Love, the heart, and our intuition each know that we are all one.
Intuition relies greatly upon an open heart because it holds the intelligence we need to act on our intuition not only for our own good but also for the good and forward movement of all people.
Our heart reads what’s happening in the present moment to help clear old patterns, feelings, or actions to pave the way for the new.
The heart energy center is the bridge between the more earthly, lower energy centers (root, sacral and solar plexus chakras), and the more expansive heavenly, upper energy centers (throat, third eye and crown chakras), where intuition and intuitive support reside.
This bridge must be open and strong for intuition to activate and flourish. But if the lower three energy centers are not open, balanced, and recognized, our heart can get stuck in the hardships or strife of our own story, other people’s stories, or the collective story of humanity.
A closed heart might feel blissful in some ways because it is sheltered from pain, but it also lacks the capacity to find and sustain great love and intimacy.
The faith and support that the heart gives to both intuition and our over all quality of life are priceless.
With an open fourth energy center, we feel loved and we give love at all times – or at least we are able to recognize and recalibrate to support the heart in those moments when our heart is not making either of these exchanges.
The fourth energy center loves, loves, loves love, and it finds great peace and grace in bringing love in.
This understanding helps the broken heart mend and also attracts intimate relationships to us that offer new love, understanding, and support.
Our hearts serve as a means of connection, in terms of both intuition and those around us. All of the energy centers we’ve discussed so far have had to do with more earthly, individually centered elements, such as getting our basic needs met, enjoying relationships, and cultivating self worth.
The fourth energy center, through love and the heart, begins to lift us up out of our self and connect us with the world at large in a more equal, loving way.
Our heart operates at a higher or lighter vibration than the previous three energy centers; in fact, it’s often represented by air. This vibration makes it easy for a healthy heart to pick up on a lot of intuitive information quite easily.
The heart is our greatest ally in hearing, seeing, listening to, and assimilating energetic information. To do this, we must: 1) let the heart stay open and brave, and 2) be aware of what our heart is picking up.
A strong and brave heart allows us to connect with not only those in our life but also with all living things; from this heart centered place, we can share the information that intuition provides us in a compassionate way that works for the good of all.
While one energy center isn’t more important than the others, the fourth – the heart – is particularly integral to connecting to and deeply understanding our intuition.
It bravely considers everything that we’ve learned in the first three lower energy centers and brings it all together in union, serving as the bridge between those and our upper three energy centers, where intuition and our sense of “something greater” exists.
The heart is the intersection where we can learn to slow down and be aware of everything and everyone around us.
Love, like intuition, is meant to be enjoyed in this moment, without trying to grab it, hoard it, or fear that the feeling will never return.
It takes a lot of bravery to live from the heart, to know when to love and when to walk away, to be vulnerable.
Practice bringing the intention of love to every situation. Practice love and forgiveness of yourself, love and forgiveness of others, and love of life and the planet. Practice love when you’re driving to work, getting ready in the morning, and making dinner.
Make love an integral part of your life at all times. When you give love – in whatever way – you get love back because you’re open.
Living and loving with an open heart doesn’t mean accepting everyone into your life and loving them to your own detriment. We are not meant to stay in a space – literally or figuratively – that does not calm the heart.
We need to notice our heart’s reactions in the moment and then clear our mind to listen to this reaction. Meditation and forgiveness are great methods for helping with this practice. The more we forgive, the more we can stay calm in any space, no matter who or what else is in it.
The question now becomes, how do we get to this place of openness, presence, and going with the flow of the heart, the flow of whatever given moment we are in?
One of the most effective ways to get to this place is through forgiveness.
It is forgiveness that allows us to be vulnerable, that helps us to remove the walls we put up around our heart. It is forgiveness that ultimately provides us with the clarity and openness we need to be available to others and to act purely and openly to the people and situations that greet us at any given time.
When we hold on to past hurts we become guarded and our heart is clouded, we are shut off from our intuition which in effect is a way of devaluing ourselves.
Forgiveness requires us to be able to step into our and other people’s shoes from a heart-centered space.
As our heart is emptied of old pain and blockage, we begin to see the situations in our life through clear intuitive eyes; we see each situation as it is, not as we project or perceive it to be. We shed old pain, which when left unchecked, can skew our intuitive clarity.
Unaddressed pain can cause us to filter the world through the fight-or-flight part of the brain versus through the intuitive, open, being part of the brain. With forgiveness we can let go of both the baggage of our own story as well as those stories we project upon others.
This relates back to another lesson the heart teaches us, which is that we are all one.
What we feel is often triggered by our past experiences, but these are not helpful to intuition and understanding what our heart is processing.
So much of the work we have to do is in clearing our own heart, our own memories, and our old pain.
Most of us have either witnessed or engaged in prejudice or the repression of another person or group, even if it’s been in a secondhand way, and these need to be cleared too. Living in a world without mental divisions will lead us to a freer and happier heart once we move past victimizations.
Someone who understands how to use a loving voice to create more forgiveness of self, of others, and of our old, worn-out views, is walking a direct path to intuitive prowess.
Ultimately, the biggest gift you can give yourself is forgiveness. Holding on to grudges doesn’t teach a lesson to you or those who you perceive as having hurt you. Also, when your intuition is not open and flowing, others can energetically pick up on this and will not trust you with their intimate heart space.
This traps everyone in the past.
Allow yourself to live more freely in the moment and to honestly hear – and follow – what your heart is telling you.
Be free. Let go. And most of all, be brave.
Forgiving others and ourselves, and acting from a place of openness and joy of life – in which we empathize with the fact that, at the end of the day, we are all dealing with the same human experiences regardless of external differences – is the biggest act of bravery possible.
We must forgive and have compassion for ourselves and others to clear our heart and mature into this idea of connection to a higher experience, into the realization that we are all one, inextricably and intimately connected.
(Although you received this meditation in your 6 Week Self Care Series, I think now is a good time to return to it. You’ll probably find that your relationship with and experience of this meditation is different after a week of exploring the heart chakra.)
Ho’oponopono Forgiveness Meditation
This is a traditional Hawaiian mantra of forgiveness and reconciliation: ho’oponopono. This simple but powerful phrase means: “I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.” I’ve found that reciting this phrase while sending love to someone with whom I feel sadness or pain (including myself, when appropriate) is an easy and effective tool for release and forgiveness. This is one of the most powerful forgiveness tools or sayings I have ever learned.
Love and Forgiveness Yoga Nidra
Initially, after relaxing and breathing, we work on gathering love and healing the heart. You will go on a guided therapeutic imagery journey into the rainforest to meet your past and the guide of your heart.
Heart Chakra Journal Prompts
For this journal exercise I encourage you to write about your experiences with your Forgiveness meditation and/or Love and Forgiveness Yoga Nidra.
What came up for you? Who arrived? Was it someone in your life or from your past, or an aspect of yourself?
What did it feel like to forgive?
How does your heart feel?
Here’s the recording of your livestream Sacred Sunday class! (I forgot to hit record until after the seated meditation, just FYI, but otherwise it’s a complete practice:)