The Heart Chakra: Foods for Passion
The Anahata Chakra is situated in the center of your chest, close to the heart. Its mantra is YAM. The color that represents this chakra is green. You feed this chakra by finding your passion and following your heart: have faith, find ways to express yourself and practice appreciation, balance giving and receiving and (most importantly) give yourself permission to forgive others and yourself.
When your heart chakra is in balance you will feel a great compassion for all living creatures. You will be kind, caring, joyous and outgoing. You will feel completely at ease with yourself and the people in your life. You’ll no longer mind spending time alone, and will feel completely satisfied with “me” time.
When your heart chakra is unbalanced you will probably be very negative in your thinking, and may find it very difficult to keep a positive outlook in life. You may feel unloved, unworthy and unappreciated. This will manifest in the world around you, and will only confirm these “beliefs” about yourself. You may even have a hard time accepting love from others and feel like you just have to settle.
How to Balance Your Heart Chakra
Learn the art of mindfulness and loving kindness — the foundations for living with an open heart — in The Yogi’s Heart, a guide for opening and connecting. For it is only when you approach life from a place of openness can you embody connectedness with all things.
Recipe: Green Juice or Smoothie for Your Heart
To keep the heart chakra spinning and love emanating, here is a quick recipe you can blend or juice:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup coconut water
- 1 bunch kale (de-stemmed)
- 1 green apple (I like Granny Smith)
- A small piece of ginger
- 1 half cucumber
Directions:
Blend or juice all of the ingredients together. If you juice, use the whole cucumber. You’ll end up with a beautiful green juice or smoothie to enjoy!
Read the Other Articles in This Series:
The Root Chakra: Foods to Ground and Strengthen
About the Author
The Sacral Chakra: Foods to Enhance Creativity
This is the chakra that keeps our energy dynamic and flowing. It is connected to emotions and creativity and is known as the sacral or svadisthana chakra. The sacral chakra, located in the lower belly, is supported by the water element and is in an eternal state of movement and change. A healthy sacral chakra translates into being able to “go with the flow” of life and the ability to move without judgment as your creative expression calls you. When this chakra is balanced, it is easier to express yourself and to be in tune with her emotions, creativity, senses and dreams.
Eating properly can help this chakra to thrive and, in return, help you to be more in tune with what you want most in life. A healthy sacral chakra vibrates at a frequency similar to the color orange. Orange foods provide the vibration needed to help balance this chakra. Nutritionally speaking, orange foods usually contain relatively high levels of carotenoids: a nutrient that can protect against free radicals. To assist this chakra, and help it spin, here is a Mexican Pumpkin Soup recipe that has that vibrant orange color, uses herbs that assist the chakra and leaves room for you to be creative in the kitchen while making it.
Mexican Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 bunch of green onions
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups vegetable broth
1 15-oz. can pumpkin or squash
1 15-oz. can black beans
1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro
A drizzle agave
1 cup brown rice
Directions:
Heat the coconut oil in a soup pot and toss in the onions and spices. Add the garlic, slightly browning first, then add the rest of the ingredients into the pot and bring to a high simmer; cover, and lower the heat; simmer for twenty-five minutes until the rice is cooked. Top with vegan sour cream and vegan pepper jack cheese.
Enjoy!
