meaning of anâhata
anâhata is the Sanskrit word for the heart chakra – the fourth chakra.
The heart chakra is the gateway to love, to openness, to belonging and knowing. Awareness of your heart and working on opening yourself with vulnerability, leads to trusting in your inner compass – and your inner callings – to being guided by and towards love – love for oneself and love and connection with the world and all beings.
The hands being drawn together in namaste in front of the heart space, sometimes preceded by bringing the hands together infront of the third eye, is a greeting traditionally used in India and known worldwide. It is a gesture of respect for the other – and symbolises the belief that there is a divine spark within each of us – ‘the divine in me greets the divine in you’ or ‘namah’ (to bow) ‘te’ (to you). The bringing together of the two hands can be seen to represent self and other, the bringing together of the left and right hemispheres of our brain (analytical, rational, logical and intuitive, impulsive and creative) or indeed unification of oneself with the world or universe.
“Love is the answer.
What is the question?”
Satish Kumar
“The origins of the chakra system extend back to Indian civilisation over 3000 years ago and the namaste gesture is one to be treated with reverence and respect.”
The choice of this name and my logo is not something which I take lightly – the origins of the chakra system extend back to Indian civilisation over 3000 years ago and the namaste gesture is one to be treated with reverence and respect.
Their use here is not intended to draw either out of their significant context but rather emanates from my deeper yogic study, my experience of travelling and working in India and my personal experiences.
Whilst I have practised yoga in some form for over 25 years, for me personally, even during my first yoga teacher training course, I was sceptical about the existence of the chakras for me – a scepticism perhaps furthered by some misappropriation of the chakra system by Western society. This scepticism has in more recent years been deeply challenged by personal energetic experiences.
Feeling into these experiences has led to a shift in my understanding of embodiment practices and has enabled me to grow and develop my relationship with my deeper self. It has also led to further study of the relationship between the two systems of the body’s energy centres and channels as described in the ancient Vedic or Tantric texts of India and the ancient Daoist texts of China.
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