Kundalini Yoga Glossary
Anahata
The fourth chakra, the heart center, and the balance point between the lower and upper triangles.
Meaning
What Anahata Means
Anahata means intact. It refers to our capacity to love, ourselves, others, and everything around us. Regardless of what we've gone through, and what's been done to us, that capacity to love remains intact. We only need to connect with it.
Anahata sits at the intersection of the Lower Triangle, the first, second and third chakras, and the Upper Triangle, the fifth, sixth and seventh. We first work on ourselves before we can truly love others: the first chakra deals with fear and forgiveness, the second with recognizing emotions and desires, the third, Manipura, with inner fire, self-discipline and self-esteem. The diaphragm is considered the ceiling of the Lower Triangle, and with discipline we pierce through it into Anahata, where we connect with true love.
Balance is central here. Anahata works on the balance between loving ourselves and loving others. Love begins, and always will, with us: to love others we must first love ourselves, and to respect others we must first respect ourselves.
In Practice
How It’s Used
Anahata is worked through extensions in general, Bhujangasana, Anjaneyasana, Anahatasana, arm exercises, twists, Ego Eradicator and Bear Grip, along with pranayama techniques. Its Bij Mantra is Yam.
The heart and lungs are the organs associated with this center, and the thymus its gland. When Anahata is balanced, it shows up as compassion, kindness, forgiveness, service and empathy, along with the ability to recognize positive qualities in others.
