Open Your Heart (Chakra)

In this fourth post in our series on chakras, we’re focused on using a combination of essential oils and massage to open your heart. The heart chakra influences your ability to give and receive love in a healthy way. It also influences our ability to cope with sadness related to the loss of a loved one due to a break-up, abandonment, or death.

The central theme of the heart chakra is love, particularly compassion and unconditional devotion. Blockage of this chakra can result in heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, or other lung diseases.

All healing work originates from the fourth chakra. This chakra opens us to the idea that we’re all connected via universal energy. As the center of the seven chakras, the fourth represents the balance between the physical and non-physical. As we deepen our self-awareness, we elevate ourselves from lower, self-oriented chakras, to the higher, universally connected chakras. Think of your chakras as the energetic embodiment of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Attributes of the Heart Chakra

  • Color = green
  • Element = air
  • Sense = touch
  • Body Part = heart, lungs, arms, and hands
  • Glands = thymus gland
  • Location = first thoracic vertebrae

Signs of Balance

  • Able to express love
  • Giving
  • Compassionate
  • Joyful
  • Content

Signs of Imbalance

  • Unable to give or receive unconditional love
  • Selfish
  • Jealous
  • Hateful
  • Grief-stricken

Essential Oils for Balancing the Heart Chakra

  • Bergamot
  • Cypress
  • Geranium
  • Lavender
  • Lemon
  • Mandarin
  • Rose
  • Sandalwood
  • Ylang Ylang

At your next massage appointment, request one of the above essential oils to aid in opening your heart chakra.