage include:
- You are unwilling to let a situation pass until you have assigned blame to everyone you believe is to blame because it did not go your way. You attribute a negative motive to everyone whose actions influence you, interpreting their behavior to be intentional.
- Your clinginess and insecurity in relationships are defined by your fear that your partner does not need you as much as you need them.
- Your love for another person depends on their conforming to your notions of how they should be. As long as they do, all is well. When they don’t, you get offended and react with aggressive or passive-aggressive behavior in an attempt to push them back into conforming to your expectations. You see a need to repair other people and often strive to do so.
- You experience any of the following physical symptoms on a frequent or chronic basis: heart disorders, chest pain, asthma, allergies, pneumonia, bronchitis, emphysema, breast lumps/cysts, circulation problems, tension/pain between the shoulder blades, shoulder, arm or hand problems or carpal tunnel.
Heart Chakra Balancing
Not everyone is lucky enough to have been born with an open and balanced Heart Chakra. Fortunately, there are many ways to balance and begin healing! Healing your heart, getting your energy flowing, and living a life of unconditional love are all ongoing practices that are well worth it!
Focus on what you love. Perhaps you have unconditional love for your children, friends, or even a cherished pet. Love is love; one love is not superior to another. So, if gazing at your niece’s adorable little face makes your heart melt, then open your heart to that adorable little baby. If you have a guru or a god that you adore; a buddy, a pet, or anything else, just get the energy of love flowing into your life.
Yoga, meditation, visualization, aromatherapy, and other similar practices further boost your progress in balancing the Heart Chakra (but fostering love should be your primary goal).
Symptoms Your Heart Chakra is Opening
These are the most common signs that your Heart Chakra is opening:
1. You Experience Emotions Deeply
Emotions are one of the most intrinsic parts of our perception of life; they may be activated, triggered, and interpreted by mental thought processes, but they can also be formed and experienced as more abstract sensations through our body; empathically felt inside the heart energy field.
One of the first symptoms you may experience during your Heart Chakra opening is a new intensity of many subtle emotions, which may intensify over time.
Because there was negative energy locked in your heart previously, positive feelings could not enter. You will experience tremendous and profound happy feelings as a result of the reopening and subsequent discharge of negative energy. As your Heart Chakra gradually opens, you will feel a surge of love and passion.
When your Heart Chakra is balanced, you will experience feelings that accompany the sensation of unconditional love, such as happiness, joy, optimism, appreciation, belonging, understanding, and many more (that will be covered more in-depth in the points below).
2. You Realize Your Higher Purpose
We spend most of our lives pursuing selfish goals. While this is acceptable to some degree, genuine satisfaction comes when we direct our energy toward greater goals.
It will be hard for you to recognize your greater purpose if you are coming from a position of scarcity and lower vibrations. You will struggle to survive your whole life. No accomplishment can ever satisfy your sense of emptiness. You can only get plenty if you learn to cultivate empathy and compassion for others.
When the Heart Chakra opens, you walk boldly in the world, adding value. You work for social causes, assist others in raising their vibrations, assist the underprivileged, address ecological and environmental concerns, and foster a general climate of peace, trust, and harmony.
The life energy inside you is at its peak, which gives birth to unconditional love and empathy. You care about others as much as you do about yourself. You recognize that your presence on this planet is not an accident, but that you are here to fulfill your greater purpose of elevating your awareness and the consciousness of others via the exchange of Divine Love.
In exchange, the universe looks after your financial and other material necessities. You are content with what you have. Your aims and goals are aimed toward raising human consciousness.
3. You Come to Understand the ‘Oneness’ of Existence
We are spiritual beings experiencing the realm of physicality beyond our mind-body complex. As a result, our spiritual life is very important, and by acknowledging it, we secure smooth sailing in the material world.
We realize the presence of absolute divinity within us as the Heart Chakra opens. There is a sense of unity with everything that exists. There is wisdom or clarity in the fact that we live in harmony with nature.
If you look closely, you’ll see that every natural process is intricately linked. Plants produce the oxygen we breathe and absorb the carbon dioxide we expel. Consider what will happen if this cycle breaks.
4. You Experience Relaxation and Peace
An open Heart Chakra provides greater calm and relaxation, which is a simple yet profound benefit. This is something you’ve always desired—the opportunity to feel pure happiness and peace of mind. Finally, it’s up to you to enjoy it.
When this energy center is active, you will automatically spend less time in your head (mental chatter) and more time in your heart (feelings). Living from the heart helps you to be more present in the moment and let go of the urge to justify the past and future; it is simply connecting with the sense of now. This sense of presence permits anxieties and worries to dissolve, leading to deeper depths of peaceful being.
5. You Begin to Develop Healthy Conscious Relationships
When your Heart Chakra opens, you’ll notice an improvement in all of your interpersonal connections. Better relationships follow naturally when happy feelings flood your heart and your connectedness strengthens.
In particular, you will most likely attract a healthy, conscious partner or experience a positive transformation within your current relationship. Any toxic relationships that no longer serve your best interests may simply fade away.
An open Heart Chakra’s energy and wisdom enable all interactions to take place from the greater reality of unconditional love, which is the highest ground for conscious connection.
You love yourself and life enough to pour true love into your relationships and to accept love from a place of joy rather than need, conditions, or desperation. You learn to offer more when you expect nothing in return. Relationships become life-enriching experiences rather than a source of affirmation and energy in this manner. You may adore your partner for who they really are and freely share your loving, True Self.
6. You Feel Unconditional Love Towards Everything
You can’t help but exude love once you reach this level. And it is unconditional love. It has nothing to do with a feeling of possession or desire. You don’t have to like somebody for them to have certain traits. Your love is everlasting. You share your affection with others and the entire planet. Love is no longer only a sensation or emotion. Your fundamental essence is a process. Your love is an endless supply!
7. You Begin Spending Time with Yourself
Once your Heart Chakra opens, you’d be pleased to discover that you can spend time alone and be at peace with yourself. You might also be perfectly happy to spend time alone, really getting to know yourself and embracing your energy.
When your Heart Chakra is opening, you will feel more attracted to spending time in natural areas; green is the hue that connects with this chakra, thus the energy of rich green natural spaces will help to energize this chakra.
Conclusion
The Heart Chakra is multidimensional and deals with a wide range of realities, from our human relationships and love to reaching God, our creator. Healing it requires mindfulness and contemplation, and you can never achieve a “Higher Life” with purpose and divine guidance until you heal this chakra.
To heal spiritually, ask your inner voice what it needs. Use the methods described to harness the power of your mind’s guidance of your heart’s power.
The Heart Chakra is the doorway to spiritual advancement. While the lower three chakras assist you in dealing with the material aspects of life, the Heart Chakra and beyond are associated with spiritual existence and the feeling of Divine Love.
Meditation, Yoga, Pranayamas, and other practices may aid in the process of opening up, but in the end, it is all about what we do, and by loving more… the world changes around us. How much is largely dependent on how much love you give… After all, you’ll never run out, so why not give it your all?
To Learn More In Depth About Heart Chakra Healing and Balancing, Check This Out:
In this book, you’ll discover:
✔️A Basic Introduction to Chakras
✔️Common Chakras Myths
✔️Importance of Solar Plexus Chakra in Your Body
✔️Significance of Solar Plexus Chakra Balancing
✔️Blocked Solar Plexus Chakra Symptoms
✔️What Causes Solar Plexus Chakra Blockage?
✔️Solar Plexus Chakra Balancing Techniques (Visualization, Pranayamas/Breathwork, Affirmations, Mantras, Aromatherapy, Crystals, Yoga, Reiki, Food, Herbs, Sound Therapy, Meditation, and more)
✔️Symptoms Your Solar Plexus Chakra is Opening
✔️And Much More
This book is packed with all the information, tips, and techniques that will make sure that you can effectively heal, balance, and open your Solar Plexus Chakra.
