Anahata - Heart Chakra
The Fourth Chakra: The Connection Between Matter and Spirit
Located at the heart center, the fourth chakra, Anahata, is in the middle of the seven energy centers and unites the lower chakras of matter and the upper chakras of spirit. The fourth is also spiritual, but serves as a bridge between our body, mind, emotions, and spirit. The heart chakra is our source of love and connection.
Anahata means ‘unstruck’ or ‘undamaged’. It is positioned in the centre of the chest and governs our expression of love, our ability to receive love and our compassion. The heart chakra reminds us that no matter what past hurts and grief we have suffered, beneath it all is a constant, radiating wellspring of unconditional love for us.
When your heart chakra is open, you are flowing with love and compassion, you are quick to forgive, and you accept others and yourself. A closed heart chakra can give way to grief, anger, jealousy, fear of betrayal, and hatred toward yourself and others.
Let's take it to examples(I like an example)
Some people choose to live in the place of grievances. They’ve been hurt in the past by parents, siblings, classmates, or etc. Maybe you’ve been there too. It’s impossible to avoid situations where someone may try to hurt you. But you get to choose what to do with that hurt. Some people might try to hurt the other person back. Yet, that is not living from a place of the heart centre. The person who inflicts pain on others is coming from a place of fear, ignorance or hatred, all of which represent a closed heart chakra. It is like saying a bully becomes a bully by being bullied themselves.
In a way that is why it is so important to reflect, as sometimes we just act or say things without acknowledging where does that come from. The you pay attention to your thoughts and actions you will have better understanding of yourself and you can live life from a place of compassion, love and kindness, instead of being engulfed by hatred, envy, anger or others.
Maybe we can live our everyday from a place of love or kindness too. Maybe smile at a stranger, compliment someone or it is time to forgive and move on. Life is too short to hold grudges.
How would you work on your Heart Center?
Meditate - Whether you focus your attention :
down to your chest, in and around the heart space, where Anahata resides.
focusing on your sense of touch. In mediation focusing on anything you feel, the texture of your clothes against the skin, how your weight presses towards the ground.
Reflect. I believe in the power of reflecting on our thoughts. Maybe take a few minutes of meditation/ breathwork and channel your attention to a few questions:
- Do I give/radiate love?
- Am I surrounded by love? Are you receiving back love in return, Do you feel loved?
Finally you may repeat mantras to yourself to bring balance and change: "I am compassionate. I love the world and the world loves me; I forgive myself, I forgive everybody Iforgive the past. I am free "
or repeat the bijou sound of the chakra: YAM (just like you would do OM)
If you want to work on Anahata then practice asanas that involve heartening, camel, wild thing, wheel, backbends.
Be love to receive love.
Jai, Melinda