TENERIFE - HEART CHAKRA
TENERIFE - HEART CHAKRA (4th center)
Our ability to love ❤️
LOCATION: Centre of chest just above the heart
GLAND OR HORMONE CENTER: Thymus
EMOTIONAL ISSUES: Love, joy, inner peace
IF THIS CHAKRA IS BALANCED WE FEEL: Love and compassion, you're quick to forgive, you accept others and yourself
IF THIS CHAKRA IS IMBALANCED WE MAY EXPERIENCE: Grief, anger, jealousy, fear of betrayal, and hatred toward yourself and others
PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS: Problems with the heart, lungs, breasts, thymus gland, circulatory system, immune system, lymphatic system
HEALING EXERCISE:
Bikram yoga
Simply opening up your heart to others is the best healing exercise to open up the heart chakra
HEALING FOODS:
Green-colored foods like avocado, broccoli, celery, kiwi, and leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale
Green tea
For more info on the chakras, please visit:
What to know about Tenerife?
Tenerife is the largest (2,034.38 square kilometers) and most populated (898 680 inhabitants) island of the seven Canary Islands.
Approximately five million tourists visit the island each year making it the most visited island of the archipelago. It is one of the most important tourist destinations in Spain and the world. Tenerife hosts one of the world's largest carnivals and the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is working to be designated UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of the World.
Teide National Park is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is located in the center of the island. In it, Mount Teide rises to the highest elevation in Spain, the highest of the islands of the Atlantic Ocean, and the third-largest volcano in the world from its base.
The island’s most famous southern resorts offer Brit-infused revelry and clubbing, combined with white sandy beaches and all-inclusive resorts. But step beyond the obvious tourist spots and you’ll find a cultured and civilized island of extraordinary diversity.
I had stayed in Tenerife 3 times before the start of my island-chakra journey so I didn't return here after La Gomera. I, however, stopped at the airport Tenerife Norte (North) many times when I changed flights on my way to the other islands as there are no direct flights or ferries between all Canary Islands. I spent oodles of hours at the transit to the airport where I ate the cheapest bagel sandwich, drank peppermint tea, and updated my Instagram account to pass the time. There was a time when I waited 4 hours for a 30 mins flight journey. Binter airline operates cute smaller-sized aircraft and they are the only ones flying between the islands. The air hostesses offer a glass of water, a piece of chocolate, and candy to all passengers on board. They were so sweet!
What did I like about Tenerife?
VARIETIES OF BEACHES
ROAD TRIPS
ANAGA PARK
Just a few pieces of info to make you want to visit one day:
Anaga is one of the most unique natural areas in Tenerife. It emerged from the seabed between 10 and 15 million years ago and it's one of the oldest parts of the island. This area has more species per square kilometer than any other area in Europe. The varied landscapes and scenery found here are the result of the inhabitants having to adapt to the rugged terrain over the years, with historic paths steeped in culture, offering an ideal way to sample the local delicacies, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, cheeses, and fruits.
It has a beautiful precipitous mountain chain full of sharp peaks. The deep valleys and ravines that cut across it eventually reach the sea, forming a series of beaches where we can take a refreshing dip.
THE FEELING ❤️
I was feeling SOooO GoOd! I felt a lot of love and beauty around me and within me.
THE VIEW OF SMALL VILLAGES AND HOUSES ON THE CLIFFS AND ABANDONED
(ALMOST HIDDEN) AREAS
I didn't take photos of most of them I discovered during my walks and road trips but there are many of these exciting places on the island.
MY ACCOMMODATION IN BOCA CANGREJO...
...was my favourite and most inspiring, peaceful, and idyllic accommodation out of all accommodations I slept on the Canary Islands. Here I had a separate entry to my room through the roof terrace. I had an outside toilet, shower, and kitchenette which made the experience more authentic. I had a really good time in this neighbourhood where one of my neighbours played the guitar regularly and a woman sang along on some days. The tunes and the voice were carried by the wind and I enjoyed listening to them while I did sunbathe or read my book on the roof. I was right next to the ocean and slept to the sound of the waves (and the wind!) at night.
My host wasn't around but his mum, an elderly French woman called Brigitte, popped by to greet me a couple of times. She showed me her favourite swimming bay which was 5 mins walk away from our house. We needed to sink in the ocean climbing the ladder on the side of the cliff which scared me first because the waves entering the bay seemed big. As soon as I was in the water I needed to swim away from the cliffs to reduce the risk to be slammed against them. When I was in the middle of the bay and felt in control I put on my goggles and explored the underwater world which always amazes me. I must have been snorkelling for quite some time because Brigitte was already tanning outside and the water level had increased by the time I decided to come out. The waves turned more aggressive but I grabbed the ladder somehow and held on to it until I felt safe to climb up slowly. After this experience, I didn't return to the bay but I saw local kids jumping off the rocks in the low tide period.
Then Brigitte invited me over to her finca, which is in the mountains. The temperature dropped 10-celsius degrees within 30 mins which was the time to reach the pine forest further up around 1000m above sea level where we stopped to fill our lungs with the rich, earthy pine smell. I believe we were at the Esperanza forest (Bosque de la Esperanza) where the smell was unbelievably incredible! I smelled a mix of several different plants at once as we took a short walk toward the middle of the forest. There were wildly grown oregano and eucalyptus by the road which we picked plenty on the way. Brigitte encouraged me to take the oregano home with me and dry it then use it for cooking. Oh my gosh, it smelled delicious!
So I spent a day and a night at Brigitte's home and she showed me around her big fat garden...actually, the yard may be a better word for what she had. There were numerous different plants, fruits, and herbs. It was the first time in my life that I saw a lemon tree and I was excited to pick some at Brigitte's request. We made lemonade later on next to our omelet. She had a bee house and a faraway wooden cottage with minimal furnishing to rent out for holiday guests. It was humid, chilly, and darker up here compared to the bright sunny coast. It was extremely quiet and mystical because of the clouds that reached the top of the trees and the bird sounds echoed in the distance. It was a totally different mood up here! Greener, lusher. You can see the difference in the photos below.
How did I come up with the idea to visit Tenerife?
The first time I met the name Tenerife was about 10 years ago when my then-boyfriend showed me a photo of himself in Tenerife where he visited his cousin who lived on the island. He was in front of a green lush jungle-like background and it made a huge impact on me. I knew I would come to Tenerife one day. This idea was sitting in my imaginary box for a very long time and when I had 10 days off in Spring 2016 I pulled this idea out from the box and flew to Tenerife! I fell in love with the island. What I loved the most was the weather and the feeling of peace and love. Living in London I had huge cravings for the sun and the blue sky which was not a problem in Tenerife. I felt so much freer and happier to be here that I made a comeback in August for 20 days. This was the time when I started to feel that my heart was healing. I found my roof terrace accommodation ever so charming and idyllic in Boca Cangrejo that I was heartbroken to pack and go at the end of the summer. I had a sense of belonging here. My soul was protesting to go back to the cold, damp London... and to the city life at all where no one was waiting for me. I cried when I left.
During this time I was not yet aware of the chakra-island connection. I didn’t know that Tenerife was connected to the Heart chakra but I intuitively got drawn to a golden bracelet in the souvenir shop at the airport that says “LOVE” on it. I don’t wear jewelry, especially not gold but this bracelet has been on my wrist every day since I bought it. It was about €28 but it was worth a million to me. I loved seeing it on my hand. It reminded me of the beautiful feelings I experienced during my stay on the island.
So the next year when I found out about the chakra-island connection, I was stunned by how powerful the energies were and I was happy that I could open up and let these beautiful feelings in.
If you are interested in reading more about how I felt in Tenerife, I share details in this earlier post: 11 days in Tenerife
Tenerife is the most visited Canary Island with many faces. You can see beautiful parks, fruit gardens, desert-like areas, several different beaches (golden sand, black sand, rocky, cliffside), big cities, tiny villages by the coasts, abandoned houses far up on the mountains, and caves. La Laguna is the university town where many young people come to study from the smaller islands. Some local people ride horses on the curvy steep roads and some professional cyclists travel here from other countries to train on them. There are many German and Italian residents along with the Canarians. In Radazul I met a lot of Americans and French many of whom came to scuba dive on the island. The local people are open and helpful, especially in the smaller villages. Everybody says “Hola!” (Hola is Hello in Spanish) if you pass by them. I don't speak Spanish and I couldn't communicate with the locals but that didn't bother me at all. I found everything I needed: a bus stop, supermarket (Super Mercado), café, beach, etc.
Thank you for reading! ♡
The next island is Gran Canaria - Throat Chakra.