5. The Heart Chakra, The Thymus & The Heart
In the fifth article of the Chakras and the Body-Mind-Soul Connection, we will be exploring what the thymus and the heart teach us about the heart chakra and how we can apply that knowledge to develop new insights about the supernatural world and its function in our lives.
The Thymus Gland
The thymus gland is with us from birth and its job is to help us develop our immune system. It protects us against auto-immune disorders. It is instrumental in the development of T-cells, the white blood cells that protect us against viruses and infections, by releasing the thymosin hormone in the body signaling the body to begin producing those cells whenever it detects an attack. After puberty, the thymus gland begins to disappear and by the time you reach old age, it is completely replaced by fatty tissues. While the gland is no longer functional, the protection it offers continues throughout life.
The Heart: Communication Center of the Body
Everyone knows that the heart is in charge of pumping blood through the body. It takes the blood that’s been drained of its oxygen and refills it up and then sends it shooting back out again. But what most people don’t think about is the fact that the hormones that are secreted due to environmental changes are sent into the blood stream and the heart collects those hormones first. Each hormone acts as a report for the brain.
The heart reads those reports and then compiles a summary report and sends it to the brain in the form of its own set of hormones. That summary advises the brain on what it thinks ought to be done about those things.
It then takes in the hormones that come from the brain which provide instructions for the rest of the organs on how to respond and distributes those directions to the rest of the body.
The Heart Has a Mind of Its Own
When scientists first began to study heart tissues, they thought it was just a muscle. It was assumed to be just a pump moving blood around the body. However, further study by neurocardiologists paints a whole new picture.
“…60 to 65% of the cells of the heart are actually neural cells… They are identical to the neural cells in the brain, operating through the same connecting links called ganglia, with the same axonal and dendritic connections that take place in the brain, as well as through the very same kinds of neurotransmitters found in the brain.” – Joseph Chilton Pearce, neurocardiology researcher, in an interview with Chris Mercogliano and Kim Debus.
The heart is essentially a brain whose work is to translate the feedback received from the rest of the body into messages that the brain can understand and act upon. It’s a bridge connecting the emotions and desires that form in the body to the thoughts and decisions that are being made in the head.
Molecular biologists have also discovered that the heart is one of the most important endocrine glands in the body, producing atriol neuriatic factor. ANF is a powerful vasodialator, opening up the arteries and veins to allow increased blood flow.
Two Nervous System
I did a little research and I found out that not only do we have a brain in our hearts, our lungs, kidneys, liver, stomach, and intestines are all packed with neural tissue. We probably have more brains from the neck down than from the neck up. This is our second nervous system. This second nervous system communicates through blood and through (energy) fields…your brain puts out an electromagnetic field that can be detected about two inches away from the body. Your heart, every time it pounds, puts out an electromagnetic field that goes out 30 feet. Our heart is a very, very powerful part of our nervous system. – Greg Montana, founder of HeartVirtue.com.
The heart and the other glands form a unified nervous system that operates independently of the brain’s nervous system. When someone talks about your chakras being “out of alignment,” this is the meaning of it. The heart’s nervous system isn’t working toward the same goals as the brain’s nervous system and the friction between the two is causing problems in your life.
The Heart Chakra’s Dual Functionality
The heart chakra functions to put you in touch with your divine purpose. It makes you aware of what you are meant to by pointing out the things you desire and the things you don’t. The heart chakra functions as a compass, continually pointing you toward the purpose you were meant to live. The heart chakra also acts as a filter, protecting you from self-doubts and the doubts of others, so that you can confidently claim your purpose despite all the misconceptions around you.
The Heart Chakra and the Thymus: Defending You From Both Internal and External Negativity
From conception until puberty, just as happens with the Thymus, there is a divine protection over your heart chakra that helps to protect you from your own negative emotions and thoughts and from the negative thoughts and emotions of the people around you. That divine protection is there to help you build up your immunity to all of the negative things in life so that you will continue pursuing your purpose in spite of it all. However, that protection is removed around the age of puberty.
It is around puberty that many of us begin to doubt ourselves and to encounter people who cause us to believe that our purpose is not something that is meant for us to do. Our life’s struggle is to learn to listen to our heart and to get back in touch with that purpose.
A Blocked Heart Chakra Cuts off the Flow
When your heart chakra is blocked, so is the flow of information from the divine to the heart. That flow tells your heart chakra how to live out your purpose and what steps you should be taking. If you aren’t living in the flow, you’ll find everything much harder to do. Everything is a struggle because you’re not getting enough of the divine life breath in you to keep doing it.
When you aren’t living that purpose, nothing else in your life feels right. You may find material success, but you will not find the satisfaction in it that you desire. You may find romantic success, but the relationships won’t be fulfilling. In fact, nothing that you do will feel as good as you thought they would. The depression you feel is meant to point you toward finding your purpose so that you can begin to live it.
A Heart Chakra That Is Too Open Drains the Flow
Flow is good, but too much flow and you get drained out. There’s no direction to the flow. It spills out of you and never reaches its intended destination. The flow is an intensely creative place, but if it’s all flow, there’s no delivery because the projects don’t get completed.
Discovering Your Purpose
It can take years for a person to unlock their purpose on their own. As a child, you knew it instinctively. It was something you wanted to be with all of your heart. However, as you got older you were told you could never be that. You were told that you wouldn’t be able to survive if you committed yourself to that path, so you abandoned it and tried going elsewhere. The disappointment you felt hurt your heart and so your mind blocked the memory to try and protect you from danger.
Restoring Balance to the Heart Chakra
The challenge of the heart chakra is the need to align the heart and the brain together so that you are benefitting from the creative energy of the flow but are able to execute and complete the ideas so that everyone benefits. This is how balance is restored.
Next: The Throat Chakra and the Thyroid
The throat chakra and the thyroid connect the brain to the heart. In our next article, we’ll explore just what the thyroid has to tell us about the throat chakra and our relationship to the supernatural.
