15 Ways to Open Your Heart (1)
By Olivia Weil
“Love is the only truth. All else is illusion.”
There is telepathy between hearts. A sense of knowing between them, a feeling that we get inside of ourselves without even speaking.
When we come together as One, we don’t even have to speak and yet many times we know what someone is thinking, feeling, or the vibes they are giving off without them even having to say a word.
Recently, I was working with someone who is deeply far along in their spiritual journey, a highly, intuitive, empathic individual, and an amazing person. And yet he still said to me, “I don’t know what it is, but I just cannot open my heart. It feels tight, closed, and armored. I want to love again.”
Opening our hearts can be a scary thing. After all, we have years of conditioning in place – fear, pain, suffering, judgments, comparisons and the like. By now, we have had traumas, dramas, accidents, illnesses, heart aches, heart breaks, and everything in between. “Life” has happened and we sometimes can get discouraged, especially if we have not yet taken back the reigns of our personal power and personal freedom.
So … How do we go about opening our hearts?
Here are some simple practices you can do at home to open your heart chakra more and more each day, beginning to feel the love again.
The whole universe is waiting to love you. Your higher self is waiting to love you. Your twin flame is waiting to love you. When will you fall in love with you again?
15 Ways To Open Your Heart
1. Be in Nature, Be Nature Itself
When we commune with Nature, we tap in and connect to the interconnectedness of all things—this interconnected web of life that makes up the fabric of our reality of existence. It is here in nature that we can tune back in to our innate gifts and re-commune with ourselves on a whole different level.
Try sitting in a quiet place, in nature, coming to the present moment, the only moment we really ever have.
Once sitting in nature, begin gazing with your left eye, dominantly yet slightly out of focus. Begin to look at the outline of the trees, plants, and things around you. Everything – I mean everything – has an aura. A halo-shaped, crown of light/love energy around it. When you softly yet dominantly gaze out of your left eye, you begin to see this haze, this fabric of existence that makes up this space time reality. Try it next time you are in nature and witness the feelings that arise as you realize you are One with God.
In these moments, we smile to ourselves at the subtleties – we are not in nature, we are nature.
Not to mention, that, spending time in nature puts us in resonance with Mother Earth’s heart beat. Through grounding, or sometimes called earthing, the electromagnetic resonance of our hearts will tune in to the electromagnetic resonance of Mother Earth’s heartbeat. As our heart consciousness beats with and aligns with hers, we feel a sense of “home” wash over us, reminding ourselves that we are loved, we are worthy. We are infinite, spiritual beings having a human experience. And we are supported by all of Creation.
2. Come to the Present Moment
When we are in the Present Moment, using our Breath to realign us and bringing us back whenever we feel adrift, we allow ourselves to tune in to this loving connection to all that is. This is the second way to open our hearts.
3. Meditation and Stillness: Be the Witness
The third way to open our heart space is through meditation and stillness. When we are the witness – when we make a commitment to “Be the Witness” – meaning when we stay in Observer Consciousness and witness what is coming up for ourselves in any given moment, we give our hearts permission to stay open and invite love to flow through us.
The next time that something is “coming up” for you, try staying as detached as possible – practicing detachment, non attachment, and staying in that observer consciousness – merely witnessing what is coming up for you. So, much like if it were raining outside, you would say to yourself, “Oh, it is beginning to rain, I can feel rain drops on my shoulders. I am noticing that it is raining.”
That same thinking holds true when feelings are arising. Just like you would notice these raindrops, or perhaps just like you are watching clouds float by in the sky, you can say to yourself, “Oh, here comes sadness, I see you. I am witnessing you.” And hold yourself with love and compassion as you observe what is coming up and through.
Staying in this heart-centered space invites your heart to feel safe and stay open.
4. Breathing
Returning to the breath is a powerful tool in co-creation.
Our breath is our life-force energy and so we can use the breath any time we wish to come back to the present moment – the Eternal Now. When we say that the “Eternal Now” is the only moment we really ever have, we mean that because ALL that exists, ever has existed, and ever will exist is only ever happening right here, right now.
There are a myriad of breathing techniques, and finding one that works for you is a beautiful permission slip to accept.
So whether it is taking deep, nourishing inhalations on the in-breath, and long, audible exhalations on the out-breath. Or, whether it is another technique where you hold the breath in for five seconds, pause for five seconds at the top, and exhale for five seconds – finding a breathing technique that works for you can help slow us down in any given moment.
Returning to the breath is the fourth way to stay centered and in your heart space.
5. Lighting a candle
The fifth way is to light a candle. The next time you are in a quiet place and have a moment to your Self, consider lighting a candle.
Begin breathing taking a few deep breaths in and out. Softly begin gazing at the flame. Again, with your left eye dominant, and slightly out of focus, gaze at the flame that is the blazing fire of Spirit’s love for you.
After a few minutes of staring at this flame of Universal love/light energy, visualize this flame coming into your heart centre. Invite this flame to come inside of your chest, pulling in the flames of the Universe’s love, gently washing yourself in light/love, love/light energy. Feel the beginnings of the flickerings of love as this light of Unconditional Acceptance of Self is installed in your heart space.
Any time after this, you can bring your attention and intention to this blazing fire of “munay” (moon-ahy) (unconditional love), fanning the flames of your existence and eternal Being.
6. Connecting with Friends
Connecting with the ‘tribe’ is a beautiful way to keep your heart center Open and activated. When we connect with like-minded people, we feel safe. And when we feel safe, our heart can stay open and in balance.
Our vibrations come together like tuning forks resonating at the same frequency. When we are vibrating at the same frequency, we can make a quantum leap in healing, aligning to one another’s true eternal nature, the one who was never born and who will never die.
True friends are those who witness you in non-judgment, non-attachment, and with love and compassion. They allow you to be your Authentic Self, and they hold you in sacred space as you fan these flames of existence for yourself.
The next time you are feeling down or like your heart is closed, pick up the phone and call someone you know who truly cares about you. Set your intention to connect to their heart space, and begin breathing and coming to the present moment.
7. Color therapy
Color therapy is a beautiful practice. Sit comfortably in a quiet place and bring your attention to your heart. Begin to breath as you focus on your chest area. After taking a few deep breaths, visualize the first color that comes to you. Trust your inner guidance: whatever color is coming up for you is the color that your aura is wanting for, for harmonization and balance.
Your aura is also called the Luminous Energy Field – the torus, egg-shaped like field of vibrations – surrounding your physical body. This is the pattern of vibrations shamans are trained to see with the naked eye, and where our imprints, wounds, traumas, and affinities lie. When imprints are created in the Luminous Energy Field, there are ripples created in our state of beingness, and these ripples become affinities, and these affinities become patterns.
About beliefs – our disempowering beliefs and how they make up the fabric of our existence of this space-time reality. Our beliefs are powerful, mighty beings who can get us off-kilter in a matter of moments. So, the next time you are having trouble opening your heart, or perhaps feel a tightness in your chest that you know is not physical and yet can’t seem to ignore, examine what beliefs are coming up for you.
What are the lies the mind is telling you (mainly about ourselves) that are stemming from a belief – a belief that is branching from an illogical distortion? What “belief baggage” are you carrying? We all have it, we just have to bring it into our awareness.
And then invite yourself to master awareness of awareness, and awareness of awareness of awareness, and so forth. Bringing our beliefs to the surface, especially contradictory ones that we hold, is another one of the quickest ways to begin self-healing.
Read the second part of the article
yogaesoteric
October 5, 2019