November is here, and the days are getting shorter and shorter, at least here in my neck of the woods, in Oslo, Norway. We just came off a New Moon in Scorpio on the 4th, and then yesterday was the beautiful day of 11/11. Being in Scorpio season, the theme is all about diving deep and exploring our shadow. I had some things come up for me in recent days, that I needed to look at and release, again it had to do with my view of myself, and my inferiority complexes. I was able to let go of some stuff around that, which felt good. Then I woke up yesterday, on 11/11, with my heart center wide open, and felt some really beautiful strong, positive energies, which I wholeheartedly welcomed, after having been sick with the flu, and working through some heavy stuff for a few days.
I feel that this is what the ascension work is primarily about, opening the heart and returning to love, so since the heart chakra is next in line for my blog series on the chakras, it’s perfect timing. The heart chakra is located in the center of the chest, at the sternum, and is known as the Anahata chakra in Sanskrit, which means “unhurt”. In my opinion this chakra serves as the foundation for all the other chakras, as it is the center for love, and a balancing point between the upper and lower chakras. As love is what we are at our core, and also the foundational force of the universe, this chakra serves as a connection to all of that. In fact, it is more than a chakra. It has its own, large, magnetic field, and serves as an interdimensional portal to connect us with each other and to the vastness of the universe through the power of love. Physically it governs our heart and circulatory system, as well as the lungs and respiratory system, including the diaphragm and the rib cage, and further the shoulders, arms, and hands, and the thymus gland. It is associated with the element of air, the sense of touch and traditionally linked with the color green, but also the color of light pink (for unconditional love) and other colors can be seen at this center.
As the energy of this chakra is connected to the air and our circulatory system, the breath is an important element. However, the crucial issue at the heart center is opening up to love through releasing past hurts, to find forgiveness, love and compassion both for ourselves and for others. We can use the breath to aid us in releasing stuck emotions at this center. At the heart center, the feminine and masculine energies of yin and yang come together and merge, and so it becomes the balancing point between the polarities we experience in our reality, and is our center of oneness, of unity. As we explore and work with our chakras, we get to experiment with the contrasts of light and dark, giving and receiving, active and passive, introvert and extrovert, physical and spiritual, and so on. The idea is to find balance within between these polarities, and allowing all these aspects of us an equal share in our psyche, and this happens at the heart chakra.
When the heart chakra comes out of balance, it can manifest in a myriad of ways. Any physical ailments always start energetically, and so any issues in the aforementioned physical organs, may be connected to an unbalanced heart chakra. Those with deficient energy at this chakra may feel shy, fearful of getting hurt, suspicious, critical and judgmental, possessive, antisocial and afraid of opening their hearts to others and enter into relationships. The heart may become hardened and making it difficult to feel love. An overactive heart chakra may manifest as exaggerated empathy and concern, jealousy, codependency, clinging, with poor boundaries and a tendency to stay in abusive relationships. They may be overly giving to others, but do not take care of and give to themselves. With the dysfunctional archetype of this chakra being the pretender, the fear of feeling love fully is hidden under pretense, and pain from past hurts result in patterns that both aim to protect the heart from hurt, but also manipulate love from others without opening the heart fully to the other person. This results in just shutting down the heart even further.
A healthy heart chakra, with the functional archetype being the lover (of life), is open to giving and receiving love in equal measure, and lives life from a place of love. The aim is to keep this center as open as possible. As we experience hurt, betrayal and grief in life, we often end up closing down the heart and build a wall around it. This idea is to protect the heart from further pain, but this unfortunately also results in cutting our heart off from true love. So when healing this chakra we want to break down the walls we have constructed, so that we can fully connect with the universal, unconditional love that is there, and love ourselves and others more fully. Great ways to help balance this chakra, is both giving and receiving energy healing through the hands, any breath work, but especially long, deep breathing that focuses on the heart, and acceptance and forgiveness exercises (such as Ho’oponopono). Heart opening yoga exercises such as camel pose, breath meditations and lotus mudra are also good, as well as working with crystals such as rose quartz, rhodochrosite, kunzite, morganite, jade, fuchsite, aventurine and Chinese rainbow fluorite. Essential oils such as rose, ylang ylang and eucalyptus are nice to diffuse or wear on the heart chakra point at the sternum.
Meditating on the heart chakra, and exploring how you may have cut yourself off from love and even how you may be acting as a pretender in your life, are good ways to clear and heal it, as well as reflecting on how you can embrace your inner lover (of life). Here is a simple breath exercise utilizing long, deep breathing that you can do to connect with the energy of the heart chakra, and help open you up to more love:
Sit comfortably in a balanced position with an upright spine. Rest your hands one on top of the other at your heart center. Close your eyes and focus inwards on the feelings of your body and notice any sensations. Relax your body. Relax your face and jaw. Feel the space behind your eyes soften. Loosen any places of tension by breathing energy into them. Focus on your breath becoming more spacious. Then breathe into your heart center, as you allow love to flow in. Inhaling love, exhaling gratitude. Practicing regular, mindful breathing is calming and relaxing. When we breathe consciously, we become more fully present in each moment.
I hope this gives you some deeper insights into the heart chakra and how you can activate it and strengthen its vibration. I wish you all the best in exploring your own heart center, and with that I’ll wrap up my post for this week. I hope you have a wonderful day, and as always, I send you much love & light!
Sweet Annie Sounds 