The chakras are the energy centers in our bodies that connect us to ourselves and the world around us, and each of the main chakras represents different parts of ourselves. The chakras influence our moods, emotions, vitality, and our mental and physical health. Balancing our chakras is important to keep us healthy and strong.
The heart chakra is all about love: both giving and receiving it. Its name is synonymous with its location. According to Ekhart Yoga, “The heart chakra is situated in the center of the chest at the height of the thymus gland (behind the sternum). In Sanskrit, this chakra is called Anahata, meaning ‘infinite’, ‘unhurt’ or ‘boundless’. The heart is the bridge between the lower triangle (the root, sacral and solar plexus chakras) and the upper triangle (throat, third eye and crown chakras).”
When we have a healthy heart chakra, we love ourselves and others compassionately, and ideally, we will love unconditionally. We learn to forgive ourselves for mistakes, and we don’t hold onto resentments. We can let anger pass through us instead of reacting to it. That is easier said than done, so that’s why there are exercises, meditations, and mudras you can do to balance your chakras.
To heal and open your heart chakra, you can do hatha yoga poses and chants. In yoga, chanting the bija mantra “yam” can release blockages in this chakra. You can also visualize a green light healing your heart as green is the color for Anahata.
The healing sounds of poetry are another great way to balance and attune yourself to your heart chakra. Use the poems below to ground yourself and meditate on the Anahata chakra. Visualize your heart with all its tender beauty and loving compassion. Namaste.
“TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL” BY MAYA ANGELOU
We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.
We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love’s light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.
“[I CARRY YOUR HEART WITH ME(I CARRY IT IN]” BY E.E. CUMMINGS
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
“THE HUMAN HEART” BY CAMPBELL MCGRATH
We construct it from tin and ambergris and clay,
ochre, graph paper, a funnel
of ghosts, whirlpool
in a downspout full of midsummer rain.
It is, for all its freedom and obstinence,
an artifact of human agency
in its maverick intricacy
its chaos reflected in earthly circumstance,
its appetites mirrored by a hungry world
like the lights of the casino
in the coyote’s eye. Old
as the odor of almonds in the hills around Solano,
filigreed and chancelled with flavor of blood oranges,
fashioned from moonlight,
yarn, nacre, cordite,
shaped and assembled valve by valve, flange by flange,
and finished with the carnal fire of interstellar dust.
We build the human heart
and lock it in its chest
and hope that what we have made can save us.
