Infinite Depths of the Heart Chakra: Deepen into the Heart with These 5 Yoga Poses
"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside awakens." – Carl Jung
The Heart Chakra – Anahata in sanskrit – translates as “unstruck,” “unhurt,” or “unbeaten”, and is located exactly where you’d think: within your spine, at the center of your chest.
Anahata Awareness
Take a moment to find a quiet space.
You can choose to sit up, lengthening through the spine,
Or you can choose to lie down on your back.
Bring your hand(s) to the center of your chest
And begin to visualize a bright green ball of light underneath your hand(s).
Notice the color.
How bright is this light?
How deep is the hue of green?
Can you visualize the color a little more vibrant and alive?
Bring your consciousness – your center of awareness – to travel inside this orb of light.
Notice for a moment the vibrant green swirling around you.
You begin to realize the movement and flow of the color around you, is actually moving in rhythm with your breath.
As you inhale, the green light seems to grow and light up a little more.
As you exhale, this green light expands outward – filling your head, and your throat, traveling down each arm and into each finger.
Watch as it continues down into your abdomen, through your hips and pelvis, down each leg and into each foot and toe.
Feel the warmth of this green light radiating and reaching every cell within your body – like a warm embrace.
Sit in this space for as long as you’d like, noticing how you feel within your body, and repeating the visualization as often as it suits you.
Notice if any of the information you read about here aligns with your experience.
Let’s dive in.
Anahata: Infinite and Boundless Love
The Heart Chakra is perhaps the absolute center of all your chakras. It is unconditional, boundless love. A love for the Self, for others, for places, people, things… and just, life. It is the essence of you and your soul. It determines how you walk through the world, and how you accept what is.
With your heart space open, there is vulnerability, yes. But there is also so much beauty, and growth, and acceptance.
Your Heart Chakra is the lens through which you view the world around you. And yourself.
Fittingly, the element associated with the Heart Chakra is air, the astrological sign associated is Taurus, and the planet is Venus.
Balance vs. Imbalance in the Heart Chakra
You can probably already get a sense of what a balanced vs. imbalanced heart chakra feels like, but let’s lay it all out just in case.
Here are some symptoms associated with an imbalanced heart chakra:
Fear of rejection
Lack of trust in a committed relationship
Issues with giving and receiving love and affection
Codependency in relationships
Pushing loved ones away
Developing a “tough” or distant persona, while feeling vulnerable
Physical symptoms include heart palpitations, poor blood circulation, heart pain, angina, asthma
Expansion Through Your Heart Chakra
Grief, heartbreak, loss, change … there are countless ways to experience blocks within your heart center. But worry not! Not only is this normal as a human living in this world, but there are just as many ways to create expansion and opening through the heart as well!
We’ve offered you just a few ways, but as always, listen to and follow your own inner guidance.
Loving Affirmations for the Heart Chakra
I love and value myself unconditionally.
My heart is open to giving & receiving love.
I am worthy of love.
I forgive myself.
I love all beings equally.
I am in harmony with myself and others.
Breathwork for the Heart Chakra
Breathwork can help in activating our bodies in different ways. For the Heart Chakra, Bee Breath involves humming as you exhale and the vibration of the hum is actually what activates the Heart Chakra.
Give it a try and let us know what you think!
Bee Breath
Place your thumbs on the tragus (outer ear) to block out sound. Place your other fingers along the skull, creating a cradle-like position of your fingers around your head. Inhale slowly through the nose and hum the entire exhale with a soft sound. You will hear soft humming and feel the vibration of the hum in your heart center. Try 10 rounds to start, and add on more repetitions the more you practice.
Asanas for the Heart Chakra
When thinking about yoga asanas to activate the heart chakra, you’ll want to focus on opening and expanding through your chest.
Here are just a handful of some asanas that you can incorporate into your heart chakra practice:
Fish Pose
Begin laying on your back and bring your hands under your hips, framing your tailbone. Zip up your legs and point your toes. As you inhale, press your elbows into the mat as you lift your back and head off the mat completely. Turn your gaze behind you as you release your head back and place the crown of your head back down onto the mat. Breathe deeply into your chest as you feel your heart center open and expand. Hold here as long as you’d like.
Camel Pose
Begin upright on your knees, with your knees hip-distance apart. As you inhale, reach your arms overhead. As you exhale, you have a few different options:
Bring both hands down to the small of your back and arch backwards.
Bring one hand down to one heel while your other hand stays at the small of your back.
Bring both hands down to both heels and keep your chest reaching up toward the sky.
For all of these options, draw your glute muscles together to help support your lower back.
Wheel Pose
Begin on your back with your feet planted hip-distance apart. Bring your hands to plant on the mat by your head and shoulders, with your fingers facing your shoulders. As you exhale, ground down into your feet and hands and simultaneously press your hips and chest up to the sky. Turn your gaze behind you and relax your head and neck.
Bridge Pose
Begin on your back with your feet planted hip-distance apart – your heels as close to your hips as you’re able. Roll your shoulders underneath you and plant your hands alongside you. As you exhale, draw your lower belly toward your spine and lift your hips up toward the sky. Hold here as long as you want. Continue to draw your glute muscles together. You can keep your hands where they are, clasp them underneath you, or raise them overhead and placing them down on the mat above your head.
Wild Thing
Begin in downward-facing dog. Inhale your right leg up and then open your hips to the right, stacking your hips one on top of the other. Bend your right knee to help open your hips a little more. You can stay here, or as you exhale, bring your right foot across your back and down to the floor, exposing your chest to the sky. Reach your right hand overhead and continue to lift the hips and chest. Move to the other side when you’re ready.
Feel. Express. Love.
As you continue to work up through the chakras, moving from the solar plexus to the heart, allow your heart to open and expand through the confidence and self-assuredness of the solar plexus. Knowing you are always safe and held through the root and sacral, free to give and receive love generously, while staying true to yourself.
Don’t fear diving deeper into the heart. It is the only freedom you truly seek.