Lately, I felt the calling to connect to Venus and as I sat tuning in to her energy, it came to me that there are a great many right now who are finally in the space that they need to begin the work of self-healing. And since Venus is the Goddess of Love, she concerns herself with the matters of the heart – or as I am about to share with you today, the heart chakra.
Based in the center of the chest at heart level, the heart chakra is one of 7 etheric structures that allows spirit to animate the body and give it life. As the middle of the 7 chakras, it helps unite us with Heaven and Earth and is the seat of love in the energy body. As a bright emerald green structure called the Anahata, this chakra is important in balancing our earthly lives with our connection to the higher realms. (On a side note: you can learn more about the anatomy and functions of the heart chakra in the Empower Thyself class if you’re interested!)
In this article, I want to help you to:
- Understand the heart chakra and its functions in your life
- Learn about the actions/experiences that can diminish its function
- Identify signs that the heart chakra needs healing
- Engage in healing tools and methods to help restore it
The Functions of the Heart Chakra in your life
When you think of your heart, your foremost thoughts go to love and relationships – and that is part of the very essence of the heart chakra. It helps you to feel connected to heaven and earth, to the people in your life and to yourself. The function of the heart chakra affects the quality of your relationships as it also influences your ability to be compassionate and forgive, necessities of any significant relationship. The heart chakra also helps with your ability to give and receive affection, a crucial element in the development of significant relationships.
Now, the heart chakra isn’t just about your ability to share love with others, it also governs over your relationship with yourself too. Self-love, self-worth, self-esteem – these are all present in your life when your heart chakra is strong. On the physical level, this self-love expresses itself through the immune system. The ability to fight off infections and heal is also the function of the heart chakra – indeed, all healing abilities come from the heart (both internally and for others).
There are a good number of reasons why you want your heart chakra strong and in good working order. Since it affects your relationships, self-love, and ability to remain healthy and strong, you want to care for it and heal any wounds. So, let’s look at how the heart chakra can be wounded.
How the Heart Chakra is Damaged:
The heart chakra is primarily wounded over events or circumstances that affect the flow of love between others or within yourself. This can include life experiences such as:
- Loss of loved ones
- Patterns of abusive/unrequited relationships
- Experiences of rejection or betrayal
- Failures that affect self-esteem
- Holding onto negative self-judgments
Life experiences such as these are often described as feeling a stab to the heart and they affect our outlook and connection to life itself. Damage to the heart chakra can cause it to act in 2 different ways – it can become overactive or underactive.
Here are a few signs of an overactive heart chakra:
- Martyrdom (always “sacrificing” on behalf of others)
- Saviour syndrome (feeling the need to save anyone in poor circumstances)
- Excessive sympathy (buying into sob stories and believing in the victimhood of yourself or others)
- Caring for and thinking only of others and not attending to your own needs and desires
- Continually forgiving severe or continuous breaches of boundaries
An overactive heart chakra is just as it sounds – too much heart. When you give too much of your heart to others (or even yourself) you are liable to be hurt and to not hold the proper boundaries. You are also not likely to uphold the empowerment necessary in your relationships with others and yourself.
On the other hand, an underactive heart chakra is also as it sounds – too little heart, too little love. As the heart chakra is concerned with healing and regeneration, when it is underactive, defensive tactics become the mode of life. An underactive heart chakra can also show up as:
- Jealousy and defensiveness
- Being withdrawn and lacking care for self and others
- Neediness and existing in codependent relationships
- Being unable to forgive yourself and others
- Inability to let go of or move on from past wounds
No matter whether the heart chakra is overactive or underactive, it is important to bring healing and restoration to it. Every scenario that I have listed above is unpleasant, but the beauty of the energy field is that it has the capacity to be healed of damage so that you can move on to better life experiences and outcomes.
So, let’s move on to the best part (and the part I know you’re waiting for…)
How to Heal the Heart Chakra:
There are so many methods of healing the heart chakra but I want to start with a few that you can still do while in quarantine and also share a few healing modalities that I use for healing the heart that I have certified in as a Guide and Healer with the Modern Mystery School.
Some of the most accessible ways of healing and working with the heart chakra are to work with the gifts of the earth. Earth is Mother Gaia – the healer and nurturer of humanity. Essential oils and crystals can soothe an aching heart and help restore balance. When used in consciously in combination with meditation, their healing effects can go deep and provide significant relief from a wounded heart.
Essential oils can be anointed directly on the heart chakra (dilute them if you have skin sensitivities) or you can bathe in them or meditate while using them in a diffuser. Personally, I love anointing the heart and letting their magick work its way through the etheric layers, but I do invite you to play and experiment with these methods and see what works for you. Here are a few oils you can use for ailments of the heart:
- Cypress (helps with grief, especially with the loss of loved ones)
- Rose (boosts love and the ability to both give and receive it)
- Neroli (restores connection and amplifies the wisdom of the heart)
- Orange (strengthens self-love and confidence)
- Jasmine (boosts immunity, healing from shock and trauma)
There are many other essential oils that can help with healing the heart chakra, but these are some good options to start with.
Crystals are also an amazing tool that you can work with to heal the heart too! You can wear them as jewelry on long necklaces, carry them in a pouch that sits at the heart or in a bra (every woman’s secret crystal carrier) or lay down and place them on the heart chakra itself, connecting with the crystal and allowing its healing influence to soothe your energy structure. If you’re like me (and love crystals), then here are a few friends that you can connect and heal with:
- Rose Quartz (boosts love in all forms)
- Pink Tourmaline (encourages love, compassion, and care)
- Rhodonite (heals trauma, loss, self-destructive habits, and codependency)
- Rhodochrosite (stimulates compassion, empathy, and selfless love)
- Green Aventurine (heals patterns that cause unhealthy relationships)
- Amazonite (boost courage and empowerment to overcome victimhood and hold boundaries)
- Emerald (encourages loyalty, patience, unity, and harmony in relationships)
Oils and crystals are great tools to work with if you’re feeling a little out of sorts or have minor issues with the heart chakra. For those of you who are dealing with deeper, repetitive or more persistent heart wounds, I would recommend looking into a few modalities that can help heal deeper wounds so that you don’t continue to live with unsatisfying relationships, self-destructive patterns and poor physical health. The Life Activation, Full Spirit Activation and the Kabbalistic Healing are 3 modalities that I would recommend, but I also suggest visiting our Energy Healing page for information on other modalities that may resonate with you too!
Life Activation and Full Spirit Activation
The reason I always recommend the Life Activation and Full Spirit Activation to people looking to embark on deeper healing work is because they help connect you to spirit and give you the perspective you need to be able to let go of the memories, thoughts and opinions that have kept the wounds in your heart open. The connection fostered with your higher self, in addition to the smoothing, balancing and opening of the chakras that happens with these two modalities is a gentle way to ease yourself into the process of healing and connecting to the wisdom needed to make that healing smoother and more graceful.
Jumping right away into deeper healing methods can be too much at times and I have learned to not underestimate the power of enhanced connection to your higher self – time and again I have seen people who have come to me for heart wounds have the wisdom and resolution to hold appropriate boundaries and start valuing themselves, 2 major steps on the path to healing wounds of the heart chakra.
If you’re interested in these Activations, I strongly suggest connecting with a practitioner in your area!
The Kabbalistic Healing
It is unfortunately quite common to hold negative images and opinions of yourself in your heart. That self-directed negativity influences everything from your relationships to your willingness to take care of yourself and your life. There are many aspects and benefits to the Kabbalistic healing, but the one I want to focus in on is that it infuses your heart with the essence of who you really are – not the negative self-image. This infusion pours the light of your true identity into the heart so you can start to cherish yourself and your existence once again.
If you could see how wonderful and amazing you are, you’d love yourself as so many do – and the Kabbalistic Healing helps to remind you of your own divinity and worthiness of love from all (including the self). You can find out more about this healing here!
As I mentioned, energy healings can be an amazing tool – especially if you’ve been dealing with repeated patterns and other methods haven’t worked. Sometimes we can accomplish a lot of healing ourselves, and sometimes we need someone to facilitate that healing for us so that it can go deeper.
Looking back at everything that I’ve shared with you, I want to remind you that healing the heart chakra happens a layer at a time. Patience, compassion and taking the time to work with the right tools and methods are essential! There are aspects you can absolutely do on your own and then there are times where seeing a healing practitioner is best.
Either way, healing the heart chakra is a beautiful journey that restores love and care for yourself, brings greater love and harmony to your relationships, brings deeper connection to heaven and earth and all the great beings who reside there and boosts your physical health and vitality!
If any of the “symptoms” of the wounded heart chakra resonate with you, or if you simply want more of the positives, give these methods a try! There’s always something we can do for ourselves and it is my hope that the information in this article helps you when you need it most!
Happy healing and happy hearts!