HEART CHAKRA YOGA

Fourth Chakra 

The fourth chakra is the Heart (Anahata) chakra.It is located in the central of the spine near the heart, with its exact location between the center of two breasts. This Chakra is the center for love, compassion and spirituality. It directs one’s ability to love themselves and others, to give and to receive love. This is also the chakra connecting body and mind with spirit. When this chakra is out of balance you may feel sorry for yourself, paranoid, indecisive, afraid of letting go, afraid of getting hurt, or unworthy of love.

The fourth chakra, the chakra of the heart, is the place where resides our Spirit, our true Self, which is eternally pure and unaffected by anything, like a shining diamond hidden within us which witnesses all our actions. 

Our Spirit is the Source of compassion, the source of Joy and Pure Love.  All the incarnations and prophets all spoke about compassion and the need to become the Spirit, i.e. through Self-Realization.  

After Self Realization, our attention becomes for the first time connected to our Spirit and we gradually become aware of it. Our misidentifications with our ego or conditionings drop and we start becoming identified with our Spirit, which is our true nature.  

On the physical level, this chakra looks after our heart and lungs - if affected it can cause asthma or various heart conditions. 

On the left heart, it gives us the quality of compassion and love

At the centre, it manifests as complete security and confidence (at the level of the sternum bone). Antibodies that protect us against disease and negativity are formed in the bone which lies in this area.

At the right heart, it gives us the sense of responsibility and pure behaviour towards others  - the protocol of the heart.  

All our worries, doubts and fears are destroyed when the heart chakra is fully enlightened by the Kundalini. 

On the physical side, the heart is the pump of the body/ Hence, any mental or physical excess strains the chakra and leads to a heart attach in advanced stages. 

Use of the body as an instrument of athletic display or hatha yoga fatigues the heart chakra.  

SUMMARY

           Sanskrit name: Anahata - unstruck
Element: Air
Color: Green
Shape: Crescent moon
Petals of the lotus: Twelve
Seed sound: Lam
Vowel sound: Ay
Rights: To love
Endocrine gland: Thymus
Physical association: Heart, lungs, circulatory system, arms, hands
Psychological function: Love
Identity: Social identity
Developmental stage: 3.5 to 7 years
Challenge: Grief
Planets: Venus (lunar, feminine), Sun
Sense organ: Skin
Predominant sense: Touch
Incense: Jasmin, lavender, rose
Herb: Yarrow, meadowsweet, oris root
Crystal: Rose Quartz, malachite