How to Support Your Heart Chakra

KinesiologyChakras

2 Jun

The qualities of a balanced Heart Chakra

A balanced Heart Chakra connects you with love, joy, beauty, peace, hope, connection, compassion and our spiritual essence. Feelings of love enliven your spirit and positively transform your perception of the world. You know who you are and accept all parts of yourself, including the uncomfortable experiences you would prefer to ignore or deny. The pains of the past have not closed off your heart to the world. You’ve used these experiences to learn more about yourself and your own blocks to trusting others, transforming pain into wisdom. The boundaries you set for yourself and others is guided by a strong intuitive connection, being able to hold space for others yet choosing to not allow any negative projections penetrate and alter your essence. You live open heartedly, accepting people for who they are, without needing to change them. Your warmth and compassion are felt by those you come into contact with and people feel safe in your presence. You know love is infinite and is around us always, our limited perception blocks our ability to receive and give love. Your heart and mind work in unity to create heart inspired action in the world.

An unbalanced Heart Chakra may manifest as:

Lonely
Poor Boundaries
Inability to forgive
Sense of separation
Trust issues
Lack of acceptance of self and others
Critical of others and self, judgemental
Inability to give and receive love to self and others
Lack of compassion
Heart, lung, breast, shoulder issues
Isolated
Bitterness, hatred, jealousy, possessiveness
Co-dependency in relationships
Intimacy issues

Archetypes and the Heart Chakra

Archetypes are universal patterns we play out. Each archetype has both a light and shadow side. Awareness of the type of archetype/pattern we are stuck in helps us move from the disempowered shadow side to the more empowered quality. Patterns may show up as a reoccurring situation, unhealthy relationship, health issue etc. These life experiences and the patterns we play out are there to show us where we may be blocking our self-growth. Becoming aware of these patterns, gives us choice on whether we continue to play out these limiting patterns, or learn from their teachings. To learn more about the light and shadow aspects of each archetype, see Caroline Myss Archetypes Gallery.

The following exploration of the archetypes in relation to the solar plexus chakra is sourced from Chakras and Their Archetypes by Ambika Wauters. This may help you get further clarity on the current pattern you may be stuck in and the qualities of a more empowered functional archetype to develop. Ambika Wauters has identified certain archetypes relevant to the qualities of each main chakra, which provides further insight into understanding limiting patterns impacting your energy systems and how to change that.

Dysfunctional Archetype for the Heart Chakra: Actress/Actor

We embody the Actress/Actor archetype when we love from the head and not the heart. We intellectualise love through observation and mentally decide what we think we need and want. Through this we run the risk of thinking what love should look like, rather than fully experiencing and being open to receive the love that is in front of us. We project our expectations onto our relationships, blaming them for not being who we want them to be, rather than accepting them for who they are. True love and intimacy are softening, being vulnerable and being brave enough to lean into your fears about fully giving and receiving love. For the Actress/Actor, love represents pain, hurt and betrayal. When triggered, your automatic response is an attempt to control or dominate the situation. Unfortunately, this blocks your ability to get close to people, instead sabotaging and creating drama in relationships when someone gets too close, pushing them away. You’re desperate to feel and experience love, but terrified of it.

Functional Archetype for the Heart Chakra: The Lover

The Lover is a joy to be around. They exuberate a feeling of lightness and openness. Truly experiencing and embodying the Lover is loving and accepting the self. Self-love is at the heart of the functioning archetype. The Lover is then able to offer love, acceptance and compassion to those around then and their relationships, with no expectation of receiving anything in return. The Lover’s sense of joy and fulfilment is not dependant on any external factors, it all comes from within. It knows it is worthy of receiving love and has no fears of returning that love. To them expressing love is not selective. They offer love and kindness to any who are open to receiving it. Children and old people gravitate towards the lover, due to their warmth and playful energy. Living from the heart and not the head, means the heaviness of life doesn’t consume them. Their able to experience and process suffering from a place of safety and trust. The fears of the past no longer pull them in a downward spiral of negative thought processes. They have mastered the art of forgiveness, bringing more peace into their lives and energy field. The lightness of the heart brings them back to love, hope and passion for life.

How to support your Heart Chakra

Create! Start working on a project that lights you up.
Smile at yourself in the mirror. Compliment yourself. Say a positive affirmation looking at yourself in the mirror.
Play with children or pets
Do something you love and makes you feel good.
Do something that makes you laugh. Watch a romantic film.
Give without the expectation to receive – donate your time to a charity, reach out to someone you care about, give a compliment to someone. When someone gives you a compliment smile, feel it and say ‘thank you’
Meditate or do an activity to allows you to slow down and connect with your intuition. We need to get out of our heads and into our hearts, particularly if we need some guidance from our intuition (it knows best). To do this we need practices or rituals to slow down and reconnect with our inner wisdom.
Looking after your physical heart – Exercise, healthy eating, and lifestyle, reducing stress are all important to allow the flow of energy to support your heart. Consult with a naturopath for expert nutritional advice. For exercise, you may need to increase your movement or do slower restorative exercises. Listen to your body and what it needs in that moment.
Wear more pink, green or red – Green is the colour of the Heart Chakra. If you’re feeling alone, critical, closed heart, you may like to incorporate more green into your life. Getting out in nature is a great one to immerse yourself in! If you feel a dependency in relationships or get jealous and possessive, wearing more red may be needed. Pink is the colour of love so immerse yourself with it. Trust your instincts. Ask your body what it needs.
Releasing emotional attachments of past experiences – To acknowledge our past pain and move forward with our lives, we can’t suppress and ignore our past experiences. If we do ignore it, unfortunately it may find other ways to get our attention. Revisiting traumatic experiences should be done in a safe and supportive environment with a trained professional. It’s important you recognise your needs and reach out for the correct support. For those feeling confident to begin exploring experiences from the past and to feel emotions that may not have been acknowledged and released at the time of the incident, now is a great time to start.
Find a quiet spot alone. Tune into how you’re feeling. Name the emotion whether that be sad, angry, guilty etc. Allow yourself to feel into it, letting any physical response to come up. If you begin to judge your experience just connect back with your heart and breath, bringing yourself back into the present moment. If people or situations do come into your mind and you begin to have strong feelings towards this person, verbally express out loud how they made you feel. If they were there with you and had no opportunity to block your communication, what would you have like to say to them? If you feel unable to verbally say these words, you may like to write them down. Write a letter to this person telling them how their actions made you feel. You will never say or show this person the letter, so don’t hold back. Once you’ve written the letter, find a safe space to burn the letter. See your words/emotions/energy on the letter being burnt and released into the ether. Do this as many times and with as many people you feel called too. This exercise can give profound shifts in releasing energy that is preventing us from moving forward. Caroline Myss (Chakra wisdom Queen) also has some brilliant exercises for self-enquiry in her book Anatomy of the Spirit.
Positive affirmations – help you re-wire your old beliefs with new ones. Repeat regularly, write them down, post them somewhere to view regularly, repeat them while exercising and moving the body. If specific affirmations showed during your session with me, repeat these daily. Below are some more general affirmations relevant to supporting the Heart Chakra.