Try These 3 Loving Practices To Open Your Heart

Since love is the thing that heals and gives you strength, courage, and resilience, here are 3 loving practices to help you open your heart. 

Often, we don’t realize how powerful the feeling of love is. I am not talking about love because of someone or something but living in the state of love as your natural state. 

Typically, we associate love with another person, a pet, or even a thing when, in fact, it always exists within all of us. And we can bring ourselves to feel it without any outside influence. 

These loving practices help you open your heart and feel love regardless of who or what is or isn’t in your life. 

When you feel love, you become less judgmental, more understanding, and compassionate while embracing the feeling of wholeness. 

Love heals your nervous system and your wounds. When you feel love, you think positive and loving thoughts. Then those thoughts produce loving and warm emotions, and your body releases chemicals according to what you feel and think. 

The question to ask yourself is,

“Do I want to think and feel based on who or what is around me, or do I want to be loving by my own nature?” 

Think about it. Where do you feel love? Inside of you, correct? So, if it is within, it means it is a part of you. You only need to learn how to access it. 

And this is what these loving practices will help you to do. 

3 Loving practices to open your heart

1. Heart opening through visualization

Place your left hand on your heart and your right hand on your left. 

Close your eyes and take 5 deep cleansing breaths. Make your inhale full and complete and exhale long and conscious. As you feel more settled and grounded, think of a memory from your past that brings a sense of ease, peace, joy, love, or compassion. 

Observe every aspect of this memory and make it alive by feeling what you felt then. Become fully present with it and stay with your thoughts and emotions for at least 3 to 5 minutes. 

Depending on the state you brought yourself into it, changing your emotional state can take a minute and sometimes 5 to 10 minutes. Ideally, be with it until you feel your emotions changing and becoming sweeter.

Then, take a deep breath and slowly and gently open your eyes. 

When it comes to different loving practices, I love the aspect of visualization because it can take you anywhere you like and alter your emotional state fast.

2. Soulful cleansing of your heart

You will again close your eyes and take 5 deep cleansing breaths as you did during the first practice.  

Place your right hand over your left hand in front of your navel, your palm facing up, and your thumbs touching. This is also known as Dhyana mudra, a hand gesture that helps control stress and keeps anxiety and depression in control. 

Next, as you inhale, imagine bright white loving light entering your nostrils, traveling through your throat towards your heart. See as this loving energy washes over your heart, taking any negativity, hatred, judgment, or anger out through your mouth as you exhale. 

Repeat with at least 10 breaths or as many as you need. 

3. Physical embrace and affirmations

This is one of my favorite loving practices because it creates a feeling of comfort and soothes your nervous system. 

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and open your arms to the sides. Then, by closing your arms, give yourself a warm and tight hug. Stay here for a few minutes. You can be in stillness or gently rock from side to side. 

Mentally repeat these 3 affirmations. 

“All is well in my world.”

“I am loved.” 

“My capacity to love is limitless.” 

I encourage you to use these loving practices as often as you want. The more, the better. 

Especially if you are healing from trauma or are simply having a rough time in your life, feeling love and consciously opening your heart is crucial. 

We must remember that life is so much more than pain. The best way to heal yourself is by slowly and gently opening your heart while bringing love back into your space. 

And always remember, your very nature is love. It is what you are made of. 

Which one of these loving practices is your favorite? I’d love to know. Feel free to leave a comment below.