OPEN UP YOUR HEART 4-25-11

    Welcome to the Fourth Chakra!  Finding the Balance in Love.

We've completed the the first three chakras, known as the lower triangle -- now we are at the balance point between the lower and the upper triangles.  We are at the Heart Chakra -- Anahata, meaning unstuck -- in the element of Air.  The color is Green.

These are the issues we'll be exploring during the next forty days:
Love
Balance
Self-Love
Relationship
Intimacy
Anima/Animus
Devotion
Reaching out and taking in

The basic right of the Heart Chakra is to love and be loved.
The talent is Compassion.

Here is an exercise to open the heart:
1. Sitting, stretch out arms in front of you, parallel to floor, palms pressed firmly together, elbows straight.
2. Inhale deeply through nose, open arms wide in a large expansive gesture.
Feel your heart center open, expand your lungs, arms back as far as they can go.
Feel the stretch across the chest, under the arms, the ribs, down the arms to the fingertips.
3. When arms are stretched as far as they can go, shoulder blades almost touching, begin exhaling powerfully through the nose and bring arms back to original position, palms together.
4. Do the movement 26 times, eyes closed, concentrating at the third eye point.  As you inhale vibrate Sat.  On the exhale vibrate Nam.  Sat Nam, I am Truth or True Identity.
Move at a moderate pace.

And here is our forty day meditation to be done three to eleven minutes each day:
1.  Sitting in easy pose, legs crossed, spine straight.
2. Extend arms straight out to sides, parallel to ground.  Bend elbows so forearms form a 90 degree angle straight up.  Palms flat, facing forward.
3. Close eyes, concentrating at third eye point.  Inhale deeply through nose -- on exhale make the sound "Hummmmm."  Allow this healing current to resonate through the face, beginning with the lips, which are pressed together gently like two petals.
This sound current moves us from individual consciousness to divine love, connecting to the Infinite through the heart center.

Your heart has not to open to others.
Your heart has to open to yourself.
                                 Yogi Bhajan