We continue our exploration of the seven energy centers called chakras and this week we have been working with the fourth chakra located at the heart - the Anahata Chakra. It has the color of vibrant green, which I once described sitting in the yoga studio on retreat at Sanctuary in the rainforest of Queensland and simply said..."look outside, that's the color I'm talking about!". Its sound vibration resonates in the note of F and has the seed mantra of YAM.
As previously stated, these elements are an integral part, not only of our Universal environment but of the subtle energy systems of our being. When we experience our connection to the elements we are able to deepen our sense of an inherent relationship to all that's around and within us. Each chakra represents varying aspects of ourselves from the most physical to the most ethereal.
The heart chakra has the element of air energy and lies in the center of all the chakras, forming a meeting point of the lower three more physically bound energy centers to the upper three more ethereal realms.
What magnifies the significance of the air element in yoga is its relationship to the breath. We can go through our entire lives without being conscious of how we breathe. And what makes yoga unique is the connection to breath. If we practice yoga postures without any awareness of what's happening with our breath, we are simply doing calisthenics. It's the ability of pranayama (altering breath to change states) that penetrates through all the levels of our being, from the most obvious physical body to the most blissful aspects of consciousness and it can be incredibly powerful. This includes research that has shown that 80% of anxious symptoms can be reduced within a minute of diaphragmatic breathing. In other words, when we feel the stressors of life building up, we have one immediate tool to tear them down...deep, belly breaths that emphasize a longer and slower exhalation.
This week in the United States we celebrated Thanksgiving, the perfect time to come to the heart. It was a timely reminder, as so many people gather with family and friends, and as Ram Dass says, "If you think you're enlightened, spend the weekend with your family". Overall, it's an opportune time to cultivate the highest versions of ourselves and sit in loving kindness.
In classes this week the emphasis has been on connecting to the heart center as a place of love and compassion. If we are focused in the heart and act from that place, all of the other wheels of energy pass through and complement what's happening in the middle. Yoga poses that "open the heart space" such as backbends and expansions of the chest are also useful. But in a deeper sense, everything comes together in the heart...the very physical grounding of the lower three chakras come to a sense of balance within the heart and, at the same time, support the expansion and create a foundation for the energy to expand in this love focused part of our being. It also is a transitional point for how we speak our truth, follow our intuition and connect to higher consciousness through the upper three chakras. When we can come fully into our heart and embrace the air element, we begin to recognize how all of us are connected.
One of the ways this connection to all beings is evident is that we are all breathing the same air: the air that our ancestors breathed and that all beings are breathing throughout the world. We all share a common breath. Imagine if each of us literally lived and breathed these breaths from an intention of peace, compassion and love, what an incredible gift each of us, with every breath, would be offering to all beings everywhere. Truly, a breath of the heart.
We can further manifest the air element through wearing a rich, bright green color and chanting the bija mantra-yam, yam, yam and using such affirmations as:
I am loved. I let love in.
I am kind to myself.
I live in peace and gratitude.
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