February marks the traditional season of romance, flowers, chocolates, and love—so of course, our theme for this issue is none other than heart-centered living. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to love on both others and ourselves. This means investing in our own physical, emotional and spiritual wellness, so we can then pay it forward in our relationships with those around us. Read on for a healthy dose of heart-centered inspiration in this latest issue of Natural Awakenings. 

Our feature article for this month is all about “The Heart-Mind Connection: How Thoughts and Emotions Affect Our Heart Health.” Research shows that both cardiac and cognitive functions in the human body are more deeply interwoven with each other than Western medicine has long presumed. In fact, when the brain is forced to process extreme, intense, or stressful emotions (such as anxiety, depression and anger, for instance) on a too-frequent basis, the risk factors for strokes, heart attacks or cardiovascular disease can increase. Whereas, positive and balanced emotions can actually reverse the markers for heart conditions. Cultivate heart-healthy emotions through breathwork, meditation, upbeat music and even simple laughter. 

In keeping with this heart-centered theme, next on the docket is our Inspiration column: “Living in the Frequency of Love.” While most of us refer to love as a feeling or sensation, in reality, it’s a verb—a powerful call to action that galvanizes us to connect, unite and heal as a community. As Mother Teresa once pointed out, “We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair and hopelessness is love.” After these last two years of cultural division, separation and isolation, we could all use more of love’s healing power to restore our authentic bonds as human beings. This article explores how to both share and receive that beautiful frequency in our own personal corners of the world. 

Is there any love more pure, whole and unconditional than that of an animal? These loyal companions are there to greet us when we come home from work after a long day, cuddle with us on the coach if we’re in the mood for a Netflix binge, curl up beside us as drift off to sleep at night, and just make us smile when we’re feeling low. If you want to experience this kind of love, fostering a rescue animal is a wonderful place to start. When shelters are filled to capacity, pet foster parents are called on to offer cats or dogs a safe home to live in temporarily until someone who can care for the animal on a more long-term basis is able to take them in. While fostering does require both a time and financial commitment, you just might fall in love with—and ultimately even adopt—the new foster pet in your life.    

We are so grateful that you continue to join us here each month to find wellness, inspiration and enlightenment for your life. Natural Awakenings truly is a labor of love for everyone on our team, and it’s an honor to come alongside you on the road to physical, emotional and spiritual health. We sincerely hope this issue will help you feel more in touch with heart-centered living, both this month and all year long.