Element: Air
Color: Green
Goal: Love
Young Living Essential Oils: Aroma Life, Believe, Inner Child
The fourth chakra is associated with the Heart nerve plexus which governs the circulatory system and the thymus in the endocrine system. The information contained in the fourth chakra relates to love, self-love, love of others, love of God, affinity, loneliness and commitment, forgiveness and compassion, hope and trust.
Signs of Deficiency in the fourth Chakra
- Being cold and withdrawn
- Being critical and judgmental
- Feeling isolated and lonely
- Depression
- Fear of intimacy, relationships problems
- Lacking empathy
- Narcissism
Signs of Excess in the fourth Chakra
- Codependency (focusing on others rather than self)
- Having poor boundaries
- Being demanding of others
- Clinging to others
- Being jealous of others
- Behaving as a martyr
The imbalance of the subtle energy around the body shows up in the chakras. Remember they are like computers that receive and analyze all the information that comes in. This imbalance affects us emotionally and ultimately affects the physical health of the body.
Emotional issues related to the fourth chakra
- Mood swings
- Vacillating between loving and hating
- Grief and anger
- Self-centered behavior
- Loneliness
- Problems with commitment
- Inability to trust and forgive
Health issues that may arise from fourth chakra imbalances
- Heart disease
- Lung cancer
- Bronchial pneumonia
- Sunken chest
- Shortness of breath
- Asthma and allergies
- Breast cancer
- Issues of the shoulders, upper back and chest
- Immune system deficiency
- Problems with circulation
Here are some tools that bring love and balance to the body.
Sit and image a grounding cord going down from the base of your spine into the center of the earth. This grounding cord can be like a waterfall, a tree trunk or a beam of light. Sense the grounding cord going down all the way through the earth to the fiery center of Mother Earth. Release Energy down your grounding cord starting at the top of your head, down your neck and the channels on either side of your spine, all the way down your grounding cord to the center of the Earth. Take a deep breath and continue to release energy keeping this grounding cord attached near the base of your spine and the center of the earth. With practice you will begin to stay grounded. You can get my Chakra Clearing CD for a more extensive grounding practice as well as to learn to clear your chakras.
Breathing is an important part of loving your body and loving others. You may remember when you were holding a child and just breathing together. Focusing on your own breath and focusing on breathing with another person are wonderful ways to feel the life energy and the love in your heart. Deep breathes allows us to connect more deeply with our angels.
The practice of gratitude brings balance to the heart chakra. A great daily or weekly practice is to write out 20 things you are grateful for. You may find the same items coming up, but as you practice this exercise you will find your gratitude grows. I especially like this practice when I find myself grumpy for no known reason. After writing my gratitude list, I always feel better. This is especially fun to do with children and grandchildren. It is a practice they will remember as they grow.
The heart chakra is about relationships. Relationships are always in a process of merging and separating. You may want to physically move your body in movements of giving out and taking in. The Sun Salutation is a great exercise for this. You can Google Sun Salutation. There are several websites that show this yoga movement.
Journaling is especially helpful for this chakra. You can develop a relationship with yourself through the journal process. Here are some ways to use your journal.
- Write a Dear God/Goddess letter, a letter expressing to God/Goddess from your heart.
- Gratitude List
- Write a anger letter. Use this as a way to vent and then let go. “I am so angry at . . .”
- When you find you are stuck, write a ‘To Do” List and then reward yourself by checking off what you accomplish with stickers or colored pens.
- Write a list of pros and cons when you have difficulty making a decision.
- Write out your dreams . The book I love is Realities of the Dreaming Mind by Sivanan Swami Radha.
- Write a prayer list. This can be prayers for yourself and for others.
- When you are reading a novel or self-help book, make notes in your journal when something ‘stirs” you, awakens your senses, or when there is a “charge” connected to what you read. A charge is when you have a reaction, positive or negative. I may show up in resistance. Keeping notes from books gives you the ability to return to your journal and remember what was important to you.
- Write poetry or prose.
- Take a personal inventory of yourself. Write out what you did well today and what you did not do well.
- Write out your priorities, that which is important for you to accomplish.
- Write what you love about your friends.
- Write what you love about your self.
If you are in a marriage or an intimate relationship you may want to get a journal and have each person write in the journal to the other. This is especially helpful in the beginning of a relationship when communication tends to flow more easily. This pattern of communication can continue when issues arise and it is important to keep the communication open.
Many of us can benefit from the help of a counselor. Whether you have difficulty making and keeping friends, have unresolved grief, or memories of childhood experiences that arise and create problems in your daily life, finding a counselor who can help. There are many modalities of therapy and it is important to find the one that is best for you. For those who have experienced trauma, (which is most of us) I recommend Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprogramming (EMDR). My experience with clients when using EMDR is they are able to clear trauma much more quickly than “talk therapy.” www.emdr.com
Although Discovery is not Recovery, finding and reading appropriate books can help heal this chakra. Many books have exercises that help you learn and anchor the new behaviors.
Some I recommend often are:
Codependent No More by Melody Beattie
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss
Live Intuitively: Journal the Wisdom of your Soul by Candess M. Campbell, PhD
Essential Oils
Try these blends to assist in balancing the fourth chakra. Remember for medical issues, it is important for you to contact your medical provider.
Although you can find essential oils elsewhere, I have chosen these for their purity and high quality.
Aroma Life
Aroma Life combines the harmonizing effects of ylang ylang with known powerhouses cypress, helichrysam, and marjoram. Pulsing with life, this vibrant blend energizes your life force. It is best applied over heart energy, front and/or back.*
Essential Oils: cyress, helichrysam, ylang ylang, marjoram.
Believe
Believe is an uplifting blend of essential oils that has a steady, balancing effect on emotions, helping you to overcome feelings of despair and move beyond them to a higher level of awareness. It helps release the unlimited potential everyone possesses, making it possible to experience health, happiness, and vitality more fully. Believe can also provide feelings of strength and faith.*
Essential Oils: balsam fir (Idaho), rosewood, frankincense.
Inner Child
Inner Child opens the pathway connecting with the inner self that may have been damaged through childhood misuse or abuse. When children have been abused, they become disconnected from their natural identity, or inner child. This causes confusion and can contribute to undesirable personality traits. The sweet fragrance of this blend may stimulate memory response and help reconnect with the authentic self, which is one of the first steps toward finding emotional balance. Caution: Possible sun/skin sensitivity.*
Essential Oils: orange, jasmine, spruce, tangerine, sandalwood, neroli, ylang ylang, lemongrass
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.