Open your Heart
When someone is attacked, either verbally, emotionally or physically, it is quite normal to beome defensive and self-protective. In this process, we often reduce our perception of our vulnerabilities, which I call closing the heart or blocking our emotional expression. The unfortunate side of this is that often, even when we are with people who we know are safe, our heart remains closed and we can seem cold and guarded. Our mistrust of others is generalized from the person who hurt us, to all people. If these attacks happened to us in our childhood by parents or other trusted figures, the wounds go deep, but healing is still possible.
Psychotherapy is one of the ways that healing is facilitated because a safe and caring relationship provides what was missing in the past and restores trust in others.
Below are numerous ways to open your emotional heart center. Try them and see which ones work the best for you.
Reiki is the transfer of universal love energy from the reiki practitioner to the person who wants the healing or chakra balancing and restoring. The link above is to the web site of reiki teachers/practitioners that I recommend in Geneva.
Kristen Neff, Ph.D., author of Self-Compassion, helps you to become more self-compassionate, through exercises, guided meditations and assessments provided free of charge on her web site, linked above.
Yoga
Yoga is a gentle body/mind exercise which can open many parts of the body energetically through physical movements and positions. The two links below are specific poses for heart opening.
Heart Chakra Yoga Sequence (10 minute YouTube video)
5 Yoga Postures to Open your Heart Chakra (4 minute YouTube video)
Mind
Why Letting Ourselves Feel Bad is the Key to Feeling Better
Here is an excellent TED Talk on vulnerability:
Brene Brown, The Power of Vulnerability
Audio Guided Meditations
Guided Meditation to Open Your Heart Chakra (5 minutes)
Open Your Heart to Unconditional Love (25 minutes)
Body/Mind
Exercises for Opening Your Heart
The 4th Heart Chakra Meditation
HeartMath Appreciation Tool and Exercises
