Heart Chakra

The fourth energy center is the heart chakra or Anahata. It is the seat of your emotional balance. The green chakra is also the merging point of the lower three physical chakras and the upper three spiritual chakras. Hence, heart chakra healing is vital for a smooth energy flow between all the chakras.

Most Westerners translate Anahata from Sanskrit as “unstruck” or “unhurt.” However, literal translations are more open to interpretation. For example, the Sanskrit word “and” can mean “breath” or “substitute for.” If the root of Anahata is assumed to be “anaha,” the translation is “breathing freely” or “healthy.” The Sanskrit “hata” can translate to a variety of synonyms for “struck,” “injured,” or hurt.” Even with these variations, the gist of the word Anahata conveys that while the heart can be wounded in experience, the underlying spiritual heart is unharmed and pure.

The Heart Chakra, Anahata Through the Ages and Philosophies

The ancient texts and scriptures discussing chakras often included systems with more than the current-day popularised seven chakras. In particular, the energy center surrounding the heart is one of the few consistencies throughout these variations. Nevertheless, it is a universal concept acknowledging the heart’s role in health and the mind-body-spirit connection.

Green Chakra Overview

Your heart chakra is the center of your compassion, caring, and love. This kindness and generosity are both for yourself and others. But equally important, altruism and your bond with other beings are equally important. Moreover, it is forgiveness and acceptance of others.

This green chakra is in the center of your chest, encompassing the central portion of the spine and lungs, breasts, arms, circulatory, and lymphatic systems.

Furthermore, it is associated with green, the energy of transformation and love. The aromas of rose, jasmine, and lavender correspond to this chakra, which is also related to the element of air.

In essence, it is the intersection of the physical with the emotional and spiritual chakras. Thus, exploring this chakra’s emotional and physical manifestations is fitting. Overall, emotionally, the heart’s energy influences relationships, self, and outward love. It also affects empathy for and acceptance of others and transformation. Further, it impacts the ability to grieve healthfully and move beyond that grief eventually. Finally, it determines your ability to acknowledge your insights, identify them and correlate them to your other physical senses and spiritual intuition.

Likewise, physically, Anahata is associated with your thymus gland. It also relates to hormone production and regulation of the immune system. Moreover, with its physical association with your lungs, breath is vital to green chakra, as is circulation and cardiac function. As a result, imbalances in this chakra can manifest physically as respiratory issues like bronchitis and pneumonia or as circulatory problems.

Many issues can cause imbalanced heart chakra. For example, hurtful experiences throughout life are the most common cause. Likewise, noteworthy changes in your environment often cause emotional upset and imbalance. Furthermore, disruptions to the developmental stage of three-and-a-half to seven years of age can cause an imbalance in your heart chakra.

Here are some physical and emotional indications of a misaligned heart chakra.

Overstimulated Heart Chakra

An overly stimulated Anahata can profoundly affect your relationships, often manifesting as:

• co-dependency issues
• inadequate or nonexistent boundaries in your interpersonal relationships
• no self-identity
• giving so much to others emotionally that you don’t care or honor your own emotional needs
• inability to say “no” to projects, tasks, or responsibilities that tax your own emotions or physical needs

Blocked or Underactive Heart Chakra

On the opposite end of the imbalanced heart chakra spectrum, a blocked Anahata can present as:

• deep insecurity
• inability to trust oneself
• trying to overcome deep-seated fears by becoming manipulative or passive-aggressive
• high or low blood pressure
• circulatory issues
• feeling closed down or disconnected
• jealousy
• isolating yourself from others

Meditation, kundalini yoga, and other yogic practices are reliable methods for aligning your heart chakra. For example, popular yoga asanas for this purpose include cow face, camel, and standing bow poses.

Breathwork is effective here too. For instance, you can heighten the experience of pranayama exercises with aromatherapy essential oils. The vital oils especially effective for hearth chakra healing are derived from roses and other corresponding perfumes. Specifically, they include rose geranium, sandalwood, neroli, and lemon oil.

Overall, we all need to take care of ourselves and our heart energy daily with simple things too. For example, you can start your day by placing aromatherapy oils that balance your heart chakra in a diffuser or burner. Then enjoy the aroma and start your day with a light and loving heart.