Heart Chakra

AIR CHAKRA

“The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to be.” ~Elizabeth Kubler-Ross~ 

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths.” ~Elizabeth Kubler-Ross~ 

The Air Chakra is located in your heart and is also known as the Heart Chakra. This chakra deals with love and our connection to others as well as to ourself. This chakra’s color is green and the corresponding stones are jade, emerald and opal. 

 The air chakra is blocked by grief and loss. Laying your grief out in front of you and then releasing that grief opens this chakra. The definition of release is: allow or enable to escape from confinement; to set free.

When the heart chakra is blocked you may feel shy and/or lonely. Jealousy and harshly judging others are also symptoms of a blocked heart chakra. Anger and sadness are signs of a blockage; as is having unexplainable physical pains, symptoms, illness. You may feel a lack of empathy for those around you that are suffering and not understand why others cry. You may believe that crying is a sign of weakness for yourself and for others. And, you may have a hard time feeling compassion for others. The physical symptoms can include hypertension, depression, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, asthma and other respiratory ailments.

In this chakra we will be working with grief. This will be done in a different format than the previous chakra work. Before we had a focus on the journal work. Our focus in this section will be on creating a grief board and spending time with that grief board daily. Your journaling will be up to you and will be about the people, places, and things that you are mourning and whatever is coming up for you. 

The five stages of grief are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance and they are a part of the process that makes up our learning to live without what we have lost. This grieving process was laid out by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and it is a tool to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. These feeling do not necessarily happen in order and just because you have experienced one of the feelings once that does not mean that it will not come up again. Please prepare yourself to feel your grief and to mourn your losses. And do not be afraid to ask for help. Talk to someone close to you or begin working with a therapist. The emotions that come up during grief work can be intense and surprising. Remember that you are not alone.

Being honest and authentic with ourself is the key to this work.

When the air chakra is open you will feel deeply connected with others. You will feel all of your emotions strongly. You may cry often; and this crying will be cathartic. Your tears will heal and release. It is an honest expression of emotions. The emotions that you have repressed will no longer be there, you will have released them. You will feel lightened and unburdened. But you will also feel more deeply connected to your losses, this is a positive feeling and not the feeling of loss and suffering that you have grown used to. You will find yourself less angry. And, your breathing will be clearer and more even.  

If you did not give up smoking while working on the third chakra and dealing with your addictions I recommend at least researching the latest medical advances to help people quit smoking. It is nearly impossible to open up this chakra emotionally if you are blocking it in your body with cigarette smoke (or any type of smoke). Many states now have free programs that offer the patch, gum, and other smoking cessation aids. Your doctor can prescribe medicine that will help with the quit process. Many larger cities also have groups for people who are quitting smoking. Do what you need to do to clear your heart and lungs of the damage caused by smoking. If you find that it is your willpower that is still blocking you then you might consider going back and re-working the previous chakra.

Grief Board:

Find a board, the exact shape and size are completely up to you. Finding something that you can fold and put away for safekeeping is helpful, but remember that the board has to be big enough to hold a picture for each loss that you have experienced. Please find a picture or if you cannot find a picture then draw a picture or find a representation of your loss. However, keep in mind that an actual picture is the best and is worth the effort to locate.

Each person that has died in your life should be on your board. For some of us, each of our pets that have died should be on the board as well. You can also put pictures of other types of losses. Have you gotten divorced and lost a marriage? Were you disowned by a family member? Did you declare bankruptcy and/or lose your home? Did you drop out of school? Did you lose your job or career? All of the major losses in our life should be included on this board. 

For everyone these will be different. Look at your life and look for pivotal moments in your life where a loss caused a huge change in the direction that you were going in. While working on this chakra you need to plan on spending time 3-4 days a week just looking at your grief board and thinking about the different items on it. Tell yourself the stories; both the good and the bad. Remember. Feel. Cry.  And trust yourself. You will know when you have grieved and when you have released. This is the time where you need to mourn and release the sadness of your losses.

Depending on your losses and what you are going through personally you may also need the support of a counselor, sponsor, or understanding friend during this time. This is not the time to isolate yourself and to forget how to take care of yourself. You will be in mourning. It will be draining. When not focused on your grief work your focus needs to be on taking care of yourself. You need to take care of you the exact same way you would take care of your best friend if they were grieving. Do you need extra sleep? Do you need to watch a funny movie? Do you need to spend some time with your friends? Take care of you!

Journal work:  

The journal work for this chakra will be more open. It does not need to be done every time you work with your grief. However, for each person, place or thing that you place on your grief board at least one journal entry is needed. 

Yoga: Reclined Angel Pose

Meditation: Chant in Sanskrit is YAM. Chant in English is I LOVE.

Body Work: The Heart Chakra is connected to the circulatory system. The circulatory system moves blood and lymph throughout the body. The circulatory system consisting of the heart, blood vessels, blood, lymph, and the lymphatic vessels and glands. Continue to stay hydrated to help flush the toxins from your body. Foods that support this chakra are: blueberries, flax seeds, celery, green tea, dark chocolate, and oats. Herbs that support the circulatory system are: ginkgo biloba, ginseng, garlic, hawthorne, and cayenne. Please remember that the more physical toxins you remove from your body the easier it will be to remove the emotional toxins. The body and the mind are interconnected. They make one whole. Also, if you do not already have a cardio workout that you enjoy this would be a good time to add one to your life.  This doesn’t have to be a huge time commitment or workout routine. The easiest and simplest form of cardio is walking. No special equipment needed. If you do not walk at all then start with where you are. The goal is to breathe heavy. You do not have to be panting from exertion, just get your heart rate up and keep it up for at least 10 minutes every day. I recommend checking with your doctor before starting any exercise routine.

Life Projects: These projects will help you grieve and mourn your losses. They will help you to take care of yourself during this painful time. Remember that even if the event occurred decades ago if you didn’t deal with your grief then you will be dealing with it now and it will feel like it just happened yesterday. Be gentle with yourself and remember the work that you did in your last chakra and LOVE yourself. Because your grief board will take quite a bit of time and work there will be fewer life projects for this chakra. Focus on your grief board.

• Find a beautiful and inspiring green image and make it the screen saver on one or all of your technological devices. The mores devices you do this for, the better.

• Add your stone from your third chakra to the jar or container with the other stones. Find a piece of jade, emerald or opal. It can either be jewelry that you can wear or it can be a simple stone for your pocket. Carry this with you while you are working on this chakra. (If you have difficulty locating this stone or any of the different stones associated with the chakras then take a walk in nature and find a small stone that calls to you, just be sure to get a different stone for each chakra)

• Make yourself an affirmation card with the following words, “I FEEL and I LOVE” Put this on your bathroom mirror.

• Write a loved-one who has passed a letter. Tell them everything that you remember about them and why you miss them. Read it aloud to a picture of them and then burn the letter.

• Research Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and do a little bit of reading on her work with grief. 

• Do breath work. Sit silently for 2-3 minutes and breathe as deeply and slowly as you can. If you become light headed simply stop, lay down, and give yourself a few minutes.