The heart chakra (Anahata) is in the middle of the chest. This chakra is associated with our social identity and the colour green. The heart chakra has to do with affection and love, as well as heartache, which encompasses the ability to hold, heal, and help. This is the energy centre where we feel love, compassion, trusty, generosity, openness and connection in our relationships with others and with ourselves. Authenticity, acceptance, unity, and comradeship are expressions of this chakra when it is in alignment.

When this chakra is not in alignment, there can be a sense of despair, a lack of hope or optimism which leads to depression. Experiencing love lasts in the heart whereas temporary attractions are like an imitation of true love. An open heart is warm, inviting, tender, genuine and kind. Judgement and criticism are not a part of the heart's warmth. We find ourselves in that heartspace when we are not content within ourselves. We seem to project our inner state onto the external world, because we do not want to take responsibility for how we are sometimes.

The heart needs forgiveness to heal wounds. We long for connection and belonging as humans. Blockages in the heart come from feelings of unworthiness, lack, or inferiority. Being out of alignment with the heart centre also has to do with how we were loved (or not loved) as children and how we grew up in that space.

The mind is divisive by nature and creates an illusion of duality in our life in order to conceptualise our experiences. But the heart unifies this duality in love. When we recognise the essence of the universal Spirit in the heart, we are home. The poet, Rumi says "Whatever you love, you are." The primary principle of healing the heart is to love ourselves, and not to rely external sources that fill a void. We are all entitled to love, and when the heart is open, then we can receive.

Reflect:

What/whom do you feel love for? Do you love yourself?

Do you need to forgive someone or yourself?

Can you make a habit of finding comradeship with other people around you?