The Anahata Chakra is our Heart Chakra and lies at the center of our chakra system. It is the turning point between the three lower chakras (our ‘earthly’ chakras) and the three higher (spiritual) ones. It is interesting that the Anahata chakra is all about the power of love – almost as if love is the way we progress from our earthly chakras towards our higher spiritual chakras. ‘Anahata’ means ‘whole’ or ‘unbroken’. When we go into our Heart Chakra, the energy we find is one of wholeness, that core energy we have that can never be broken – it is always us.
Anahata is depicted as a green flower with twelve petals corresponding to the Sanskrit syllables kam, kham, gam, gham, ngam, cham, chham, jam, jham, nyam, tam and than. At the center of the flower is the six pointed star, itself a balance between two triangles. The union of male and female energy is also represented by the two triangles The color is green even though in the West we normally associate love with the color red. The green symbolises that this love is not the lustful love but rather a pure love that transcends and is of the spiritual realm. This love is unconditional, it is universal, it is the love that extends far beyond the self love. If you want to build or experience the heart chakra, place yourself into an emotional state where you have unconditional love for all people and all things. This is the love of Anahata, a love that is divine in nature.
Traditionally, it was the antelope that was associated with Anahata. More recently thought, birds of all kinds have been attributed to this chakra such as the dove. The vowel that resonates most strongly with Anahata is ‘a’ – which is the sound we make when we simply open our mouth. We don’t have to move our lips or our tongue and this is the sound which can help transform us from living a life of reacting to a life of bringing about that which we desire. All this again relates back to the role our Heart chakra plays in acting as this central pivot point in our chakra system.
The Anahata Chakra governs our Heart, lungs and the circulation of energy throughout our body. The skin and blood are also associated with the Heart and it plays a strong role in keeping our immune system strong and healthy via the thymus gland. If the energy of the Heart chakra is blocked, we can display all the symptoms that are the opposite of divine love – bitterness, spitefulness, an inability to connect with others, isolation, a feeling of separation and distance from those around us. There is a difficulty in giving and receiving love when the Heart Chakra is blocked and ironically, it is this that is needed most to release the blockage.
The Heart Chakra lies in the center of the chest and not over our physical heart. It is the fourth chakra and its element is the air. This element is important because the air we take is universal in nature, having being constantly recycled many times over. When finished with it, we send it back out into the world. This is the way we affect the universe with our energy. If we are sending and receiving love, it is vibrating out into the universe, affecting all it comes into contact with.
With a strong Heart Chakra, we are able to see and appreciate the beauty in all things. Even in two opposing positions, we can appreciate the journey they are on and see the beauty in each. An openness surrounds us because we understand that love transforms everything and we have a strong Heart that is able to withstand any negative energy coming its way. When we “follow our heart”, we are listening to our Heart chakra. We have moved away from making decisions based on our lower desires and ego such as wanting to be seen to be rich or keeping up with the Joneses. It is difficult to verbalise the energy that emerges from the Heart Chakra, suffice to say it is deep, universal and divine in nature.
The gemstones used on the Heart Chakra are jade, rose quartz and emerald. Oils such as jasmine, tarragon and cloves work well as does the saffron spice. The wavelength and frequency are circa. 500-560 nm / 600-535 THz.
Yoga postures that work to open and balance our Anahata chakra are the Camel Pose (Ustrasana), Fish Pose (Matsyasana) and Cobra (Bhujangasana) pose.
