Have you been told to open up your heart chakra? Do you need more love in your life? Well, get ready to feel the love, babe. The heart chakra is located directly in the center of your chest. It is the fourth chakra and is the direct connection between the three lower chakras relating to the physical world and the three upper chakras relating to the spiritual realms. The name anahata translates to “unhurt, unstuck, or unbeaten.” An affirmation we can associate with the heart chakra is, “I embody love.”
The heart chakra is considered one of the most important chakras. It is at the very center of our being. Therefore, it is the bridge between spirituality, the physical world, thought and emotions. It is convention to link empathy, unconditional love, and calmness to the heart chakra, all very important traits to embody.
When we have balance in the heart chakra, we feel peace, emotional openness, joy, and forgiveness. We feel accepting, generous and connected with ourselves and those around us. The heart chakra’s element is air. And, when our heart chakra is healthy, we feel that love, like air, is all around us in abundance!
Imbalances of the Heart Chakra
There are many different symptoms that might manifest when the heart chakra is blocked or overactive. As always, if you feel physical pain or discomfort or need mental health support, please consult a medical professional in your area. Especially with chest pains, when in doubt, be safe! But, here are some symptoms you might experience:
- Difficulty trusting others
- Feelings of loneliness or shyness
- Lack of empathy
- Blood pressure or circulation problems
- Inability to forgive
- Toxic and codependent relationships and friendships
- Insomnia
- Harsh, critical judgments of yourself and others
- Social anxiety and desire for isolation
- Inability to feel love
- Irritability and jealousy
- Struggling to receive or give love freely
- Fear of being alone
- Heavy feeling within the chest
- Dwelling on toxic or angry thoughts
How to Balance the Heart Chakra
The heart chakra is all about connection and empathy. So, hugs are a great place to start to connect to others! If you don’t have anyone to hug, try hugging a pet or yourself. For instance, volunteering and forgiving someone are also great ways to practice empathy. Complimenting a stranger, paying it forward, and forgiving others who might upset you by imagining what might be going on in their lives currently are also wonderful ways to open the heart.
What Foods Balance and Heal the Heart Chakra? What About Essential Oils?
The heart chakra is all about the color green. Therefore, fresh, healthy, green foods such as spinach, apples, kiwi fruit, pears, avocados, peppers, celery, and grapes are good examples to help open this chakra. Warm soups are also said to replenish energy and help you to recover from any traumatic situations and warm up the heart. So, vegetable soup is indeed good for the soul, and the heart chakra!
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Essential oils that are said to be beneficial to balancing the heart chakra are rose, tarragon, amyris, marjoram, cinnamon leaf, ylang ylang, and jasmine.
What Meditation or Exercises Can I Do to Balance the Heart Chakra?
There are several meditations that work well for healing the heart chakra. Since the heart chakra is linked to air, it is vital to practice deep breathing during meditation. One is to quietly concentrate on sending love to yourself, then to a loved one, a friend, a neutral person, and finally an enemy. Imagine sending a beam of radiating love to them. Another meditation technique is to imagine a big ball of green energy traveling up from the base of the spine into your heart. Picture that ball getting bigger and brighter turning all feelings you might have into love for everything around you. Eventually allowing this green energy to radiate through your entire body.
As far as physical exercise, anything that opens up the pectoral area helps activate the heart chakra, so think of rowing, swimming, or push ups. Yoga poses said to help are the wheel pose, upward facing dog pose, eagle pose, bow pose, and camel pose. Look these up on Youtube to learn how to master them if you are not familiar with them!
Colors and Gems to Wear
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Wearing anything green is a great way to open your heart chakra up. So, pull out a green shirt or necklace if you want to open up the heart. Crystals such as jade, malachite, aventurine, emerald, and green calcite work great. Pink is also a color strongly associated with the heart chakra and love. So, think rose quartz, rhodonite and pink opal as far as pink gems that will help attract love into your life.
Can Music Help?
The mantra that helps connect you to the heart chakra is YAM pronounced as yyyyyyyaaahm. The Solfeggio frequencies that help open the heart chakra is 528 Hz and 639 Hz.
What Affirmations Help Balance the Heart Chakra?
Here’s a list of affirmations you can use daily to help heal and open up your heart chakra:
- “I love myself and others unconditionally.”
- “I am fully open to receiving and giving love.”
- “Joy and love always flows freely to me.”
- “I am kind to myself and others.”
- “I love without attachment.”
- “It is easy to forgive myself and others.”
- “I am worthy of love.”
- “I accept myself and others as we are.”
- “All fear I once held on to is now released.”
- “I am open to respectful and loving relationships.”
- “I have the strength to always follow my heart.”
What Else Can I Do to Heal the Heart Chakra?
A very effective heart chakra healing technique is to practice gratitude and be thankful. So, list all the things you love about your life and be grateful for them by simply saying “thank you.” Allow yourself to feel love for these things, yourself, and everyone else around you.
It is important when working on the heart chakra to allow yourself to feel, give, and receive love. And, one of the most important steps you can make towards this is to make it a priority to practice self-love. Once we learn to love ourselves, it is easier to release any old, toxic behavior and send more love and trust out to others. Therefore, we must learn show compassion to ourselves so we can easily show it to others.