How Trauma Affects Your Heart Chakra (And How to Receive Love, Empathy, and Connection)
Your Heart Chakra is your core of love, connection, and compassion. When it's balanced, you experience deep empathy, open-heartedness, and the ability to give and receive love freely.
But when this energy center is disrupted, the impact on your daily life is significant. Feelings of isolation, difficulty with boundaries, and an inability to forgive can become common. These are strong indicators that your heart chakra is out of alignment.
What Even Is a Chakra? (Quick Refresher!)
If you're new to this, "chakras" are energy centers in your body, kind of like subtle power hubs that influence your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Think of them as spinning wheels of energy. When they're flowing freely, life tends to feel a lot more balanced. When they're a bit stuck or overactive? That's when we might start to notice some bumps in the road.
The Heart Chakra: Your Inner Sanctuary of Love
In the simplest terms, your heart chakra (or Anahata – pronounced "Ah-nah-hah-tah") is your body's vibrant center of love, compassion, empathy, and forgiveness. It's located in the middle of your chest, and it's associated with the element of air and the colors green or pink. Think of it as your inner space of genuine care for yourself, for others, and the world around you.
When this energy center is balanced, your heart flows brightly. You feel:
Open-hearted: You can give and receive love freely without fear.
Empathetic: You easily understand and share the feelings of others.
Compassionate: You act with kindness and care towards yourself and everyone else.
Forgiving: You can let go of grudges, whether towards yourself or others.
Connected: You feel a deep sense of belonging and harmony in your relationships.
Peaceful: An overall sense of inner calm and contentment.
But when it's out of balance, that gentle flow can feel dim, guarded, or even like it's flooding too intensely. It's tied to our early experiences of attachment, belonging, and feeling loved and accepted in the world.
Honoring the Roots of the Heart Chakra (Anahata)
Just like the other chakras, the chakra system originates from ancient Indian spiritual traditions. The Heart Chakra, Anahata, is the fourth energy center in the body. Its Sanskrit name translates to "un-struck" or "un-hurt," reflecting its connection to an inherent, pure capacity for love that exists within us, untouched by life's difficulties. It represents our core ability to connect, our capacity for intimacy, and our relationship with compassion.
A healthy Anahata means feeling capable of forming deep, meaningful bonds, feeling truly seen and heard, and extending grace to yourself as much as you do to others. When it’s out of balance, that sense of inner connection can feel diminished or overwhelming.
When Your Heart Feels Heavy: Signs Your Heart Chakra Needs Support
Life happens, right? Past hurts, betrayals, grief, or even just long-term stress can impact your heart chakra. When it's out of balance, you might experience:
Difficulty with intimacy: Struggling to form deep connections or feeling emotionally distant.
Giving too much (or too little): Either being a total people-pleaser who struggles to set boundaries, or conversely, finding it hard to truly open up and be vulnerable.
Resentment or holding grudges: Finding it hard to forgive yourself or others, leading to bitterness.
Fear of rejection: Holding back from expressing your true feelings to avoid getting hurt.
Self-criticism: Being overly harsh on yourself and struggling with self-love.
Loneliness or isolation: Feeling disconnected even when surrounded by people.
Physical symptoms: Since it's located in the chest area, imbalances can sometimes manifest as chest tightness, shallow breathing, or even upper back and shoulder tension. Note: Any physical concerns should always be discussed and ruled out by your medical physician.
This isn't about blaming yourself; it's about noticing where your natural capacity for love and connection might be inhibited. Your body holds wisdom, and these feelings are often signals that something needs attention.
Opening Your Heart: Healing Your Heart Chakra
The beautiful thing about the heart chakra is its inherent capacity for resilience and boundless love. Healing is always possible, and it starts with gently inviting more compassion into your life.
Practice Self-Compassion (With Support): This is crucial! Treat yourself with the same kindness and understanding you'd offer a dear friend. If this feels scary or difficult, EMDR therapy can provide a safe space to practice and build self-love. It’s about acknowledging your feelings without judgment…. and if you have a judgy Part, acknowledging it’s presence.
Engage in Acts of Kindness: Do things that make you feel genuinely connected to others. This could be volunteering, helping a neighbor, or even just offering a sincere compliment. Focus on extending compassion and seeing your efforts create positive ripples. Notice if you are over-giving and being kind to yourself.
Cultivate Forgiveness: Often, a wounded heart means we're holding onto past hurts. Practice forgiveness by treating yourself and others with grace. Journaling about letting go or daily affirmations can be helpful, and processing these resentments with EMDR so that your body and brain are on the same page. Note: Forgiveness may not always feel appropriate and that’s okay!
Conscious Connection: Start with small, authentic interactions and build up. The act of truly listening, showing empathy, and being present with yourself helps rebuild your sense of intimacy and trust in your own capacity to connect.
Reiki + Energy Healing for Compassion: Just like with other chakras, energy healing practices can be a wonderful complement to therapy. When you feel stuck in patterns of resentment, self-criticism, or a general sense of disconnection, gentle energy work like Reiki can help clear stagnant energy and invite a more vibrant, balanced flow within your energy system, supporting your natural capacity for love and inner peace.
EMDR Therapy for Processing Wounds & Patterns: Sometimes, our feelings of disconnection or guardedness stem from past experiences where we truly felt hurt or our capacity for love was undermined. Therapy (especially approaches like EMDR, if relevant to trauma) is a powerful, research-backed way to help your brain and body gently reprocess these experiences. By working through what's holding you back, EMDR can help release deep-seated feelings of fear or resentment, allowing for greater access to your natural capacity for compassion, connection, and an open heart.
You deserve to give and receive love freely, and to feel deeply connected to yourself and others. Healing your heart chakra isn't about forcing openness, but about gently clearing the path for your natural well-being to shine through.
If you're feeling your heart is a bit heavy or guarded, remember you don't have to navigate it alone.
This week, we are thrilled to announce a special collaboration with our dear friend Edith Caballero at Lotus Love Box. Lotus Love Box is a Mental Health, Sobriety, and Self-Care Package company curated by Edith Caballero, LCSW, YT-200, Reiki II.
Curious about how therapy can support your journey to an open heart? Book a FREE consult for therapy here (FL, SC, & TN residents).
👋 Follow @holistictherapywithsabrina to learn more about EMDR, inner child healing, and embracing your authentic self, from a therapist who truly gets it.
🪷 Follow @lotuslovebox for more holistic gifts for mental health and sobriety. Each box is Reiki-infused and therapist-curated. Follow along for coping skills, humor, and healing tools.
About the author: Sabrina Cruz, LCSW, RYT-200 is a psychotherapist and yoga teacher who truly values holistic care. She supports women to break free from people-pleasing and unapologetically embody their light. HHWS specializes in people pleasing, anxiety, and childhood wounds to help you heal from trauma, reparent your inner child, and embrace your authentic self.
This blog post is for informational purposes only and does not substitute for mental health or medical advice. The Chakra System can be used an adjunctive to mental health therapy but not replace professional support.
Lotus Love Box Disclaimer: “These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. My products or information are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. These statements are not meant to replace the advice of a healthcare professional. Do not rely on the information on our website as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you may be suffering from any medical or mental health condition, you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice or discontinue medical treatment because of information on our website.
Crystal: Using crystals or stones for healing is an alternative therapeutic technique that is used for alleviating conditions and protecting against disease. Using crystals for healing dates centuries back. Many believe that crystals act as conduits for healing — allowing positive, healing energy to flow into the body as negative, disease-causing energy flows out. Crystal healing is however considered a pseudoscience given that there is no evidence of crystals healing such conditions.
Please note that all crystal shapes and sizes are not the same. Crystal sizes range from 1 - 2 inches in length.”