By Margaret Wilcox
The Heart Chakra (our 4th Chakra), is located in the center of the chest. It is the axis or center of the Chakra system. Each chakra is associated with a gland in the endocrine system. The thymus gland of the heart chakra, located under your sternum, is the main organ in our immune system. It produces the body’s natural killer cells. The Indian Sanskrit word for the Heart Chakra is “anahata” which means unbound. We are “unbound” when we are free from the material measures of success, e.g., money, cars, fame.
We experience joy and peace when we come from this heart center. We share and experience Universal Divine Love through this chakra. This is love for creation, not object-focused love; nor is it dependent upon another for its existence. It is impersonal pure love for life. Accepting others for who they are. Realize that there is divinity in all of us. We are all one. Love is the energy of Divine Light. Healers operate out of their Heart Chakras and heal with love. We all have the power to heal within us, if we only open our hearts and send loving energy to those around us.
Unconditional Love doesn’t mean lowering your standards and condoning negative behaviors. You just have to realize everyone is on their own path at their own pace. Sometimes letting go and not trying to control someone to be who you want them to be is the most honest form of Unconditional Love. Some of us are butterflies unfurling our wings, while others are still caterpillars. We can’t force people through metamorphosis. They have to do it on their own. Releasing someone in Unconditional Love is healthy for both parties.
All physical ailments have emotional, mental and/or spiritual roots. The Heart Chakra cannot digest emotional energies. That is the job of the 2nd Chakra located in your lower abdomen. Heartache represents things we’ve literally taken to heart. It’s important to not take what others do or say personally. Everyone is on their own path. Whatever others do is a result of their own growth and has nothing to do with you. Some of us are afraid of love and block it from our lives. This is a fear of the Divine within you, since you and the Divine are love. When you guard against feeling loved or loving, you are literally guarding against being yourself. You disconnect from your spiritual gifts.
It’s important to recognize past traumas stuck in your heart and release them. Focus on sending the emotions in your heart down to your lower abdomen where emotional energies are digested. Dis-eases manifesting physically around the Heart Chakra would be heart diseases, breast cancer, other cancers (thymus gland), AIDS, lupus, all autoimmune diseases, shoulder and upper back pain, circulatory problems, lung ailments, asthma and heart burn.
Witness and acknowledge emotional wounds and see how they affect your heart. Heart disease is the most frequent cause of death in women over the age of 50. Heart attacks in women are twice as deadly as in men. One in two women will eventually die of coronary artery disease or stroke. Only one woman in 25 will die of breast cancer. We need to love more fully, unconditionally without judgments or expectations.
In peri-menopause years, women need to heed the call of their heart. Their bodies are hard-wired to nurture in the fertile years, but as women get older their need for self-love increases. Women tend to go within as they process this major change. Heart palpitations are a sign you need to find your heart’s desire, your true passion and feed that passion NOW!
The Heart Chakra is related to our capacity to express ourselves emotionally. When we express ourselves emotionally, we need a balance between anger and love. We need to be able to nurture others but also allow ourselves to be nurtured. If you have had an inability to give or receive love from self or others, you probably have an imbalanced Heart Chakra. A balanced 4th Chakra allows us to be intimate with ourselves and others. It integrates the masculine and feminine within us. We know who we are, and we accept ourselves.
When we love others conditionally, it can lead to feelings of resentment causing a literal feeling of heartbreak. We need to stop falling in love and become love itself. Another negative expression in this chakra is infatuation with the self or inability to show compassion for oneself. You must love yourself, as much as you want to be loved. Take precious time for yourself daily and notice how those around you will respect and love you more. Be the love!
Remember that your Divine Creator loves you no matter what. You need to remember to love yourself as much as your Cosmic Mother/Father do. Practice something loving each day. As you continue to resonate the love you feel for yourself, others will mirror this.
Before you start your day, ask for the angels to come help you feel love and imagine them surrounding you, filling your entire Being. Then send that love throughout your day, asking it to touch all those you associate with and all the activities you experience. Do it as often as you can remember. Your days will eventually be filled with joy. Your perspective will change, negative thoughts will no longer haunt you and you will feel truly loved!
Rev. Margaret Wilcox is an energy healer, eco-shaman, yoga teacher and earth momma in the Palm Springs and Joshua Tree Area.