What’s Love Got to Do With It? Your Heart Chakra

By Cindy Harley

There are so many songs about love and most are about romantic love or love gone bad. Is love an emotion? Or like Tina Turner’s song “What’s Love Got To Do With It” asks, is it a second-hand emotion?

As we continue on a spiritual journey through the chakras, we now move up to the fourth Chakra—the Heart Chakra. When I think of the heart, I start thinking about all the love songs and romantic movies I have watched. Is the Heart Chakra about that kind of love?

The Heart and Types of Love

As I was contemplating what to share, I remembered my confirmation class. During my childhood, my family and I were members of the Lutheran Church. As a teen, you go through special religion education to confirm your faith. I remember our minister asking our class to choose a group name so that we’d have a unified identity. As normal teenagers, we came up with lots of different names but none of them were any good. The minister then mentioned that in the Greek language, there are many different words that describe love. He told us three of them and said one of those words might work as the name for our class.

Agape: Selfless Universal Love
Philia: Affectionate, Friendly Love
Eros: Romantic, Passionate Love (of the Body)

Agape, Philia, and Eros are all Greek words, and according to Greek philosophy, there are actually eight types of love. These are the other five:

Sorge: Unconditional, Familial Love
Ludus: Playful, Flirtatious Love
Pragma: Committed, Long-Lasting Love
Philautia: Self-Love
Mania: Obsessive Love

If you are curious, we ended up voting for Agape as our group name. (Philia would have been fine, but Eros did not seem appropriate.)

The Nature of Love: Five Ways of Expressing and Receiving Love

As there are words in other languages or songs about love, there are also different views on the nature of love. Dr. Gary Chapman, author of The 5 Love Languages book, states that various people will express love and receive love differently.

The five ways of expressing/receiving love:
-Words of Affirmation
-Physical Touch
-Acts of Service
-Receiving Gifts
-Quality time

If you are interested, you can take a quiz on the website above to discover your primary way of expressing affection or love.

Defining Love

All the categories or definitions of love are people’s way of describing the all-encompassing love or the energy of the Heart Chakra (with a little of the Throat Chakra thrown in). This is by no means the only way of categorizing love. When I was researching love, I found this site, which lists the best 91 definitions of love. This implies there are more than 91 definitions. Big topic, right?

Do I go around thinking, “What Greek version of love am I expressing?” (Nope.) Or asking myself, “Am I receiving and giving the correct expression of love?” (I try but probably nope.) As humans with emotions, beliefs, thoughts, and actions, we seem to be ruled by love. Love is usually the first thing we think about, and a lack of self-love is one of the main causes of trauma or low self-esteem. How many people go to therapists, healers, and even psychics to find out what is missing in their life? (I’m raising my hand here—how about you?)

The Heart Chakra

This brings us to the fourth Chakra—the Heart Chakra. In Sanskrit, the Heart Chakra is called “Anahata.” It serves as the center of love for oneself and others, compassion, and empathy. It is also the bridge between the lower Chakras (Root, Sacral and Solar Plexus) and the upper Chakras (Throat, Third-Eye, and Crown). It is also often thought of as the Center of the Soul.

Your Heart Chakra or even your physical heart is so important. There is now scientific evidence that the heart has a type of brain, has neural activity, and has a field of energy. Often when I am leading an EFT session, I will have the client actually center their awareness in the heart and take deep breaths. Then allow the energy to expand to other parts of the body. If you would like to know more about HeartMath and how you can bring your heart into coherence, visit www.heartmath.com.

Correspondences to the Heart Chakra:

Sanskrit Name: Anahata
Color: Green or Pink
Element: Air
Stones or Crystals: Malachite, Green Aventurine, Rose Quartz, Emerald, Cobaltoan Calcite (or any green or pink stone)
Planet: Venus
Goddess: Venus or Aphrodite

Signs of a Blocked Heart Chakra

As we are traveling through the seven main Chakra systems, we are looking at signs that the Chakra is blocked. Remember that the Chakras are energy portals or hubs. We need the energy to flow freely so we don’t get stuck in stinkin’ thinking or have the blocked energy manifest on the physical level.

If your Heart Chakra is blocked, you may notice these signs in your physical or emotional environment.

-You may isolate yourself
-Feel lonely
-Feel jealousy
-Find it difficult to trust others
-Fear intimacy
-Lack compassion
-Physically it could show up as heart problems, such as too high or too low blood pressure, or lung problems

Our bodies, minds, and spirits are amazing things. They will speak to you on a level that you will notice. We want to be aligned and grounded. We are Spirit having a human experience. The Heart Chakra is the center of our being. It is the bridge to higher understanding and very centered in the 3D experience. We can listen to what our body and soul is trying to tell us to help us become more of our true selves.

The Heart Chakra and Personal Truth

I believe our personal truth is also situated in our Heart Chakra. When we allow the hub to flow freely, we are more in tune with our true selves and how we express our truth. We are each individual aspects of the Divine, and one person’s truth is different from everyone else’s. We can tune into that aspect when we allow our energy pathways and hubs to be clear and not hold onto things that are not ours.

Clearing Your Heart Chakra

-Wear more green and/or pink
-Use Heartmath’s conscious heart breathing techniques to bring your heart back to coherence
-Take care of your physical heart and your lungs
-Use energy techniques like EFT, crystal healing, or make an appointment with Nerissa and experience her angelic Reiki.
-Practice gratitude
-Practice forgiveness (especially for yourself)
-Do random acts of kindness
-Smile through your whole body
-Try the Hawaiian practice of Ho’oponopono

What Is Ho’oponopono?

This is a sacred practice with four steps. Although the steps may seem simple if you do the practice with intent and reverence, you may experience a profound feeling of peace. If you are interested in learning more, read this article and watch the YouTube video of a Hawaiian elder describing the practice.

We all need to allow and accept that we deserve love and that we can give love.

Giving and Receiving.

Give yourself the gift of truly seeing yourself as the beauty and wonder that is you.

Remember to “Be Kind and Have Courage.”

If you need a little help, Birchlight energy has a series of meditation musings, such as Lens of Love.

“Love Be and Love Is.”

May you lead with your heart and feel the love of all.

Blessings!

Birchlight Energy | BE–Shine Bright