Anāhata
Heart chakra
Written and reviewed by The Kriya Yogi · Updated 24 September 2026
Anāhata — the 'unstruck', named for a sound heard without two things striking together — is the fourth centre of the classical six, located in the central chest. It is the hinge of the system: three centres below, three above.
The essentials
- Traditional region: the heart or central-chest region of the subtle body.
- The Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa describes a twelve-petalled lotus, red like the bandhūka flower, with smoky air imagery within.
- Element: air. Seed syllable: Yaṃ. Modern shorthand colour: green.
- Love, connection and creativity are the recurring themes; it is not a cardiac or emotional diagnosis tool.
- Traditional region
- Heart / central-chest region
- Petals
- 12, with letters ka, kha, ga, gha, ṅa, ca, cha, ja, jha, ña, ṭa, ṭha
- Element (tattva)
- Air (vāyu)
- Seed syllable (bīja)
- Yaṃ
- Textual imagery
- Bandhūka-red lotus, smoky hexagram, the antelope, the inner liṅga
- Modern colour shorthand
- Green
Petal letters and imagery follow the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa tradition; the colour shorthand is the modern convention.
What the name means
Anāhata means unstruck or unbeaten. In the yogic imagination, ordinary sound comes from two things meeting — hand on drum, breath on reed. The unstruck sound is heard without contact: a metaphor for what meditation discloses when outward noise falls quiet.
What the source text describes
The Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa describes anāhata as a twelve-petalled lotus, red like the bandhūka flower. Within is a smoky region of air, pictured as a six-pointed star formed of two triangles, with the seed syllable Yaṃ, a swift antelope as the animal of air, and a luminous inner liṅga. Modern posters make it simply green; the text gives it flower-red petals and smoke-grey air.
Air, love and the middle place
Air moves and touches everything, which suits the centre's themes: connection, relationship, and in the Isha presentation, creativity. As the fourth of seven it also plays the hinge — below it, the themes are bodily; above, increasingly subtle. Modern culture has made anāhata 'the love chakra'; the classical picture is broader, but the association with the heart's affections is old and natural.
How traditions approach it
Classical practice approaches the heart centre through visualisation, the seed syllable, and devotional feeling — bhakti is never far from this centre. Honest modern equivalents: loving-kindness (mettā) style meditation, slow breathing with attention in the chest, time with people and animals you love, and the plain discipline of gratitude.
What we can honestly say
Anāhata is a richly documented contemplative centre at the heart of the sevenfold map — literally and symbolically. It is not the physical heart, and chest pain, palpitations or breathlessness always warrant medical assessment first, not energy work.
Questions people ask
+ Where is the anāhata chakra located?
+ What colour is the heart chakra?
+ Why is it called the 'unstruck' chakra?
Sources and further reading
The bigger map
Anāhata is one centre in a much larger story — from the six-centre tantric texts to the modern 114-chakra teaching, and the surprising history of the rainbow colours.
Read the complete 114-chakra guide →This page distinguishes textual history, living lineage teaching and modern interpretation. It is educational and is not medical diagnosis or instruction in intensive kuṇḍalinī practice.