I realised that I haven’t really been posting much over the past week. Words are pouring out of me like lava but they’re tumbling out into other mediums like my journal, random bits of paper, word documents and iNotes. But I missed you guys – so I wanted to check in and say hello and emerge from my little cocoon for a bit. I have no plan for what I’m going to share with you today – I’m goan do what I do best and let the words flow through me rather than muddle them with logical//rational thought. So today you’ve got conduit Emily at the keys – bringing you whatever I’m serendipitously compelled to share on this Thursday evening.
There’s been an emerging and niggling theme that’s sort of been coming up for me this year. You know that saying, the Universe repeats the lessons until we have really learnt it, well I first wrote about it here but the past twelve months have been all heart. The light and the dark sides of this incredibly complex spiritual and physical organ. The heart is something capable of bringing so so so much joy – to do things ‘with heart’, to love ‘wholeheartedly’, to put your ‘heart and soul’ into something – these are all such wonderful and profound positive experiences. But the shadow side of living with an open heart is immense vulnerability, of grief and loss and ache so deep that no other space can mimic its pain.
I’m so so interested in the heart in both its physical and spiritual//emotional capacities. This vital (ok, there are a few vital organs but you must admit, old mate heart and brain are definitely top two) organ is arguably at the core of our health, our happiness and our selves. There have been amazing medical stories of people who have undergone heart transplants experiencing significant changes in their personalities and characters – and modern medicine going on to prove that our heart is capable of amazing cellular memory in which our unique characteristics are imprinted within the biological//genetic information of the cell. Read more here if you’re a nerd burger like me.
In terms of it’s corresponding chakra – the heart is represented by Anahata. It is all about connectedness, love, relationships, warmth, compassion and joy. When the energy here is blocked – we can lack that sense of connection and those feelings of euphoria. When it’s in alignment and energy is divinely swirling – we feel grounded, at peace, immense love, happiness and compassion. You can access my favourite meditation and learn more about the chakras and how to give them a ‘clean’ and a spruce up here, if you’re interested.
Emotionally we know what the heart is about. It’s what makes us cry and love and blossom and wither. When we experience significant loss, it physically aches. When we are overwhelmed with joy, it flutters. Are you sensing a correlation here? The physical, spiritual and emotional properties of the heart all seem to overlap a little don’t they?
So how to we look after our heart – our most precious aspect of ourselves?
+ Show it some love, yoga styles. Host a solo heart-opener-palooza.
+ Love everything and everyone. Not always romantically, read here for more, but just because life is wonderful and love is the foundation for our joy.
+ Crank the music. Listen to what makes you happy, all the way to your core. Dance and feel that energy spread from your dancing feet to your happy heart.
+ Treat yourself and extend a sense of love and devotion to YOU. Perhaps it’s with your favourite ritual – a bath and book; a coffee at the beach; an outdoor workout. Love and treat yourself.
+ Get your heart physically going. Go for a joy, chase the kids at the park, get the girls together for a game of netty or tennis, try a new fitness class. Get moving and encourage your heart to do what it does best – pump and spread goodness.
Blessings and heart felt cuddles x
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