Heart Chakra

The anahata chakra, located at the heart, is connected to empathy, compassion, unconditional love, and forgiveness. To forgive is to be for giving—it is a process of letting go of the judgments we hold of others (or ourselves). When this chakra is in balance, we offer unconditional love to all beings, everywhere. In a balanced state—connected to unconditional love—we express empathy and compassion more deeply and strive to uplift the lives of others. This chakra is out of balance when we hold grudges, and resent the past actions of those who hurt us, which makes it difficult to fully love others. In addition to experiencing decreased empathy and compassion, we feel a disconnection to fellow earthlings.

There are countless metaphors for the heart, including, “Listen to your heart,” “Follow your heart,” “I love you from the bottom of my heart,” “Open your heart,” “My heart wasn’t in it,” “Young at heart,” “Heavy heart,” “Change of heart,” and the list goes on. These phrases refer not to the physical heart, but to the heart chakra. We all experience feelings of the heart at various points in our lives.

Causing harm to another may leave a sense of hurt within us. Have you ever said something like, “How could they do that to me?” When people hurt you, the heart feels it. Perhaps you experienced heartache, or a “heavy heart,” through a relationship with a romantic partner, a family member, or a close friend. When we experience the feeling of hurt connected with a close relationship, this links to the heart chakra.

So, why do we get hurt and why do we hurt others? We live in a society permeated with violence and hurt. Many people dismiss our fellow earthlings daily, showing them very little mercy, love, or empathy. Choosing to eat other creatures disconnects us from our natural ability to empathize and love in an unconditional way. When we choose to stop harming others, we take a step toward dissolving heartaches. One effective way to do this is to follow the path of ahimsa. When we reconnect with our natural ability to love and show compassion, our harmful actions from the past resolve themselves in both our hearts and minds. This gives us even greater capacities to deeply empathize and unconditionally love others. When we cultivate sincere empathy and compassion for others and do not judge their actions, then things like forgiveness come easy because there is actually nothing to forgive. It is the judgments we hold onto that make forgiveness necessary. When we exist in a state of pure love, there is no room for anything else to exist, and there is no more heartache.

The heart chakra is also at work when we reunite with an old friend, or family member, and feel that rush of warm, joyful, unconditional love as we embrace them. When the heart chakra is balanced, we tune into a state of unconditional love and deep empathy for others. Being compassionate toward and caring for all creatures is simply human nature. When we hear an altruistic or heartbreaking story, we immediately connect with the subjects of the story on an emotional level. Perhaps you have experienced great sadness or empathy for the loss of someone you have never met. Why do we feel this way about someone we do not know? It is because we are all connected, and there is no difference between us. When another being suffers, we experience that suffering as our own…and vice versa. At a primordial level, we are designed to feel what others are feeling. Our true nature consists of deep empathy, compassion, and kindness; these aspects, I believe are part of our DNA.

Love, care, kindness, compassion, and gratitude are emotional states that renew the body and create an optimal state for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. When our hearts send out stressful or harmful emotional messages, these patterns actually inhibit our brains. Anger, frustration, doubt, and worry are emotional states that prevent clear thinking, and literally create stupidity. In an intense emotional state, we may say something we may like to take back moments later. After calming down, we wonder, “Where was my brain?” or “What was I thinking?” Our brains are truly unable to function normally when we exist in an angry or stressed emotional state.

In contrast, emotional states of kindness and gentleness increase our inner harmony, promote clearer thinking, and encourage loving actions. We are designed to operate within this mode of the heart and head working seamlessly together (this is why we practice upside down yoga postures and physically bring the heart above the head—to symbolically create greater balance of head and heart). We function more effectively in a state of empathy, compassion, and love than we do in a state of separation. Many cultures consider our hearts—not our brains—to be access points that lead us to our authentic selves. It is time to connect with the heart.

Please watch and practice to the video below on the heart chakra.