The Heart Space.

Let’s talk about the heart space.

Think about the place in your body where your heart is. In the yoga world, this area is referred to as the heart chakra, the ‘sun within.’ It’s the space in your body where you feel. Some believe the heart is the house of the soul.

Today I want to talk about the energy of the heart and what it means to keep the heart space open.

Everything has an energy, As humans, we are aware of energy and can feel it. Like when you walk into a room and you can sense some tension or a happy care-free vibe.

We can alter the type of energy we experience in our life by choosing our feelings. Sensing the heart space and deliberately feeling positive emotions will raise our frequency. Positive emotions are joy, love and excitement.

Without realizing it most of us habitually practice negative emotions such as fear, judgement, worry, lack and doubt. We have thought patterns that are so much a part of us that we aren’t even aware they are playing in our minds like a hampster running on a wheel. When we realize that the energy of those thoughts are creating our life, it’s a good motivation to start to replace those feelings with positive ones.

It takes some devotion and repetition to become aware of which energy patterns you are habitually feeling.

In a recent yoga therapy session with Jasmine Matus, she spoke about awareness of the heart space as part of the yoga practice. She explained how we can become aware that we are a part of the universe and that the universe is also in us.

‘We are made of the same basic elements that the universe is made up of, fire, earth, water, wind, space and when we connect with these in nature, we are more aware and connected in general.’

Jasmine also explained that the Sanskrit word Prakāśa means the illumination and expansion of light filling the heart space and beyond. We can practice breathing into that space around the heart, imagining light there and letting that energy fill the rest of the body.

When you put your attention in the area of your heart, how does it feel?

In harder seasons of life you can feel a density there, a heaviness. And at the best of times it’s light that you feel. You feel ‘a weight off your shoulders.’ You feel FREEDOM.

This is a subtle sensation in the body, made more apparent by the practice of tuning in. If you are thinking right now, ‘what the heck is Terra talking about?’ I challenge you to try some of the practices below and see how you can start to tune in to your heart space.

In a physiological sense, the heart space is also the region of the solar plexus. The solar plexus is an important part of the body’s nervous system. Anxiety is often felt there. It plays an important role in organ function and preparing the body to respond to stress. But we don’t need to experience a constant fight-or-flight reaction to a life that isn’t actually threatening us. In the emotions of frustration, impatience, and resentment survival systems get switched on and our hearts beat incoherently. Heart incoherence effects all of our systems negatively and the result is decreased vitality. 

When energy is coherent the body works best at healing itself. By focussing on elevated emotions and opening our heart the systems in our body benefit. Staying open in the heart space even when we perceive fear or are in difficult situations allows the experience to be felt and still energy flows instead of being shut off.

By tuning in we can feel the energy state we are in.

By remaining open we can keep the energy flowing there and connect to higher vibrations or frequencies.

By connecting to the heart space we connect to the part of ourselves that is part of the Universe.

By listening to the heart we hear the deepest part of ourselves.

…

Here are a few simple practices for tuning into the heart space, the sun within:

♡ – Deliberate feelings – set the alarm on your phone for 3 times a day and focus on a good feeling.

♡- Yoga poses – Any back bend where you can feel the heart space expanding. Put a pillow or bolster underneath your back, lay with your arms wide and feel your chest opening. Imagine light there.

♡ – Meditation – deep breaths counting in and out to the count of 6, imaging the ‘sun within’ being filled up on the breath in, and radiating outwards to every part of your being and beyond on the breath out.

♡- Peppermint Essential Oil & InTune Blend Essential Oils – Apply either oil topically on the area of your heart. Both of these work magic in my life. (email me at terraetheridge@gmail.com to find out more about essential oils.)

♡ – In difficult situations, breathe into the heart space, allow it to remain open instead of closing off. You allow yourself to be aware of the deeper level of interaction and let the emotions flow and pass instead of getting stuck!

…

I want to hear from you! Comment below if you try these and if they are helping you find more peace and presence in your life!

Resources and Recommended Reading:

Yoga Therapy by Jasmine Matus: www.prasakayoga.com.au

‘The Untethered Soul’ by Michael A. Singer

‘Becoming Supernatural’ by Joe Dispenza

‘Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting The Soul’ by Deepak Chopra