The heart chakra, Anahata

The heart chakra is the modern English name for Anahata, the fourth of the seven chakras in the system most studios teach. The texts place it in the chest, at the heart, and link it with the element air. It sits at the midpoint of the seven, with three centres below and three above.

This page describes Anahata as tradition and symbolism. It makes no claim that chakras exist physically or that any practice acts on them. The page on the seven chakras covers the history of the whole system.

How do the texts describe Anahata?

The fullest account is in the Sat-cakra-nirupana, a Hindu tantric text by Purnananda dated to 1577, translated into English by Sir John Woodroffe as The Serpent Power in 1919. It describes Anahata as:

• A lotus of twelve petals, the deep red of the bandhuka flower, carrying the letters from kam to tham.
• The seat of air, shown as a smoky six-pointed star made of two interlaced triangles.
• Marked by the seed syllable yam, the bija of air, seated on a black antelope.
• Home to the deities Isha and the shakti Kakini.

Some texts also describe a smaller lotus of eight petals just below it, used as a place to visualise a chosen deity in meditation. In the texts’ picture of kundalini rising, Anahata comes after the navel centre, the solar plexus chakra, Manipura.

What is the unstruck sound?

The name Anahata comes from anahata nada, the unstruck sound. Every ordinary sound is made by two things striking each other. Hatha yoga texts such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika describe an inner sound, heard in deep meditation, that arises without any striking, and they place its first clear hearing at the heart. The idea links Anahata with the teaching on Om as the sound of the whole, set out on the page about the meaning of Om.

Is the heart centre found in Buddhist and Jain traditions?

Yes, in their own forms. Buddhist tantric systems, which usually count four main centres at the navel, heart, throat and crown, give the heart centre special importance, often describing it with eight petals or channels. Jain meditation manuals, such as Hemachandra’s twelfth-century Yogashastra, also describe visualising lotuses at points in the body, including the heart. The name Anahata and the twelve-petalled description belong to the Hindu tantric texts.

What did modern writers add?

The English name heart chakra, the colour green, the pairing with the thymus gland and the idea that it governs love, compassion or forgiveness are modern additions. They come from twentieth-century Western writers who matched the chakras to a rainbow, to glands and to emotions. The Sanskrit sources speak of petals, letters, an element, deities and sound.

How does the heart chakra show up in a modern class?

Usually as a cue to notice the chest: the breath widening the ribs, the collarbones broad in a backbend, or the hands at the chest in anjali mudra. Some teachers name Anahata in heart-opening sequences. It is a point of attention, not a claim about emotion or energy.

Below the heart the texts place the earth centre, the root chakra, Muladhara, at the base of the spine. Above it come the throat, the point between the eyebrows described on the page about the third eye, and the crown.