The Heart Chakra

The Heart Chakra, often known as the Anahata Chakra, ironically translates into the word "unhurt"; representing love, compassion, kindness, and empathy. Placed in the center of your chest, directly over your heart, the green chakra takes on the role of health and healing in your life. As humans, we typically associate "heart" with love-- that is exactly what this chakra is about. However, you must realize that it does not just represent love and compassion for others, but love and self-acceptance for YOURSELF. When your fourth chakra is balanced, you will feel a sense of peace and equality within yourself and for others. You find a path of self-love you have never experienced before, and this will gravitate or be placed on those around you as well.

Balanced vs. Unbalanced

Thinking about an overactive heart chakra can be confusing; we begin to lose our personal boundaries and start creating an unhealthy atmosphere, including the choices we make within that atmosphere, especially in the realm of love.
Relating closely with this end of the spectrum, once the chakra begins to become more active, you will find yourself placing others needs before your own. You begin to ignore, as well as push away compassion and kindness for yourself, while simultaneously giving every last drop to others. Although it is not a negative quality to possess, caring for others, it can become problematic when you begin to diffuse the love you're SUPPOSED to have for yourself. Symptoms may persist and can include a fast heart rate, palpitations, heart burn, and most of all, issues among interpersonal and intimate relationships.
An underactive Heart Chakra, nonetheless, brings about the most heartbreak. We often build a wall around our hearts, a wall from prior pain and misery, thinking that we are only protecting whatever we have left. We get so caught up in trying to learn, and even benefit, from a lesson of past experiences, we forget how to let that pain go. We begin to take those "lessons" more personally, distancing ourselves from anyone that gets close enough to touch. As we distance ourselves further, interpersonal relationships become more difficult to obtain, for we see it as a competition we are never going to win. Physically, on the other hand, you may feel out of touch with your body and also suffer from circulation issues.

Balancing Your Fourth Chakra

Balancing your fourth chakra, especially from an overactive chakra, means that you start to accept the love you continuously give to others and refocus it on yourself. Taking a relaxing back, going to get a massage, reading a book, meditating once or twice a day, etc... are just a few ways to bring the attention back to yourself and direct it in a positive energy.
Energizing your fourth chakra, nevertheless, can be a bit more difficult than balancing an overactive chakra-- it usually requires much more "work". We spend an incredible amount of time putting up defenses, simply because we feel as if we NEED them. We have spent days, weeks, months, building these walls a bit higher each minute, waiting for someone to even attempt to break them down; yet, as soon as someone gets close enough, we punish them as if they are the reason the walls were built in the first place. First step to being open and establishing healthier relationships? LOVING YOURSELF.
Appreciating yourself as a person, loving and giving yourself the love that you want and feel others should give to you, is the most important aspect to establishing a healthy chakra.

Amongst all the hustle and bustle, we fail to recognize how important self-love truly is; something many of us neglect our entire lives. Smile. Stay positive. Acknowledge your favorable qualities, and even the not so favorable qualities. Accept each quality and move forward. Most of all, love yourself, always.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned.