Mother's Day Heartstrings

- By Guest Contributor Kathy Keh.

[heart·string (härtstrng) n. 1. heartstrings - our deepest feelings or affections: "a tug at the heartstrings."]

May is an extra special month because we celebrate the precious heartstrings that we have for our mothers. Although Mother's Day is typically a loving and happy occasion, I decided to write this article from a slightly different perspective. Not to be a downer, but not everyone has developed a solid, loving bond with their mothers, and in some cases these relationships have created a lot of pain and heartache. For many of us, healing a broken heartstring like this can be a lifelong challenge.

Typically we think about healing as it relates to our physical bodies---our muscles, skin and bones---but no one really teaches us how to heal the part of us that is responsible for our emotions. Most of us have addressed challenging emotional issues by going to see a therapist and/or by taking medication. However, there is another approach to healing that specifically targets the source of our emotions.

Many of us learned in science class that everything on this planet---living and nonliving---is made of matter, "matter" being some combination of atoms which, at their core, are a unit of energy (a nucleus surrounded by electrons). It should be no surprise, then, that we in fact have an energetic body commonly referred to as the "subtle body."  Our subtle body is akin to our own individual energy field, and this is the part of us that responds to the energy in our surroundings (feng shui) and the energy of other people. Unlike the physical body, it is not visible to the naked eye, and yet its health or lack of health has a profound effect on our experience in life as it relates to our emotions. One of the major building blocks of our subtle body is something called a chakra, and what we experience on an emotional level is directly related to the condition of the chakra that governs them.The word "chakra" originates from way back in 1700 BC, and yet most of today us have never heard of them and/or don't really know what they are. In Sanskrit, chakra means "wheel of light," and if you could see one it would look like a disk spinning horizontally through your body along the spinal cord. They start from the tail bone and end at the crown of the head. From bottom to top, they are: 1) the Root Chakra, 2) the Sacral Chakra, 3) the Solar Plexus Chakra, 4) the Heart Chakra, 5) the Throat Chakra, 6) the Brow Chakra, and 7) the Crown Chakra. There are actually many more than seven, but these are the major ones.

It is our Heart Chakra that governs what we experience emotionally as it relates to love, and so it is here that we can target the healing of any of our broken heartstrings. When we experience a lack of compassion for others or a lack of joy and peace in our lives; when our love is highly conditional; when we have unrealistic expectations about whom to love; when we withhold love or love in a limited way; when we are highly judgmental or critical of others, we can be pretty sure that energy is not moving properly through the heart chakra, and that it needs strengthening and support. Note: This applies to most of us, so don't fret if this is you.

There are various forms of energy that can be used to heal our heart chakras. Each can be acquired through our senses, and this includes our sixth sense, which is the sense we use to absorb healing from modalities such as feng shui, acupuncture and reiki. Below are some suggestions for healing the heart chakra, but ultimately you are the best judge of what you need for healing. Simply choose what appeals to you the most, and it will undoubtedly be the right choice for you. If you are already drawn to or using any of what is listed below, you can be pretty sure that you have intuitively been strengthening and restoring your emotional heart.

Sound: There is music that has been written specifically to stimulate and strengthen each of our chakras. One CD that I like a lot is called Tibetan Chakra Meditations by Ben Scott and Christa Michell, but there are many others out there on the market. You can start your day off by listening to a particular song that targets one of your chakras, or you can listen to all of them while you get ready for work or while you take some quiet time to meditate.

Smell: Essential oils are an amazing way to infuse yourself with healing energy. Breathing in the exquisite aroma of oils such as rose, lavender, jasmine and geranium are great for healing the heart chakra. They can be carried around with you and used throughout the day as a pick-me-up, or they can be added to your bath in the evenings as a way to relax and decompress.

Sight: Color is a very powerful way of healing our chakras. Have you ever noticed that at different times in your life you have worn or been drawn to different colors? It's because colors are themselves are a form of energy that targets healing at each of our chakras. Good colors for stimulating and strengthening the heart chakra are pinks and greens.

Taste: Foods such as spinach, kale, dandelion greens, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, celery and squash, fluids such as green teas, and spices such as basil, sage, thyme, cilantro and parsley are great for healing your heart chakra.Sixth Sense: Our sixth sense, among many other things, tunes us into the energy around us. It is this sense that is highly receptive to feng shui and to the energy of many elements found in nature. Energetically-infused remedies such as flower essences, crystals and emulsions from companies such as Aura-Soma are extremely effective for healing our chakras. Many of these products have been incorporated into traditional Western healing practices because of the great results.

Flower essences such as bleeding heart, wild rose, forget-me-not, pink monkey flower and yellow star tulip, as well as crystals such as rose quartz, emerald, jade, malachite, pink calcite and rhodocrosite are all great for healing the heart chakra. Aura-Soma has developed a line of products called "Equilibrium" which combine the essences of the plant, mineral and color kingdom together into a sensuous, healing emulsion that is applied to the area of your body which corresponds to each of your chakras. Have fun trying these things. As long as you have an open mind, they will work.

- Kathy Keh is the owner of Feng Shui Sarasota, located at 2135 Siesta Drive in Sarasota, Fla.