opening up your heart (chakra)
With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, we are reminded to check in with our Heart Chakra to see how it is doing. What’s a Heart Chakra? Good question! The Heart Chakra is the 4th Chakra on the ladder of energy centers that begin at the base of your spine and go to the top of your head. The colors associated with the Heart Chakra are green and pink.
When your Heart Chakra is open, you will feel joy, happiness, love, peace, serenity, compassion, and kindness. When there is an obstruction in the heart due to disappointments, loneliness, abandonment, and sorrow, you may find it harder to breathe, or suffer from low self esteem.
Opening your Heart Chakra is essential for feeling nurtured and loved, and must be done on a regular basis so that you can maintain loving feelings for yourself as well as others. Here are some exercises to practice so that you can heal old wounds and begin to love yourself even more than you do now. If you are looking for love, these exercises may be just what you need to bring in some new energy.
1. If you feel as if your heart is closed off, picture pink bubbles in the shape of hearts streaming out of your chest. At first they might be tiny bubbles, but as you continue to practice this visualization, the bubbles may get bigger, pinker and ultimately red. This is a wonderful visualization for opening up your Heart Chakra, and ultimately opening your heart to love.
2. Love the baby. That’s right. Love the baby. Close your eyes and picture that you are holding a baby. Feel the baby in your arms and realize that you are the only person who can truly take care of this tiny being. 
When you look down at the baby, realize that the baby is YOU. The more you love the baby, the more you are healing old wounds. Ultimately, the baby will grow up, and you will get to love a five or seven year old you. Eventually, the baby will be your age and your mirror image. Give yourself a good hug and be reassured that you will never be left alone. This is a powerful and excellent healing exercise that should be done often.
3. Do you find yourself in the midst of a negative line of fire. Do people tend to gripe and whine in your presence? Being around negative people is a sensitive issue for the Heart Chakra. The more negativity, the more the heart can close up. Here’s a tip. Picture a mirror facing out from your chest. By doing this, the reflection of the negativity will bounce back to the person dishing it out. In addition, picturing pink light to the negative person can help turns things around. The pink light of love can diffuse the negativity in a snap.
4. Pamper yourself. Please pamper yourself. Taking care of yourself is essential to nurturing your Heart Chakra. A great way to celebrate
Valentine’s Day (even if you do not have a partner) is to treat yourself to a massage, mani/pedi, spa day, shopping excursion, or a candlelit dinner. Make a date with yourself, and spoil yourself rotten. You do not need anyone else to tell you how fabulous you are. By taking the time to nurture yourself and do things you love reminds your Heart Chakra to bloom like a lotus blossom and shine, shine, shine.
5. For more information about the Heart Chakra and the other energy centers in your body, CHAKRA POWER! How to Fire Up Your Energy Centers to Live a Fuller Life is available at www.HarrietteKnight.com, Amazon, and in your local Barnes & Noble bookstore.
Harriette Knight is a Master Healer, Psychic-Medium, and Author of CHAKRA POWER! How to Fire Up Your Energy Centers to Live a Fuller Life. For life changing healing sessions, healing jewelry, and workshops, please visit www. HarrietteKnight.com or call 661-254-4747.
Put a little love in your heart! Great article.