We enjoy celebrating love this month… and that’s so very cool! The association of the feeling love and the heart dates back 1000’s of years. When we feel love, or the loss of a loved one, we associate the heart or a broken heart with it and the reasons why are based on where we feel an abundance of feeling in the chest area. Most fitness programs make this month about cardiovascular training due to it’s amazing benefits on strengthening the entire system that is involved with pumping blood (clean and dirty) throughout the body. But, I have found it very important to not just notice this amazing organ and system on the physical level, but maybe even more importantly, caring for it on an energetic level may bring us even far more health benefits. Here is part of my publication that will be out this spring:
The fourth chakra is the heart chakra, or Anahata. Anahata means “sound made by two things striking” or “unstruck sound”…relating to the connection between body and spirit. Anahata is located in the chest cavity and it is between the upper three and lower three chakras; thus, it connects the grounded, physical being of the body and the spiritual soul of a being…the direct relationship between yin and yang (Keville & Green, 2009, p. 173). This chakra is where one begins to tune in to the sound of “nada” or nadi, the pulse of life. Nadi exists from the moment your first cells divide, even before your first heartbeat. Anahata is where you begin to access higher realms of consciousness (Finger, 2005, pgs. 85-87). This chakra is associated with the heart, the color green, the mantra YAM, the air element, the domains of love, selfless service, emotional clarity, compassion and sharing, and the organ of knowledge is the skin (Finger, 2005, pgs. 14-15). Essential oils that assist in balancing and opening the flow through the heart chakra include rose, bergamot, lavender, and geranium (Keville & Green, 2009, p. 173). Rose is the essence of love and is especially helpful in healing grief, envy, and jealousy. It allows love to be given and received easily (Battaglia, S., 2012, p. 141). Bergamot allows love to radiate and permeate and assist in helping people recognize their highest potentials (Keville & Green, 2009, p. 173). These oils can be used in bathing, foot soaks, room mists, a cloth that is carried, and diffusers. Yoga poses practiced with either the room mist or diffuser that assist in opening and balancing this chakra are sphinx; crescent pose, or Virabhadrasana II Variation; hare pose, or Hasangasana; camel pose, or Ustrasna; and revolved head-to-knee, or Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana (Finger, 2005, pgs. 77-84). Those experiencing a blocked heart chakra will struggle to find meaning in life, may be overly emotional, may dislike being alone, may lean on others to fill emotional needs, be depressed and possibly may struggle with lung or heart problems. When balanced, one feels forgiveness, kinship, joy, compassion, empathy, unconditional love, peaceful or altruistic (Griffiths & Turner, 2011, p. 50).
May this month bring you an awareness of your own prana (life-force) that takes you and your life to places that have maybe only existed in your dreams! May the love you feel for yourself be so big that it resembles the true miracle that you are! Take time each day and just lay on your back, put your hands to your heart, and feel and honor all that beautiful energy that runs in the background of all you do…non-stop…without you even asking it to!
Namaste…
“The light and life-force in me honors and respects the light and life-force in you.”
In Love and health,
Diana Spiess
