Read an Excerpt
From Chapter 4. The Heart Chakra
The Heart Chakra is the game changer. Placed at the center of the body and the center of the chakra system, it plays a pivotal role in the unfolding of each life because it is the gateway into the Spiritual Realm and the deeper spiritual levels of all the chakras.
If the Heart Chakra is not flowing well we experience the world mainly from the egocentric and wounded perspectives of the lower chakras, the small self. But when the Heart Chakra is flowing well it offers another perspective on ourselves and on the world, where we can begin the process of healing the wounds and traumas of our past and discover a deeper, truer, more spiritual part of ourselves.
Psychological Level
In the first chakra the motivation is to survive, in the second to explore the world seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, and in the third to develop a sense of identity through one’s values and choices. Put very simply, the three lower chakras represent the development of the separate individual, based on the needs of security, pleasure, and self-identity. In Heart Chakra consciousness these needs drop away and there is the desire to simply be, living in the present moment, with awareness and a sense of connection to all of life.
The Heart Chakra consciousness of loving acceptance needs to be balanced with the discrimination of the Solar Plexus Chakra and the Eye Chakra. It would be difficult for anyone to be operating from pure Heart Chakra consciousness all the time. But daily life requires that we make choices and choices depend on judgments. Heart Chakra consciousness influences the values we have developed in the Solar Plexus Chakra, bringing a loving global perspective to them. Ideally the two chakras need to work together. For example, when a kind and loving parent is cross with a child, they may express anger but underneath that, they still accept the beauty and vulnerability of this young human being whom they love deeply, and this will affect the way they communicate their displeasure.
Adult chakra consciousness is multi-faceted and made up of all the chakras functioning together with some more prominent than others. The Heart Chakra may be prominent in our consciousness at one moment and the next moment one of the lower chakras or one of the upper chakras may be more prominent. We may be experiencing the peaceful happiness of Heart Chakra consciousness one moment and lose it the next, depending on how well we are staying in our witness consciousness. Maintaining a flowing Heart Chakra, balancing it with the needs of living in the modern world, is a lifetime’s work!
Psychic Level
At the psychic level of the Heart Chakra there is an ability to identify and merge with another person. Boundaries between people dissolve. Healing energy is born here and healing is the clearest example of working at a psychic level with the Heart Chakra. This can be through listening and talking, hands-on work, auric work or absent healing. Healing can take many forms. If a caretaker of a sick or disabled person, in addition to all the practical tasks carried out, feels genuine loving compassion towards their charge, they can be transmitting healing energy. Many nurses, teachers, social workers, therapists and others are operating from a compassionate flowing Heart Chakra which can have very powerful healing effects.
Spiritual Level
At the spiritual level of the Heart Chakra we enter more consciously into the Spiritual Realm of life, which brings more depth and awareness to our experience. The Base Chakra is the entry point into Earth Realm of life which initiates the physical and psychological development of a separate self. The Heart Chakra can be seen as a higher expression of the Base Chakra, the gateway into the Spiritual Realm, initiating our development as spiritual beings. The upper chakras are all higher expressions of lower ones and bring the potential to experience the world in a deeper more spiritual way. The Crown Chakra at the spiritual level then becomes the gateway to the Divine Realm where we have the potential to experience extraordinary enlightened states, ultimately becoming one with the universe.
The Heart Chakra can profoundly influence the rest of the chakras. It can throw its compassionate light on the lower chakras and enable healing of old wounds to occur, but as the entry point into the spiritual level of the chakras it opens the door to creative inspiration. When the Heart Chakra is flowing consciously at the spiritual level, an increase in spiritual energy enters the chakra system through the Crown Chakra and this particularly affects the activity of the upper chakras. If the Heart Chakra is not in a reliably flowing state the upper chakras will still be working, possibly very powerfully, but they will be working at the psychological level, not the deeper spiritual level.
Nourishing the Heart Chakra
The exercises in earlier chapters which were designed to nourish the lower chakras have all involved the Heart Chakra, because in them we have been witnessing our multifaceted self. The Heart Chakra is our Inner Healer at the centre of all therapeutic work.
Quick Heart Chakra Reconnection
This is an exercise which you can use whenever you are feeling the need to reconnect with your Heart Chakra consciousness.
Focus your attention in the area of the heart. Notice your breath flowing in and out of your chest area nourishing your Heart Chakra, and stay aware of this for the next five breaths.
Think of a person, an animal, a place, or anything that you appreciate and feel loving towards and send your love energy out to them from your Heart Chakra, for the next five breaths.
Now imagine that loving energy turning around and coming back to you, nourishing your Heart Chakra. As you breathe out send your love energy out and as you breathe in allow that love energy to fill your Heart Chakra and your whole being.
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