In lush, fertile landscapes of jungle, forest, lawn, garden and farmer's field, the color green predominates. It is the color of photosynthesis, the transformation of light energy into food for terrestrial life. It is also the color of the heart chakra, the place of synthesis between those chakras concerned with primarily physical experiences and the higher chakras which are concerned with the expression of intangibles. The element ruling the heart is air and the corresponding sense is touch.The heart nestles in the chest between the lungs and continually pumps blood through them into tiny cavities where a gaseous exchange between carbon dioxide and oxygen takes place. The element of air becomes body here, and it is the heart's function to distribute that essential substance throughout the whole body. The heart must be a hardy and sensitive organ to maintain this constant circulation and respond quickly to changes in cells' need for oxygen. As such it is particularly affected by emotion, not just the fight or flight feelings of imminent threat or the blood pressure raising needs of sexual interactions, but also the more subtle feelings of belonging and social connection.
Humans are social animals with sophisticated relationships on every level, from immediate family to friends, clans, tribes, colleagues, neighbors, affinity groups, nations, cultures, and even the bonds of non-human companionships. Not only are we interested in each other for the ongoing amusement of our soap opera fluidity in alliances and enmities, but we also need each other to regulate our own metabolisms. Much of that regulation comes from an intangible resonance between limbic systems, a broadly general understanding which we share with all mammals and which flows in almost unconscious ways from eye contact and body language. Even a talking head on television is sufficient to provide a sort of recognition that we exist and there is a place for us within the context of society. Those prisoners left in solitary confinement suffer most from the lack of this basic affirmation of identity and are known to experience psychotic breaks without it.
While the higher chakras deal with communication in more abstract forms, such as language, the communication at the heart comes from touch. Skin is our primary sense organ for touch, it's semi-permeable membrane constantly exposed to air and shot through with neurons sensitized to any change in temperature and pressure from that atmospheric baseline. We live through our skin so much that in English the word feeling is synonymous with emotion and the act of touching. What's more, the emotions that stir the heart most, the poignant (a word derived from the Latin word to prick), touching, heartfelt surges of attachment and intimacy can only develop in individuals who bond successfully with their mother or caregiver at infancy. That initial bonding requires frequent reassuring touch, optimally reinforced with milky sweetness as the babe's lips suckle her mother's breast.
Valentine's Day hearts express a natural human desire to wrap one's arms around another and hold that special person close to the heart, feel the rush of pleasure in the pumping race of one's heart, let the press of skin soothe and comfort jangled nerves, give shape to one's own self in the affirming response of another's touch, and leaning closer still, to bring the lips together in the sweetest of kisses. Whether the air kiss of society posturing or the saliva mixing deep kiss of the truly passionate, whether the offhand slap on the back or the engulfing bear hug, our vocabulary of touch communicates our connection with each other and the importance that has to our sense of well-being.
The power of touch goes beyond the pleasure of intimate relationships. It is a force for healing as well. The laying on of hands is miraculous, not just in the Bible, but in daily practice. Nurturing attention, like the grooming behaviors of other primates, affects the entire nervous system, lowers blood pressure, reduces stress and its concomitant strain on viscera, eases disordered sleep patterns, boosts immune response, and provides the optimum context for natural healing to occur. The touch doesn't even have to reach the skin. Attentive proximity, waving hands over the body to stir the air and change the electromagnetic field, has proved sufficiently effective that some nurses provide this service for hospital patients as part of their standard care.
Just as a leaf absorbs the golden rays of sun and metabolizes them into sugar, the heart chakra absorbs all sensations, from the internal physicality of the lower chakras to direction from the insight of higher chakras, and circulates them as the fuel which activates the entire organism. The steady beat and rest of our constant hearts bears witness to our humanity, our connection to one another, and the truth of our potential to influence each other with the simple kindness of a touch.
