3 Chakra-Healing Practices For A More Compassionate Heart

The seven main chakras are potent energetic centers that yogis and Eastern traditions have been referring to for thousands of years. In my holistic practice, I use the themes of the chakras to explore the spiritual dimension of health. Understanding these themes can reveal unconscious wound patterns that negatively affect our physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Most of us are quite familiar with the concept of physical and emotional wounds. We know when we are physically wounded because the associated sensation is uncomfortable. We know when we are emotionally wounded because we don't like the way we feel. Many of us are less familiar with the concept of chakra wounding because it's energetic and subtle. These are often the wounds we are not conscious of because they exist as frequencies in the quantum field. Until we become conscious of them, they affect our physical, mental, and emotional health, and it feels as though we are not in control of our fate. But once we become aware of these subtle patterns and understand their origins, we move into the gift state of the associated chakra and we reclaim the ability to transcend the personal and collective beliefs that limit our potential.  

The primary wound of the heart chakra is rejection. Most of us have had the experience of making ourselves vulnerable to another and feeling like it was not reciprocated. This is the nature of rejection—there is no exchange of energy, so we keep giving and giving in hopes that reciprocation will follow. If it doesn't, we feel rejected, alone, and sometimes foolish. This is a painful wound, and most of us respond to it by cloaking our hearts with armor to protect ourselves from future rejection.

The healing path of the heart chakra moves from isolation to compassion. Compassion is essential to the survival of our species. It binds us to one another, making isolation an impossibility—but it requires that we reveal our pain, our suffering, and our wounding to each other. We have to be courageous enough to risk rejection over and over again to experience the gift of the heart. We must remember that the heart has nothing to fear because either it is generating compassion for others or it is wounded, in which case it inspires others to generate compassion. Either way, the heart is always responsible for radiating the highest form of love into the world.   

The heart is capable of transmuting all human pain and suffering into love. But this is no ordinary love (aka lust and dysfunctional attachment). This is compassion: The highest expression of love and the genuine desire to relieve the suffering of others. In other words, human suffering is essential for compassion to exist. So if we are not vulnerable and we don't reveal our pain to others because we're too afraid or too cloaked in post-rejection armor, compassion cannot exist.