Activate the Heart Chakra with These Heart Opening Poses

The Heart Chakra

The Heart Chakra, also known as Anahata, means “unhurt, unstruck, and unbeaten” and represents your ability to love. Represented by the color green, it is the middle chakra of the seven chakras. The heart chakra is associated with the cardiac system and the lungs.  These organs are interdependent and rely on air and breathing to function properly. 

A balanced heart chakra allows for love and compassion for yourself, others, and the environment. It allows you to appreciate the beauty in life and find joy and harmony with everything in life. Basically, this chakra can be summed up by the words, 'love, joy, and inner peace'. 

 A blocked heart chakra can bring feelings of being withdrawn, codependency, loneliness, jealousy, and difficulties relating to others.

Here are some heart-opening poses:

Wheel Pose (Urdhva Dhanurasana)  - You probably already have tried this pose. The wheel pose is a great way to open the heart chakra. It activates the shoulders, upper back, spine, chest, and thighs. 

Reverse Plank Pose (Purvottanasana) -  Open your heart center by lifting towards the sky. This pose activates and strengthens your back, legs, arms, and core.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana) - This heart-opening pose helps open the chest and heart and strengthens and increases the flexibility of the shoulders. It also helps the stretches the spine, back of the neck, thighs, and hip flexors.

Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)  - Bow pose stretches the entire front of the body while improving posture and spinal flexibility. This heart-opening pose helps open the chest, help flexors, throat, quadriceps, and ankles.

Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana) -  The cobra pose stretches the chest, increases the flexibility and strength of the spine and shoulders, and opens up the heart chakra.

These poses also bring many mental benefits as well. They can help relieve stress, headaches fatigue, anxiety, and insomnia. This can help calm the mind which can increase the many benefits from this heart-opening practice.