The heart chakra is the center of love, compassion and peace, feelings originate from the heart chakra. The heart chakra is the center of the entire chakra system because it connects the lower and upper chakras. This chakra is located in the chest and develops at the age of 4 to 7 years. Its area of influence in the body includes the heart, thymus, lower lungs, circulatory system and immune system.
You can find a chakra table in my previous post. It describes basic information of all 7 chakras: Chakrat – Finding My Own Power – Oman voimani löytäminen
Balance
When the heart chakra is in balance, you are loving, compassionate, generous, open, empathetic and love peace. You will be able to make the dreams and visions of the upper chakras come true and harness the power of the lower chakras to make your dreams come true. You will be able to love and accept yourself just the way you are.
Blocked
When the heart chakra is blocked, you may be bitter, angry and unempathetic. You may find it difficult to trust others and you may be jealous of others. It can be difficult for you to recognize your feelings and understand the feelings of others.
Overactive
An overactive heart chakra can cause to be sacrificial, interdependent and jealous. You may find it difficult to take care of your own limits and may have trouble controlling your feelings.
Healing
You can take care of your heart chakra by practicing compassionate thoughts and forgiveness. Meditation on the lower chakras also treats the heart chakra by giving you strength. Exercises may help when your heat chakra is overactive. Any kind of emotional work helps to balance the heart chakra f.ex. working on life traps or diving into your emotions through meditation. Learn to love and accept yourself. Take care of the wounds of your heart and be merciful to yourself.
Air is an element of the heart chakra, so enjoy the fresh air, for example, take walks in the nature.
Meditation
You can try the following meditations to treat your heart chakra:
In finnish:
- Ohjattu meditaatio – Sydänchakra – YouTube
- 5. sydänchakra, rakkaus, läsnäolo, hyvä olo – YouTube
- Syvämeditaatio itsensä rakastamisen taitoon – YouTube
In english:
- Heart Chakra Healing Guided Meditation | Healing Camp #4 – YouTube
- Guided Meditation for Self Love – YouTube
- Guided Meditation for Strengthening Self-Love and Taking Care of Yourself / Mindful Movement – YouTube
Exercises
You can find many exercises online for getting to know and love yourself. Doing the exercises may seem silly at first, but little by little you get used to them and their meaning starts to deepen, so you shouldn't give up too easily. You can try f. ex the exercises described on the following pages:
In finnish:
- Koska sinä olet rakkauden arvoinen: 7 harjoitusta itsesi rakastamiseen – Adventures of Love and Light
- Tutustu itseesi – MIELI ry
- Itsetietoisuus: 3 työkalua parempaan itsensä tuntemiseen – Mielen Ihmeet
In english:
- The Importance of Self Love + 7 Exercises to Love Yourself Today – (putthekettleon.ca)
- 17 Self-Awareness Activities and Exercises (+ Test) (positivepsychology.com)
Yoga
Yoga has also been a good way for me to get to know myself and help raise my self-esteem. My Mind-Body connection was almost non-existent a few years ago and, in hindsight, it has had a great effect on my state of being. With the help of yoga, I have gotten to know myself in a new way and surprised myself many times, as to what my body is capable of, just when I dare to try. You can find yoga exercices specifically for the heart chakra, but I think all yoga helps you get to know yourself and teach you to love yourself. So all yoga is good for the heart chakra.
I have practiced yoga both on courses and on my own.
Music
At some point I noticed that with the help of many love songs, one can also learn to love oneself. For example, I put on Joe Cocker’s “You are so beautiful” and imagined singing it to myself. The pleasure brought by music added to such thought exercise was a more effective way for me than to just stand in front of a mirror and say to myself that I am beautiful in my mind.
Finally
On my own journey, the most work I have done has been in accepting and loving myself. I had also lost my own feelings at some point. I had tried to lock away all uncomfortable feelings but of course the good ones got locked away too.
When I started therapy, I imagined I had good self-esteem. But as the therapy went on and I considered things on my own, I had to admit that my self-esteem was really bad. So little by little, I started to build up my self-esteem through therapy, meditation, life trap work, and so on.
Little by little, I got my self-esteem back and started to feel like I could like myself and even love myself. This has had a huge impact on my own well-being. and that is why I encourage everyone to get to fully know yourself and truly fall in love with yourself. It pays off, it makes life brighter, happier and easier.
Love yourself, pamper yourself, accept yourself! You are beautiful, you are precious!