The 4th Chakra–the heart chakra–is called Anahata, which means ‘unstruck’ or ‘unhurt.’ Its name implies that deep beneath our personal stories of brokenness and the pain in our hearts, wholeness, boundless love and a wellspring of compassion reside. The 4th chakra is located in the area of the heart, upper chest and upper back, and it is associated with the color green.
When the heart chakra is deficient, we might experience feelings of shyness and loneliness, an inability to forgive, or a lack of empathy. Physical symptoms can include shallow breathing, asthma and other lung diseases. Asanas that enliven the heart chakra are therefore needed to balance this chakra: backbends, chest openers and shoulder stretches like cobras, upward dogs, locusts, bow pose, camel pose, bridge, eagle arms, cow face arms, etc.
Some signs that your heart chakra is overpowering your life can include co-dependency, possessiveness, jealousy, heart disease, and high blood pressure. For these symptoms, forward-bending postures are the best antidotes, because they are grounding and offer introspection. While people with deficient heart chakras need to open to receive love more fully, those with excessive heart chakras find healing by slowing down to discover inside themselves the nourishment they have been seeking from others. So in our practice this past week, we also allowed ourselves ample time to ‘fold forward’ with several variations of seated and standing forward bends.
We finished our 4th chakra practice taking a moment to remember who or what we love and appreciate, something we should take time to do off our mats as well!
In appreciation of those of you who took the time to read this post in its entirety, you are invited to come to the Tuesday 7pm Energy Flow class this week, Feb 5, for our 5th (throat) chakra practice for FREE! There are only a handful of spots available, so contact me ASAP to reserve your spot. :)
P.S. Above is a picture of the chakra bracelet that the Bead Brat, Sue Doyle, made me in honor of our “Balancing Your Chakras” session. It is made with Swarovski crystals and silver. She is selling them for only $15. It is definitely helping to remind me to put into practice all the qualities that we are focusing on during our chakra classes each week. If you would like to place a special order for one please let me know.