Anahata

Anahata translates as 'unstruck': the tradition's name for a sound that exists without anything being hit, the way affection can exist without a reason.

The heart chakra sits at the centre of the chest, and in the yogic map it is the bridge: three chakras of the body below it, three of the mind above. It is associated with love in its widest sense: warmth toward others, and the harder discipline of warmth toward oneself. Its colour is green, its element air.

The tradition is realistic about hearts. It speaks of grief, old resentments and self-criticism as weights the chest learns to carry, and offers patient tools: breath that widens the ribs, gratitude kept small and specific, time with people who ask nothing.

Rose quartz is Anahata's signature stone: soft pink, almost domestic in its gentleness. Green stones share the shelf: jade, green aventurine, malachite, amazonite.

In scent: rose above all, with geranium and ylang ylang nearby.

Below: everything in the catalogue that tradition places at the heart: stones for the bedside table, scents for unhurried evenings, gifts for people you're glad exist.