Of the seven major chakras of the body, the heart chakra is the one associated with love.
This type of love is a universal love, rather than the relationship love that is associated with the second, or sacral, chakra. When healthy and balanced, the love of the heart chakra manifests as compassion, love of humanity, gratitude, forgiveness, and the willingness to nurture yourself and others. To balance and fully develop your heart chakra, it helps to first know the signs of an unhealthy heart chakra.
Signs of Heart Chakra Imbalance
Our chakras are energy centers that receive and transmit subtle forms of energy. They are entry points for the universal life energy that flows through our physical bodies as well as our auras. When a chakra becomes blocked, usually due to emotional distress, unhealthy thinking patterns or physical stress, it stops working effectively. When this happens, universal life energy is slowed down, physical ailments may occur and a person may feel listless or anxious.
An imbalance of the heart chakra can manifest itself in many ways, which includes:
- An inability to forgive yourself or others
- Fear of rejection
- Persistent feelings of sadness or isolation
- Feelings of emptiness
- A tendency to keep people at arms length, or to run away from difficult situations
- Chronic worry or unhappiness
When the heart chakra is severely blocked, a person can literally become hard hearted. They may find it hard to feel compassion toward others, become easily angered or find it difficult to be nurturing towards themselves or others.
At times any one of the chakras can become overactive. This happens when one or more chakras are blocked and the others try to compensate by speeding up. When the heart chakra becomes overactive, it can manifest as:
- Clingy, demanding behavior
- Persistent feelings of jealousy
- Being overly loving towards others. In other words, smothering people with love
- An unclear sense of healthy boundaries when it comes to nurturing themselves and others. A person with an overactive heart chakra often gives to others, emotionally and physically, until they have nothing left for themselves
- A sense of spiritual superiority. People with overactive heart chakras sometimes find it hard to relate with people whom they consider unspiritual or unenlightened
Keeping the Heart Charka Healthy and Balanced
Keeping the heart chakra open and balanced means being able to love and care about yourself. People often mistakenly equate love and care for oneself with unhealthy self-centeredness, but it’s not the same thing. For if you’re not able to first fill your heart with compassion, love and kindness for yourself, how can you expect there to be any love to share with others?
Other ways to keep the heart chakra balanced and healthy include:
Recognize and heal past emotional wounds. This might even include seeking the guidance of a therapist or spiritual counselor.
Ask forgiveness from anyone you may have harmed in some way, whenever it’s appropriate.
Learn to release grief and sadness in healthy ways, rather than burying those feelings.
Express anger in positive ways, rather than burying it or lashing out. Recognizing any possible anger issues such as a tendency to hold grudges or act out in destructive ways. Seeking help for these anger issues if it’s necessary.
Recognize the signs of co-dependency and work on these issues if necessary.
Learn to express your emotions in a positive, productive way. This can mean learning better communication skills or expressing emotions in a creative way such as painting, singing or dance.
Make gratitude a part of your daily life.
Practice compassion. This means learning to forgive, not rushing to judgment, showing kindness with no ulterior motive, and caring about the world around you.
Learn to express unconditional love. This means wishing the best for others without expecting something in return.
The element of the heart chakra is air, so spending time outdoors, in fresh air, can be very beneficial. Breathing meditation and yoga poses that open the chest area, such as the cobra and camel pose are also helpful.
By keeping your heart chakra healthy and balanced, you can bring higher, universal love into your life.
